Vino In My Dino

Varietally Speaking: Merlot

May 13, 2015 12:57

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This month I am posting about the grapes we grow in order of the most widely planted on our vineyards. Merlot is next on the list. Merlot. Need I say more? It has been a much maligned grape in the last 10-15 years (darn it Sideways!) and I believe mistakenly so because it makes a great wine, softer than Cabernet Sauvignon, with great structure. Even grocery chain scans continue to show it is one of the top varietals purchased. Possibly due, in part, because there are 45,000 acres planted in the state of California not including the rest of the world? It is second only to Cabernet Sauvignon in tons crushed in the state. There are 5500 acres planted in Sonoma County, around 1000 in Dry Creek Valley and we have 12 acres on our estate.

Sometimes Merlot stands in the shadows since it is known as a blending grape especially in France (part of the Bordeaux blends you hear about). We have used it to soften our Cabernet Sauvignon and even our Sangiovese at times. A grape of intense color but mild mannered it is also the base for our friends.red blend. Grown on the bench just above the valley floor we usually get about 6 tons per acre. The average going price per ton here in Sonoma County is $1600. Overall Merlot is a good choice when looking for a wine that is friendly to the palate. Or look for wines where it plays a pivotal role as it adds a soft touch, mild tannins and lots of flavor. Merlot in my Dino coming up!

Merlot at harvest time, ready for its' moment in the limelight.

Tags: Pedroncelli, varietals, Merlot, winespeak
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Varietally Speaking: Cabernet Sauvignon

May 6, 2015 13:02

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I am posting about our grapes in order of the amount we grow. Cabernet Sauvignon is the next on the list. Here at Pedroncelli we have been growing and making Cabernet Sauvignon since the mid-1960s. We planted the first Cabernet vineyard in the valley and have learned many things over the years on how to get the best out of each site. Although there have been many fanciful theories of the origin of the Cabernet Sauvignon grape, modern DNA testing indicates it is a chance crossing of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc. Besides the geek factor on origins did you know it is Sonoma County's second most planted wine grape and it thrives in places such as Alexander Valley, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma Mountain and right here in Dry Creek Valley, where it is the most widely cultivated varietal.

Since Cabernet is king, are you curious as to the cost per ton? $2555 is the market price from the Sonoma County 2014 Grape Crush Report. With Sonoma County acreage at an estimated 12,600 acres, Dry Creek Valley has 3200 acres while we have 29 acres planted and we typically get about 6 ton per acre. The vines are trained on cordon arms, using one of three trellis systems depending on the block: the Scott-Henry, Smart Dyson and Straight Vertical. Planted in the gravelly loam of the lower benches in the valley, we feel the soil, the trellising and careful vineyard management brings out great qualities in this noble grape. We make three styles of Cabernet and have just introduced Wisdom, our paean to the King of the Grapes. Now for some Cabernet in my Dino and a toast to finding Wisdom here.

Cabernet Sauvignon in the spring.

Tags: Pedroncelli, varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, winespeak
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Varietally Speaking: Zinfandel

May 5, 2015 13:08

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This month my posts will focus on the grapes we grow on our estate vineyards where we farm over 100 acres. I am beginning with Zinfandel because it was the first grape planted here. Thriving on the hillsides in rocky soil developing its’ own style of ripe berry and black pepper qualities, this grape is the flagship of our family of wines. Now for the back story: Zinfandel was introduced to California during the Gold Rush somewhere between 1852 and 1857 and became widely planted because it thrived so well in the state’s climate and soil. The grape’s approachable and early drinking characteristics also helped catapult it onto the wine scene. Today this varietal is the third leading winegrape variety planted in California, with nearly 50,000 acres planted, according to the 2014 California Grape Acreage Report. A majority are grown in central California (for white zinfandel) but did you know Sonoma County is home to 5200 acres-and half are planted right here in Dry Creek Valley (or as I like to call it Zinland)?

Zinfandel has flourished on our property since the early 1900s, predating our founding year of 1927. In those early years we produced a Zinfandel in the form of a field blend and made our first varietally labeled Zinfandel by 1951. Today we have 30 acres planted on the home ranch. We also purchase Zinfandel from two longtime sources: the Bushnell and the Buchignani vineyards. All but an acre or two are head-pruned or goblet trained and we feel Zin, from crop set to ripening, grows best this way. We feature three Zinfandels now: our Rosé, our Mother Clone and Bushnell Vineyard. Each of them is steeped in history, showcasing the best of the appellation. Now a toast to generations of Zinfandel!

A head pruned Zinfandel vine on our Home Ranch-Mother Clone Zin in the making.

The grapes as they are ripening in the late summer. We wait for just the right time to pick.

Tags: Pedroncelli, varietals, Zinfandel, winespeak, Mother Clone
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Wrapping up Down to Earth Month

April 30, 2015 13:21

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Today is the final day of Down to Earth Month. I've covered a few of the ways we remain sustainable. Water…Energy…Community these three all play an integral role as we take on the certification of our vineyards and winery. While all three have been a focus for us it is clear we need to continue our efforts in all categories. We practice what we preach both at the winery and in our homes-much like you do by recycling, cutting down on water use (especially if you are a Californian), and working with the community to find ways of being better at conservation. I’d like to share an example of how things change when we become aware of taking care of our planet. When Adrienne and Joe were in grade school (this is in the early 1990s) the idea of curbside recycling was just beginning to take root. Joe came home one day really fired up about recycling-I realized it had not been a focus for Adrienne’s class just two years earlier. It impressed me at the time because until it had filtered down and become part of our education it wasn’t on our collective radar. Now recycling is second nature both at home and at the winery where we choose ecologically better sources or products, lower our impact on energy use and save water, maintain open spaces and more. I’ve said it before, we are in it for the long-term both for the good of our home and future generations. A toast to Down To Earth Month, may we celebrate it every day.

Mother Clone Zinfandel, Home Ranch.

Tags: Pedroncelli, vineyard, Down To Earth Month, certified sustainable, Home Ranch Vineyards
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All in the Family

April 28, 2015 13:30

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I remember when my dad used to go on wine deliveries in the early years while we were living in the midst of the winery operations. When he joined the family business officially in the 1950s he took on the day to day sales and marketing responsibilities while his brother John took care of the wine and vineyards. Delivering the goods was one of the many areas of his expertise. One magical day I was invited to go with him on deliveries in the huge Dodge truck with the winery name emblazoned on its’ doors. I remember meeting many of our accounts as we made various stops on our way to San Francisco. I must have been about 5 or 6 years old at the time. While he no longer delivers wines directly, this day remains in my memory because of the shared time on the day-long drive (and the stop at the Doggie Diner on 19th in the City). I don’t think it had anything to do with my future career choice but as I look back it certainly cemented another facet of the business in my mind. When I was raising our children we involved them in various activities including wine tastings. Now our daughter Adrienne is a winemaker in Solvang, California! Our son Joe loves wine and is our ambassador in the Reno, Nevada area. My nephew Mitch has been working with his dad Lance in the vineyard for many summers while in school and is graduating from college next month. He'll begin his work at the winery shortly thereafter. I look forward to future generations joining us as we continue our family legacy. In celebration of Down to Earth Month I think sustaining a family for going on four generations is downright sustainable! I’ll celebrate with a toast to family with some Zin in my Dino.

Visit our Family Gallery here-you'll see me and my sister Cathy at a wine tasting in downtown Healdsburg in 1972! John Soule and my dad Jim are there too-doing the pouring.

2nd and 3rd generation Pedroncellis. We're writing the next chapter for future generations.

Tags: Pedroncelli, family business, family, Legacy
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Flora & Fauna

April 24, 2015 13:36

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We own 180 acres between three properties and not every inch is planted to vineyard or has a winery building on it. Our home ranch, which comprises a total of 90 acres, was the first piece of property purchased by my grandparents in 1927. It was a farm as well as a winery with plenty of room to grow vegetables and support the family with barnyard animals and the occasional deer. It sustained my family in those early lean years when my grandmother canned and made most of the food set on their table. I mentioned the family garden we had when I was growing up in an earlier post-and today we have an office garden planted to tomatoes, zucchini and onions. We have two other vineyards, both about a mile west of the winery, with riparian set-backs because they border Dry Creek. It is important to have buffer zones to promote the wildlife population. These supply the local wildlife with enough area to sustain them. Our buffer areas are teeming with turkeys, red tail hawks, the occasional mountain lion, snakes, all sorts of birds from blue jays to sparrows, possums, raccoons and the like. We have an owl box on the East Side Vineyards area and the importance of having Barn owls is to control the rodent population-they think gophers are pretty tasty. We had a family of four last year-hoping for another four or five this year. 87 years of being sustainable means being good stewards of the wildlife too. A toast in my Dino to sustaining the critters.

Our owl box in the evening light; our Mother Clone Zinfandel with hillside oaks.

For more about owls in the vineyard click here.

Tags: Pedroncelli, vineyard, Down To Earth Month, Dry Creek Valley
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Winery Ops

April 22, 2015 13:49

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The sustainability efforts were just a whisper in 1986 when we built our Barrel Room. It houses 2000 of our red wine barrels and is not an air-conditioned building. A barrel room does its best work when it is kept between 55-60 degrees. How do we keep our barrel room cool? The large room has vents on the outside walls that automatically open at night to allow the cold air in and close by sun up so the chill stays inside. This has helped us maintain the right atmosphere to age wine as well as keep our carbon footprint even lighter. In fact our cellar, built in the early 1900s, is not air conditioned either. It has some help with the temperature controlled stainless steel tanks but they don’t chill wine tanks down every day –and the building maintains the cellar chill year round. Other ways we strive for sustainability at the winery include simple things like energy efficiency (we changed the lighting in all warehouses to turn on when someone is working in the area), recycling and composting, and water conservation. We like to say we have been sustainable for 87 years and our goal is to maintain it all for future generations. We achieve this goal by looking at the options we have to make not only the vineyard but the winery operations better with each passing year. A toast to Earth Day and keeping our sights on being good stewards of the land.

For more about Earth Month visit Discover California.

One vent on the side of our Barrel Room-doing its part to lighten our carbon footprint.

Tags: Pedroncelli, Barrels, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County, Down To Earth Month
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Concerning Water: A Delicate Balance

April 13, 2015 13:54

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It is a delicate balance indeed when we, as farmers first before vintners, depend on the weather to bring the right amount of rain at the right time. This doesn’t always happen and there are many examples over the 87 years we have farmed our vineyards when we didn’t have enough, had too much or it rained at an inopportune time i.e. during harvest. And water in California during the fourth year of drought is one hot topic. In our area of Dry Creek Valley we depend on wells and those wells depend on 35-40 inches of average rainfall that fills the underground caches as well as keeps the soil drenched. The last four years have been challenges with one half or less of the average amount and surprisingly the harvests from 2012-2014 have been abundant. We’ll see how this vintage goes-it isn’t over until we have picked our last grapes. But I digress. Being sustainable means having a plan for water. Over the years we have shifted from dry farming to overhead irrigation to a drip system which delivers a regulated flow of water when needed. Now during these dry years the vines will show some stress which means the canopy as well as the developing fruit crop will be affected. Before that happens the vineyard manager watches and decides when to apply water. Remember we have 100+ acres of vineyard so it is a challenge to say least that each and every vine is tended to properly. The great part of drip irrigation is it allows control-we get to decide how to efficiently deliver the right amount to keep fruit quality at optimum levels. Most growers use some form of irrigation and the sustainable focus is to understand the delicate balance of such a limited natural resource. And too much water is just as bad as too little. Conservation is on many a Californian’s mind especially the California farmer. We’ll do our utmost in sustaining our vineyards with an eye to conserve for the future generations. Now a glass of vino is in order.

Drip irrigation on the Home Ranch vineyards.

Tags: Pedroncelli, drought, Dry Creek Valley, Home Ranch Vineyards, Down To Earth Month
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Importance of Being Compost

April 9, 2015 14:02

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Part of being sustainable means we use sound vineyard practices so the impact on our land will be minimized and it will be preserved for future generations. We have three generations and counting on this little corner of Dry Creek Valley! Sustainability in today’s post means using organic material from things like fermentation for the good of the vineyard. For instance, some of the odds and ends from fermentation are spread to lend nutrients to the soil. It has been part of vineyard life since I can remember. When I was growing up we always used pomace in our garden to enrich our zucchini plants, tomato vines and green beans. It is a combination of dried grape seeds and skins left over from the fermenting process and it spends a year drying out, so to speak. I also remember digging around the garden and finding the pomace was full of bug activity too—the good kind to help the garden grow. A phrase used by a grape grower down the road, who was of German decent, always said they used every part of the pig, ‘except the squeal’. In that vein, we use by products of fermenting wine, divert wastewater into ponds where ducks, frogs and turtles thrive, and line roads with erosion-controlling stems. There is still life left in these grape skins and seeds and they are a great addition to vineyards just like they were in our family garden. Were you aware that pomace (fresh) is a component of grappa, the Italian liquor? Like he said, everything except the squeal. Cheers and now for some fermented grape juice in my Dino!

Fresh pomace in my hand.

Last vintage’s pomace-not pretty but kept under tarps until dried out. Ready to spread!

Tags: Pedroncelli, Dry Creek Valley, sustainability, certified sustainable, Down To Earth Month
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Bell Beans, Mustard and Vetch: we're covered.

April 7, 2015 14:09

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I remember when mustard would grow between the vines with its beautiful spring yellow flowers and didn’t know until years later what an important part it played in the vineyard’s health. Cover crops have been integral to vineyards for almost as long as grapes have been grown. When we talk about the good work they do it includes promoting healthy soil, erosion control, eradicating weeds, help control pests, and, either in a drought situation or regular rainy season, they help regulate the moisture in the ground.

Nitrogen is a by-product of cover crops and is one of the most important minerals when it comes to grapevines. Let’s just say the presence of this mineral, in the right amount, will produce better grapes in the end. Cover crops not only produce it but in the event of too much rain they will also hold the nitrogen in the soil instead of washing away. While this mineral is available in less expensive synthetic form there is so much more to a having a cover crop because of the interaction between the organic matter and the soil. You might also consider the roots as both loosening the ground as well as securing the soil when too much rain falls. And don’t forget your legumes! Bell beans, which have been a cover crop since Roman times, and crimson clover do their part because of the high nitrogen content. Non-legumes include mustard and grasses also play an important role as well. I think I have covered some ground here-time for a tasty glass of wine thanks to bell beans, mustard and clover!

Visit here for more information about Down to Earth Month.

Bell Beans flowering in spring.

Mother Clone Vines and cover crop on the Home Ranch.

Tags: Pedroncelli, vineyard, Home Ranch Vineyards, Down To Earth Month
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