Vino In My Dino

Trimming the Vine

December 11, 2015 11:21

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Trimming vines is a months-long occupation for the vineyard crew beginning typically in November. Since it has been raining the last few days all pruning of the vines has ceased for the moment. Once the vines and ground have dried out a bit the crew will be back out in the vineyard. I discussed pruning last week and how a vine goes dormant after the first cold snap, usually happening in November.

This week the subject is what happens with those canes. Spur pruning the head pruned vines on the home ranch requires the knowledge of where to make changes in the direction of the vine arm for optimal growth and ripening as well as leaving two buds on each arm for the 2016 crop. Canes are piled between the vines and in the old days were burned in large piles. In recent years, with an eye toward sustainability as well as sparing the air, the canes are chopped and left in the vineyard as mulch. A toast to the hardworking crew and vines with splash of vino in my Dino!

Tags: Pedroncelli, vines, vineyard
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Matchmaker: Wine + Food

December 9, 2015 11:44

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My partner in life and wine is my husband Ed. We were married 26 years ago today. 11 years ago we began working together here at the winery (and survived!). So what does this have to do with wine? It brings to my mind the relationship between wine and food and why this is such an important factor when I talk about our wines. It has to do with tradition and style.

Coming from an Italian-American family, and a wine family to boot, food and wine have always been together as far back as I can remember. And by the looks of family meal photos predating my birth it seems it always has been. Traditions are begun at the table for most of us-whether it is who is here for the holidays (and where they sit) or a standing date night dinner out. Family traditions are begun by each generation echoing those of their predecessors and then making their own. For my family one of our traditions is a Prime Rib dinner on Christmas Eve. The table has grown as family is added but the importance for Ed and me are the faces around the table. The wines we pick to go with the meal are important too as they add so much to the celebration.

The style of our wines is one which pairs well with food (or your glass as my husband likes to add). They stand on their own and the experience is heightened when added to a meal. Acidity in our wines helps bridge the wine with food because when in balance-between the fruit, tannins and acid-there is a great match made. Traditions and style go a long way in both our marriage and that of wine & food. Wine is the centerpiece of our lives and pairing with food is as natural to us as a loaf of bread, a bottle of wine, and thou. A toast to 26 years with a splash of champagne in my Dino!

My parents Jim and Phyllis, Ed and me at a holiday dinner mock up this summer-thanks to Dianna Murphy Photography!

Tags: Pedroncelli, family, Italian
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Thoughts on the 21st Ammendment

December 4, 2015 11:54

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The 82nd anniversary of the Repeal of the 21st Amendment is December 5. Prohibition itself played an important role in how we got into winegrowing. In fact, if Prohibition hadn’t happened I’m not sure we’d be in the wine business today. The Italian family who owned the property before us (roughly 1906 to 1927 when my grandparents purchased it) may never have considered selling it. The winery had been shut down in 1919 but they could sell grapes during this time holding and were holding out hope the ban would be lifted. During this time they could sell their grapes to head of households, who in turn could make 200 gallons of wine. By the mid-1920’s the bottom of the grape market fell and the family was struggling to make ends meet.

Enter my grandfather Giovanni who was looking for a piece of land to call his own after living in California for 20 years. Originally he came here as a companion to his sister Caterina who was betrothed to John Zandonella. My grandfather worked at many jobs in the early years including dairy, farming, railroad and other work he could find. He also served in the U.S. Army during World War I. His love of the land along with a Veteran’s Loan and down payment helped him find and purchase the property. The land sustained his young family through the ensuing years that included the Great Depression and began our journey into a four generation winegrowing family.

Today the next three generations call this home in part thanks to the period known as Prohibition. A toast with a splash of Zinfandel in my Dino to my grandparents’ hard work and being in the right place at the right time. Who knows? They could have put down roots in Bakersfield…

The first page of the title for the property purchased July 19, 1927. G. Canata represented the family who originally owned the property and is a relative of Louis M. Foppiano, of Foppiano Vineyards in Healdsburg.

Tags: Pedroncelli, Prohibition, 21st Amendment
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Fall into Winter: Dormant Vines

December 2, 2015 12:02

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Dormant vineyards are the subject as we finish fall in a few weeks and move into winter. The vines began to move toward their dormant state after a few cold snaps-which we had plenty of in November. The colorful leaves have turned brown and are beginning to fall off of the canes. The vine is pulling inside of itself for some well-deserved rest.

Sometimes people have commented that they look dead but there is still a lot of life going on inside those weathered trunks. They are actually carbo-loading as they absorb the nutrients they need for next year’s harvest. Pruning is in our vineyard’s future over the next few weeks. With 105 acres of vineyard, the vineyard crew has their work cut out for them. As you see from the second photo, after this Mother Clone vine has been pruned, that the 2016 crop has been set in the form of two buds per arm-all positioned by the crew to be in the best place for problem free growth and ripening. A toast to the vines as they go dormant with some Zinfandel in my Dino.

This photo reminds me of a song...all the leaves are brown, and the skies are grey.

Pruned Mother Clone Zinfandel vine, ready for winter.

Tags: Pedroncelli, vines
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Messages in a bottle

November 25, 2015 12:09

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Today I am including a note from one of our many customers who opened a bottle long kept in their cellar. It takes a special appreciation for these older wines because they have lost the fruitiness of their youth and developed many other characteristics while quietly aging away in someone’s cellar. I read many articles about aging ability of red wines. There is always a discussion about what is needed in order for the wine to age gracefully and resulting in a wine you can appreciate if not enjoy.

So I have received these ‘third party endorsements’ of those who have waited patiently to try, in this case a 42 year old Cabernet. Each one of the messages (with photos) are always complimentary as you’ll see in this quote from Charles J. MD: “Opened tonight with little hope that it would still be drinkable. Amazingly alive and vibrant. Tastes 20 yrs younger. You guys are good.” Thanks Charles!

This shows our wines are aging gracefully with thanks to my Uncle John who made this wine all those years ago with an eye towards balance. As you celebrate the holidays and have a gem in the cellar go ahead and open it up and share with family and friends. I’ll have a splash of Cabernet in celebration of messages in bottles. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Tags: Pedroncelli, Cabernet Sauvignon, Vintage Wine, Vintage Year
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View from the Soapbox

November 20, 2015 12:25

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I am posting the speech I wrote up and read at a public forum on winery events held by the County of Sonoma’s Permit and Resource Management Department. Attendees included wine and grape growers as well as neighborhood groups and concerned citizens as we look to the future of marketing wine here in the county.

88 years ago my grandparents purchased vineyard and a defunct winery in what would become known as Dry Creek Valley. They arrived with their young family and began selling grapes to support their family because Prohibition was in place at the time. You should know that Prohibition was also the reason the first family had to sell and give up their dream. Upon Repeal my grandfather dusted off the winery equipment and began making wine out of the grapes he farmed. Ag, at its most basic, sustains a family through good and bad times-Prohibition, Depression, recession, bountiful harvests and wine booms. Today second, third and fourth generation Pedroncelli family members are make a living and live here in Sonoma County.

Imagine how much has changed for us over 8 decades of selling wine. Word of mouth, as in my grandfather’s day, is still important but the scope has changed. We incorporate educational activities and events to promote and sell our wine. Regulation of these will only curtail or even kill off present and future efforts of marketing our product to visitors in Sonoma County. What is required is greater enforcement of the General Plan’s policies. We are creative in how we market our wines. Please don’t prohibit our creativity of emphasizing the lifestyle and wine’s part in Sonoma County.

I ask on behalf of the next generations of my family and other families who dream of putting down wine or grape roots here in Sonoma County. I encourage you to gain a complete understanding of what we do on a daily basis-and gain an understanding of our history and how we got here-with beginnings as far back as the 1850’s. I found a quote from History of Sonoma County by J.P. Munro-Fraser, 1879: “(Dry Creek Valley) is without peer in the production of wheat, corn and staple products while the hill land on its border produces all kinds of fruit, being especially adapted to grape culture.” Agriculture and product sales is what keeps a diverse culture in our county. We don’t want to become like Santa Clara County which to this day regrets the loss of agriculture to Silicon Valley.

My hope is to preserve our family business so my grandsons have a chance to continue the heritage begun by their great-great-grandparents. Here's to family traditions with a splash of Zinfandel in my Dino!

Couldn't resist including a shot of Jordan and Weston in the barrel room-future winemakers? salesman? Time will tell.

Tags: Pedroncelli, Dry Creek Valley, Prohibition, generations
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Celebrating National Zinfandel Day

November 18, 2015 12:33

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We have been growing Zinfandel on our property since the turn of the 20th century when a 25 acre vineyard was established before my grandparents bought the property mid-Prohibition. Some of these vines are still around and continue to produce grapes. Since it is National Zinfandel Day I’ll share what I have of the first years of Zinfandel (aka Zinfandal, Zeinfindall, Black St. Peters and a host of other names).
- 1832—First record of Zinfandel being grown in the US by William Prince on Long Island, New York. He identifies it as a Hungarian variety.
- 1834—First reported exhibit of Zinfandel by Samuel J. Perkins of Boston.
- 1839—Zinfandal vine wins its first award as part of the Otis Johnson collection on the East Coast.
- 1848—John Fisk Allen of Salem, Massachusetts, publishes description of locally grown Zinfandal that closely matches what is now called Zinfandel.
- 1852—The year Agoston Haraszthy imported Zin into California, according to his son, Arpad, writing in the 1880’s. Haraszthy is sometimes known as the “father of Sonoma County winegrowing”.
- 1857—Captain Frederick W. Macondray and J.W. Osborne exhibit Zinfandal at Mechanic’s Fair in San Francisco.
- 1858—Commissioner of Patents lists Zinfandal as part of its collection.
- 1858—A.P. Smith of Sacramento exhibits Zeinfindall at State Fair.
- 1859—Antoine Delmas wins first prize for his wine, believed to be Zinfandel, at the State Fair.
- 1860—William Boggs plants Zinfandel in the propagation garden of the Sonoma Horticultural Society. Leads to extensive Zin plantings in the county.
- 1860—General Vallejo’s winemaker, Dr. Victor Flaure, advises Sonoma growers to plant all the Zinfandel they can.
- 1864-1869—Dry Creek Valley experiences the first growers who many feel planted Zinfandel and Mission grapes to support or start their own wineries.
- 1868—First North Coast award (a silver medal) for a Zinfandel given to Sonoma pioneer wineman Jacob R. Snyder at the Mechanics Institute Fair.
- 1872—The first winery in Dry Creek Valley was built by George Bloch. A vineyard boom soon followed with about 15 growers by 1877.
- 1878—Zinfandel is the most widely planted varietal during California’s first wine boom.
- 1883—Dry Creek grape growers increased to 54 by this time and Zinfandel was the top planted varietal with a total of 395 acres.
The rest, as they say, is zinstory. Even though Prohibition came along and many vineyards were pulled up for other crops, we continued to sell grapes until the U.S. saw the light and Repeal came along. After all, over 2500 acres of Zinfandel in the smallest major appellation in Sonoma County can't be wrong. A toast with Zinfandel in my Dino to this singular grape!

Tags: Pedroncelli, Zinfandel, National Wine Day
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Fall Colors

November 13, 2015 12:40

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Fall. My favorite season and rightly so. The days are crisp and cool, the oak trees and vineyards begin their journey to winter and after our early November rainfall the air is acrid, damp and full of promise.

Fall color in the vineyard means bright bands of yellow or brown as the leaves age and begin to fall. While white wine varietal vines go from green to yellow (and curiously our Sangiovese does the same) the red wine varietals sometimes exhibit bright red or purple if it is virused, more red-brown if not. The bright red color is due to leafroll virus that is prevalent in many vines old or new. While driving through Napa yesterday I came upon the most scarlet colored vineyard I had ever seen. While striking it is a result of this disease and cannot be stopped unless the vineyard is replaced.

The photo below is a view of our home ranch vineyard and includes a few varietals as you can see by the different bands of color. At the top are two of our Portuguese varietals and as you come down the hill you'll see a red (virused) strip of Petite Sirah followed by the yellow-green of Sangiovese. In the foreground are some of our Zinfandel vines showing a bit of virus.

A toast to all the colors of fall with a splash of Zinfandel in my Dino.

Tags: Pedroncelli, vineyard
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Veteran's Day Honors

November 11, 2015 12:53

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Here is a photo of my grandfather when he served on behalf of the U.S. during World War I. His service later on helped him acquire a Veteran's loan to buy the property in Sonoma County and he brought his young family to live here where he sustained them by selling grapes during Prohibition and later on opening a winery. 88 years later his heritage continues.

My dad served in the Army during the early 1950's in Germany. His stash of letters, saved by my grandmother, is a great snapshot of life during this time. They also saved part of his uniform, seen below. During World War II, when he was a youngster, he was known to climb inside the wine tanks and scrape out the tartrates for munitions.

A salute to all the veterans past and present for providing freedom sometimes at great cost.

Tags: Pedroncelli, family, Sonoma County
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Vineyard in the Fall: Making Amendments

November 6, 2015 13:20

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Fall colors don't just happen in New England. The changes in the season here in Dry Creek Valley include cool days in the 60s, color changes in the vine leaves and oak trees, rain and the ensuing aromatics the damp ground gives up as I walk the vineyard lanes.

Making amendments means some parts of vineyards need additional help following the grape harvest. Soils were a bit more stressed from the drought and growing season and showed it. In some blocks of our 30 acres of Zinfandel we make these amendments in the fall shortly after harvest in order to distress the soil. It comes in the form of lime, hence the white powder you see in the photo below. This feeds the soil the nutrients it needs.

While there isn’t much virus in this part of our Mother Clone vineyard, usually seen in the brilliant purple/red/orange leaves, the addition of nutrients keeps it healthy for another vintage. I'll have a splash of Mother Clone Zinfandel in a toast to fall.

Tags: Pedroncelli, Dry Creek Valley, vineyard, Mother Clone
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