Harvest 2008 by Anna Monticelli

The 2008 growing season started with below average winter rainfall, which primarily fell in early winter, for the second year in a row. This predicated smaller than average berry size and lower cluster counts. The combination of an early bud-break and freezing spring temperatures that continued for weeks on end between mid-March and mid-April had devastating effects on many vineyards in the Napa Valley. Some say this was the worst spring frost in Napa Valley in the past 30 years. Some of the young shoots were affected in our D’Adamo and Buckeye vineyards but our other vineyards amazingly escaped unscathed.

During bloom, the extremely hot temperatures coupled with high winds made for a poor berry set. Although this greatly decreased our yields, we benefited from loose medium sized Cabernet clusters.

During the summer there were many wildfires here in Northern California. Many winemakers and viticulturalists worried about the possibility that the grapes could be tainted with smoke flavors. Thankfully, not only were our Piña vineyards unaffected, but I haven’t heard of any Napa Valley vineyards with this problem.

The 2008 vintage was approximately 1 week earlier than average. We had two heat-waves back to back at the beginning of harvest (end of August/early September). This resulted in some shriveled berries and very rapid sugar accumulation. These heat waves were also a contributing factor to the extremely low yields. Here at Piña Napa Valley, our grape yields are down approximately 40% lower than average.

After the initial heat waves, the weather remained very mild and temperate ensuring optimum slow ripening and extended hang time conditions. It rained on October 3rd into the 4th, but the amount of rain was very small and the good weather before and after the rain resulted in no negative effects on the crop.

At Piña Napa Valley, we began by harvesting the Ames and Firehouse vineyards on September 8th and the Stice’s Stone Corral vineyard on September 12th. We continued harvesting with the D’Adamo vineyard on September 26th. We made several harvest passes through the Wolff vineyard during September and October to ensure harvesting only perfectly ripe fruit. We picked the Buckeye vineyard on October 17th, 27th and 29th.

The resulting 2008 wines are very promising. They have great color accompanied by good tannin structure and mouth feel. There is good concentration and acidity. Although we may not have a lot to drink this year, it will surely be enjoyable.

Anna Monticelli
Winemaker
Piña Napa Valley

Chip bud grafting / This Earth is mine

Trivia question: Who’s name at birth was Leroy Harold Scherer, Jr.?

He starred in a movie called This Earth Is Mine (released June,1959). Lots of the filming for this movie was done in the Napa Valley, especially in the Yountville, Oakville & Rutherford areas. It’s not considered a great movie, but it’s kind of fun to catch some glimpses of the Napa Valley landscape from 50 years ago. For those of you that haven’t peeked ahead for the answer, Rock Hudson was Leroy Harold Scherer, Jr. at birth. “Rock Hudson? Who’s that?” My 22 year old son Tyler asked.

I won’t go into the plot, but there is a scene where Rock needed to perform a fairly specialized procedure in vineyard operations – Chip bud grafting (AKA budding). Budding is the process of attaching a bud from one plant to rootstock. Rootstock is defined as a plant onto which another plant is grafted. There are lots of different rootstocks available, all with different characteristics. Some are more resistant to pests, Some handle wet or dry conditions better than others. And they tend to have no-nonsense names. Our Firehouse vineyard has 110R, 420A and 3309 rootstock. Once the rootstock has been decided, any variety of grapes can be grafted onto it. Cabernet, Chardonnay and Zinfandel can all use the same type of rootstock. For that matter, you could add a bud from each of these varieties onto the same rootstock for a vine that would produce 3 different types of grapes. Don’t know why you would want to do that, but it is possible. Not to further confuse anybody, but there are several clones of grape varieties, too. Our Firehouse vineyard has Cabernet Sauvignon clones of 2, 4, 8 & 337. The possible combinations of rootstock & varietal clone are almost endless.

I’ll follow this up with some pictures that should make the process easier to understand. Back to the movie: They needed somebody to teach Rock how to bud, and since he was left handed, they needed a teacher that was left handed… and this is where my great uncle Jim Pavon, enters the picture (figuratively speaking, only). He taught Rock how to bud well enough to pass for the movie. Rock even used Jim’s budding box & knife in the movie. I have always found this skill interesting, but apparently not as much as my brother Larry. Larry claims that when he was around 8 years old, he spent a fair amount of time budding and trying to get vine buds to grow. And he wasn’t going to be limited by conventional thinking. He budded vine buds onto Eucalyptus trees. Our dad told him it wouldn’t work, but he proceeded undeterred, and would give our dad daily updates on his project. Those are the trees visible directly across from the Plumpjack Winery tasting room. They appear to have survived Larry’s experiments, but we won’t be releasing a Cabalyptus wine anytime soon.

Did I mention that in-the-vineyard chip budding is hard on the back? This highly skilled work must be done on your knees. The chip bud grafting process is illustrated with pictures below taken by my brother, John C. Piña.

First, a varietal bud is cut from a pruned cane from a mature vine.
(This is an action photo - see it flying through the air?)

Then the 1st cut on the rootstock is made

2nd cut above first cut

2nd cut extends down to the first cut

And when that little section is removed,
the opening has been created for the chip bud

The chip bud is positioned in the opening
A tight fit is critical for the bud to grow*

This fit required an extra sliver of rootstock to be removed

Once the fit is perfect, a lightweight stretchy vinyl tape is wrapped around the new union to keep the new bud tightly embedded into the rootstock

And the top of the rootstock is cut off to force the rootstock to devote all of the growth energies into the bonding and growth of the bud

* After reviewing this post for accuracy at my request, John noted that while a tight bud fit is important, more important is getting part of the cambium layer of the bud to line up with the cambium layer of the rootstock.
=========================================

There are newer methods of grafting that are not quite so labor intensive, or skilled. Click on the following link to Practical Winery & Vineyard magazine for a more comprehensive overview of the options available.

http://www.practicalwinery.com/janFeb07/janfeb07p91.htm

Great info there, but John’s pictures are better!

California's Best Wines of 2008

Wine News feature story: California's Best Wines of 2008

Wine News has rated our 2005 Buckeye as one of California’s top 10 Cabs of 2008.

In their words:

Pina, 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Buckeye Vineyard, Howell Mountain, Napa Valley - Minty maraschino cherry aromas with hints of resin and cinnamon. Supple strawberry preserve flavors with a thick, nearly chewy texture. There is a richness front to back in this Cabernet with the wood tannins, fruit and minerals meshing nicely in the close. Drinking nicely right now and should continue to improve.

Very flattering and we are the least expensive wine on the list.

Click here for the full story:
http://www.thewinenews.com/current/feat.asp

Piña vs Pina – The Typewriter years/Casket Factory

Isn’t it sad, in a way, that many young people would not be able to identify what is in the picture above? Click here for more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Typewriters.jpg#file

So Joe (No, the structural engineer, NOT the plumber) tells me that he ran into somebody that knew me from high school. But that guy knew me as Ranndy Pina (pronounced pee-nuh), not Ranndy Piña (pronounced peen-yuh). So, what’s that about?

Piña vs Pina – Let me explain. My grandfather left Spain as Juan Mena Piña. He accepted the first name change to John in America, but he would never give up the Piña. But slowly, over the next half century, the name Piña would evolve into Pina for nearly all written communication. Some might say that was the expected Americanization of a foreign name. I think it had more to do with the typewriterization (yea, I just made that word up) of a foreign name. You see, that little squiggly thing (~) over the n in Piña is called a tilde.
Tilde is defined as: “a diacritic (~) placed over an n, as in Spanish mañana, to indicate a palatal nasal sound”
Tildes may have found their way onto typewriters in Spain and Mexico, early on, but not here in the good ‘ole U. S. of A. So without the tilde, folks had a tough time typing Piña and it would come out as Peenya, or something equally as bad. So for many years, we just accepted Pina. Eventually, typewriters and word processors added the tilde and we started the transition back to Piña. Using the tilde got even easier with the development of computers, but it also created some problems. Searching this document or the internet for “Piña” will yield different results that searching for “Pina”. Even now, some fonts & document formats can’t deal with the ñ, and will substitute some other symbol or just leave it out altogether. So even though Piña is the correct spelling, we will frequently just use Pina.

===================================

12-29-08 - I just stumbled on another example of the digital difficulties of displaying "PIÑA":

But we thank The Cork Board for giving it a try. Now that's a blog worth reading. If you haven't checked it out, I recommend it.

=====================================

Most online dictionaries will interpret Piña as Spanish for Pineapple, but we prefer the less common interpretation to Pine cone, or fruit of the Pine. After all, we’re talking Spain.

We even incorporated pine cones into our first 2 labels.

This was the label we put on our 1st wine, a 1979 Chardonnay:

Note that 14.9% alcohol

We upgraded our label a few years later and the
Pine cones were embossed on the label

Yes, our first wine was a 1979 Chardonnay. We made it in a bonded winery on Action Ave. in Napa, of all places* (see my related story at the end). We were making some great wines through the 80’s, but even great wines don’t sell themselves. The Pina brothers did what they could, but the vineyard management company was growing too quickly and requiring too much time. After several years, we realized it was unrealistic to think our one employee could handle the winemaking and the sales. We had to let our one employee go and take a break from making (commercial) wine for several years. We leased space to other startup operations through the 1990’s. When we realized just how good the Cabernet was from the Howell Mountain Buckeye Vineyard, we decided it was time to get back into wine production.
Below is the original sign for Pina Cellars. Yes, some of you will recognize it as our current tasting bar. It was made from the barrel staves of a large redwood tank.


For Piña Napa Valley (AKA Piña Cellars 2.0), we decided to use
a tilde, or more specifically a red tilde, as our trademark.

=====================================

The Winery under Construction

Summer 1982 - Placing the 48’ long main beam (Davie on the forklift, Dad, John C.)

July 3rd, 1982 – Davie on the scaffold, Ranndy on the roof

Here is the story that I alluded to earlier:

It was a Wednesday morning in October, 1979 and I was waiting outside the winery on Action Ave for the owner to show up. His converted warehouse was right next to a casket factory that employed several special needs people. The special needs people started showing up for work and were waiting outside the building for it to open. I sat in my car facing away from these folks, but monitoring their arrivals in my rear view mirror. Then I saw him approach. He appeared severely disfigured, but I continued to look on as many folks do when passing a bad accident on the highway. I felt so sorry for him – That poor guy, having to go through life looking like that. As he approached the waiting group, they didn’t seem at all upset by his appearance – In fact they seemed quite happy to see him. They laughed and gave him high fives! I’m thinking: Wow, is this the reception he gets every morning? Then he put his hand up to his face and removed his mask. I felt duped. How could I have forgotten it was the 31st of October – Halloween! And then I reluctantly accepted the possibility that he was enjoying life more than me. It was a very humbling experience that I remember vividly 29 years later.

SNAFU – Situation Normal…

Before I get started, I should mention that occasionally I will write about something that has nothing to do with wine, vineyards, Napa Valley or the Pina family. This is one of those posts (I don’t much care for the word “Blog”). Just thought I should let you know before you have too much time invested.

SNAFU – Situation Normal…

The Acronym SNAFU first came into use during WWII. A quick search on the internet offers lots of information on its origin. SNAFU quickly gained acceptance and even spawned a series of cartoon shorts titled Private SNAFU:

Check it out on WIKIPEDIA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Snafu

The father of my good friend, Charles (Chaz) Ainsworth, also served during WWII. My earlier post about WWII caused him to share a few mementos that his father passed on to him. Seems to me that at least 2 of these items should be in a museum somewhere. They are booklets courtesy of the War Department.

A handwritten note inside the front cover of one of them states: “Hon, These books were given to us when we hit France”.

And then there was the picture of his mother that his father had folded up and carried with him throughout the war. On the back he made notes of events & the places he traveled.
And a birthday card from his mother sent on Jan 13, 1945 that was received in France on Feb 5th – His birthday:

With a very touching note:

The Ainsworth Family
Charles (Sr), Charles (Chaz), Margaret & Peggy (in front)

And lastly,

“Snafu
Our Mascot, picked him up in Normandy”

And on this Thanksgiving Day, there is no better time to express our gratitude to all the men and women of our armed forces, that have been placed in harm’s way.

May you all safely return home soon.

Barrel Aging and Barrel Selection

As members of the Silverado Trail Wineries Association, we participate in the Silver Pass weekend twice a year. Participating wineries will offer special tastings, library releases, barrel sampling, food and more. The pre sale price of $30 for a full day of visiting these wineries is a helluva deal, AND Proceeds go to the Child Development Centers of the Napa County School District.

Earlier this month we participated in the Silver Pass weekend and offered our world class wines for tasting and our world famous Paella A La Jason Donoho (John’s son-in-law). Okay, “world famous” may be a bit of a stretch, but its dang good stuff.

Jason & his 4 ft diameter Paella Pan

During the event, we get lots of questions about how & why we do certain things – Some are basic, some are not. One question asked was: Why do you use French Oak barrels? I thought this basic question would be good to include in our blog and that it would be best answered by our winemaker, Anna Monticelli. Seemed simple enough. I thought she could answer that in a short paragraph, two at the most. Boy, was I wrong! I was impressed when I read her response and only noted one misspelling to correct. But then it turned out that “adsorption” really is a word. Lastly, her formatting was impeccable, but my skills at transferring the document were not.

Barrel Aging and Barrel Selection by Anna Monticelli
1. Great red wines are traditionally aged in oak barrels.
2. There are many benefits of barrel aging including clarification.
a. Wine settles and naturally clarifies itself better and faster when aged in a barrel, rather than a vat or tank, because of the smaller volume.
b. Oak has a natural adsorption phenomena that aids in the wine’s clarification.
c. Barrels are more sensitive to temperature than vats or tanks, so there is usually more tartrate precipitation during the winter.
3. There is more softening of the wine tannins and aroma development during barrel aging. Oak is porous and therefore wine is subject to micro-oxygenation whereas tanks are large airtight vessels that are theoretically inert. This controlled oxidation modifies the phenolic composition of the wine. The oak increases binding of the tannin and anthocyanin molecules, in turn stabilizing the color and softening the tannins. The amount of micro-oxygenation depends on the origin of the barrels, regularity in topping and the type and position of the bung. One study suggests that 16% of oxygen passes through the wood, 63% through gaps in the staves and 21% through the bunghole.
4. Wine aged in oak barrels extracts aromatic compounds that increase a wine’s complexity. A winemaker must match the appropriate amount of oak to the wine. If there is too much oak influence, a wine will be overpowered by the oak flavors and the fruit and varietal characters will be masked. You can’t make a wine great just by aging it in oak. The wine must have a certain aromatic finesse and sufficiently complex structure to benefit from oak aging.
5. Geographical origin and oak species have a huge influence on the effect on the wine.
a. French oak primarily comes from 4 main regions (Limousin, Centre, Bourgogne and Vosges). There are 2 species of oak trees that grow in these areas:
i. Quercus robur or Quercus pedunculata – High extractable polyphenol content and low odiforous compounds. These species produce coarser grained wood.
ii. Quercus petraea or Quercus sessilis – high aromatic potential and low levels of extractable ellagitannin. These species produce wood with finer grained wood.
b. Central European oak is primarily of the species Quercus farnetto. They have some similarities to French oak.
c. American oak is predominantly the Quercus alba white oak species. This type of oak has a lower phenolic content and higher aromatic compounds than other species, especially methyl-octalactone (sweet, coconut, vanillan, maple aromas).
6. Oak must be “seasoned” before it is coopered.
a. Natural seasoning generally takes 2-3 years. The oak is cut into staves and stacked outside where it weathers and seasons in the open air. The wood naturally matures and the physical, aromatic and organoleptic properties of the oak improve. Enzymatic reations also influence the flavor profile.
b. Artificial seasoning is when the staves are dried in an oven for approximately a month. Artificially seasoned wood has more astringent tannin and bitterness. It also has less vanillin and aromatic components.
7. After the oak staves are seasoned, they must be toasted and coopered. The oak can be toasted by traditional fire methods or convection oven. There are light, medium and heavy toasts. Toasting is used to eliminate the “green wood” flavors. The length and temperature of toasting changes the amount and types of volatile compounds. Generally, heavier toasting produces more toasty and vanillin flavors as well as complex flavors.
8. I use approximately 55-75% new French oak on the Piña wines depending on the vineyard. I prefer using French oak on our Cabernets because it is more subtle, complex and refined. I think it complements our Cabernet grapes better than American or central European oak because it enhances the fruit characters without overpowering the wine.

Rutherford Firehouse Label/Another Tow Truck

Many years ago the Rutherford Volunteer Fire Dept outgrew their fire station in “downtown” Rutherford and was in need of additional space. And since flooding would sometimes hamper the trucks from getting to the Eastern side of the valley, a additional sub-station on the Silverado Trail was needed. Davie, an Assistant Fire Chief in the Dept, approached the brothers about offering space to temporarily house the fire engines. We all agreed and a simple building was built about 100 feet south of our winery to house 2 fire trucks.

During this time, Pina Vineyard Management planted 3 small blocks of vineyard on the property. The closest is just above the winery. These blocks fall in the Rutherford sub-appellation of Napa Valley. When the time came to decide on a vineyard name for the label, we brainstormed lots of possibilities and eventually decided on “Firehouse Vineyard”. Stealing a line from Abe Lincoln; “It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this”. After all, the family has a long history of fire fighting. Uncles Al & Joe served in the Rutherford fire dept for many years before brother Davie & cousin Frankie became members. Uncle Frank & brother John were both Captains in the St. Helena Volunteer Fire Dept. Brother Larry’s son-in-law David & David’s father Jim are both currently in the St. Helena Fire Dept.

And although he was never a member of a fire dept, our dad did some firefighting, too. He spent lots of time traveling the area and occasionally happened on fires in their early stages. In the early 80’s we had an arsonist setting fires in the Napa Valley. He had a very clever way of starting them as he drove down the road, without even stopping. I better not give the details of how he did it; it might give some of you pyros out there ideas. Brother Larry recalls the day that dad spotted several small fires by the Silverado Trail. He was able to put all of them out but one. The last fire, at the site of the current Miner Winery, was a bit bigger than the others. Dad raced back the ½ mile to our house, grabbed some wet burlap sacks and my brother Larry, and together they returned and put it out.

But the arsonist also had a clever master plan. It seems that the Silverado Trail fires were intended to lure the fire fighting resources away from the fires he was yet to start in the areas of Soda Canyon and Atlas Peak, near Silverado Country Club. Unfortunately, he was very successful with those fires. The fires started on June 22nd, 1981 burned 23,600 acres and 65 structures. The fires blackened a path over 10 miles long - all the way from the Silverado Country Club to the ridge above Pina Cellars.

In 2007, the Rutherford Fire Dept built a nice new sub-station less than a mile north of us, but the Firehouse Vineyard name stayed.

Over the years, the family firefighters collected many stories. I asked Davie to retell one of my favorites, and here it is in his words:

While this might not sound funny to you it had us in stitches.

I have been on the Rutherford Volunteer Fire Dept. for 20 years. In my twenty years I have seen horrible things, things that will stay in my mind for forever and some that still get me to laugh out loud.
One that still gets my funny bone was a car off the road on Oakville grade. As the name implies the road is very steep and has a corresponding steep hillside below it. A lady had lost control of her car and went over the side. The only way anyone knew she was there was that she had crawled up the bank and was waving her hand as best she could to get attention. She was in fairly good shape for having gone 200 feet down a steep bank and crawled back up. We sent her on her way to the hospital and stood by as a tow truck arrived to pull the car up to the road. There was also another wreck down the bank that had never been removed. This caused the tow truck driver no end to problems trying to bring the new car wreck up separate from the old wreck. He finally moved his tow truck a little further up the road to get a better angle on separating the new wreck from the old wreck. As he pulled on the car it again got tangled with the old wreck and he continued to pull. All of a sudden everyone was aware of something not going right. The driver had put wheel chocks behind the rear wheels of the tow truck, but hadn’t set the parking brake. Once the tires started to climb over the chocks there was no stopping the tow truck. The driver took one step back and watched as the tow truck went right past him gaining speed as it hurtled down the steep bank toward the car below. It crashed into the new wreck, went over the top of it and ended in a heap below. Now there were 6 firefighters standing there in shocked silence and couldn’t believe our eyes at what just happened. In the silence came a voice from the Incident Commander talking on the radio to dispatch “I think we need another tow truck”. That awakened us to how this might sound when he tried to explain how we lost the one we had. We were all rolling on the ground laughing. The tow truck driver removed his gloves and sat down on the side of the road and waited. We felt sorry for him, but couldn’t help ourselves.
I also don’t know how the insurance agent separated the damage to the car from going off the road and the damage of a tow truck crashing into and going over the top of it after the fact. Thank goodness no one was hurt seriously and eventually both vehicles were brought to the road. Surprising enough they drove the tow truck back to the shop.
I’m still chuckling.
Davie

Our Dad Was A Witch

Our Dad was a witch.  No, not a witch with a black pointy hat. He was a water witch, a dowser. Yes, I planned this post to coincide with Halloween, but that was just to mess with you all a bit. He could “detect” underground pipes and aquifers with brass rods or “Y” shaped willow branches.  He was called on occasionally over the years to find the best place to sink a well for a vineyard or winery, but he was one of the lesser known dowsers in this area.

As I contemplated writing about this topic, I sent out a request for related stories to my brothers and my cousin Craig.  And they responded. Have you ever heard a story so outlandish that you hesitated to retell it, even with the disclaimer that you got it from somebody else?  Craig gave me one of those stories, but I won’t go into the specifics.  It seems that the well went dry at a friend’s house, and a group of 5 local, & well known dowsers went to help out.  They detected an aquifer a short distance from the well.  They performed a series of… of… of … actions, to “encourage” the aquifer to change its route a bit and replenish the water supply at the well.

Within a short period of time, water apparently started flowing again and the pump picked it up and all’s well that ends well (yes, pun intended).  And if you find that hard to believe, you should hear the story as he tells it.

Now I’m going to tell you my story, and I’ll swear by every word of it.  In the late 70’s I was working as a carpenter for Glen Bobst, a St. Helena contractor.  We were building a house on Sylvaner Ave in SH for Fred Beringer (yes, of the Beringer Wine Family).  We were in the final stages of construction when we needed to locate a pipe that crossed under the driveway.  It wasn’t a really long driveway, but long enough that locating it by just digging would have been a long, tough job. And since I was low man on the totem-pole, that task would have fallen on me.

Do people still use that phrase: “low man on the totem-pole”?  Hope I haven’t offended anyone. The phrase refers to gender and an ethnic cultural item.  Surely that has to offend somebody!  Anyway, back to the story.

Glen pulled up in his truck and Pep Vulcani got out holding 2 “L” shaped brass rods.  Glen told Pep there was a pipe under the driveway and we needed to find it.  Pep started walking up alongside the driveway pointing the 2 rods in front of him like six-shooters.  And then it happened.  Like magic, with no noticeable movement in Pep’s hands, the rods rotated inward and back towards Pep.  He stopped and backed up a step or two until the rods were perfectly lined up, pointing at each other.  He said “Your pipe is right here”.  Glen told me to get a shovel and start digging -  right there.  In less than a minute, I hit the pipe – Dead center.

At lunch that day, there must have been 7 or 8 of us sitting in one of the larger rooms on the unfinished plywood floor, with our backs against newly hung sheetrock.  I think there was a plumber, a heating & A/C guy and the rest of us were carpenters.  Harold Cole was a soft spoken senior carpenter – A man of few words.  Deward Bobst, Glen’s brother, was the job foreman.  He was the oldest guy on the job, but he was fit, tough, a workaholic and a true craftsman.  Deward (RIP) was also a devout Seventh Day Adventist.  And probably because of that, he was very uncomfortable with what he had witnessed earlier in the day.  Almost immediately after we sat down, the conversation turned to Pep, and how he was able to locate that pipe using the 2 brass rods.  Deward just listened for a while, then he stated very clearly: “I think it’s the work of the devil”.  The room fell silent.  After a brief, but awkward silence, Deward looked to Harold for support.  “What do you think Harold?”  There was another brief, but awkward silence as Harold searched for the right words.  Finally he said in his somewhat southern drawl “I don’t know…   Why couldn’t it be the work of the lord?”  This brought on the 3^rd awkward silence.  Some kind soul changed the topic and it was never discussed again.

Old Wine press – P & P Cellars

I love this picture (by good friend Joe Bauer) and this old wine press that sits in front of our winery. It was never used at our winery, but it still makes me wonder about the people that did use it. My brothers and I have spent lots of hours working with presses like this. The first couple of loads were kind of fun. After that, it was work – Hard work. These are referred to as basket presses, due to the shape the wooden staves form. After the grapes, or more accurately, the “must” is pressed, the pins holding the basket together are removed to split the basket in half for unloading the “cake”. The cake is what remains after the wine is pressed out. It’s a surprisingly dry combination of skins and seeds. As far as the consistency goes, the best comparison I can think of is a bag of compressed peat moss. It will stand by itself after cutting away the plastic. But hit it with a pitch fork or shovel and it breaks up fairly easily. At max capacity, this press could hold the must from about one ton of grapes. But there were times that a smaller load would need to be pressed - Maybe a small batch or the final load of a larger batch. For most presses, this required a variation from the standard practice. If it was a small amount for the final load, the cake from the previous load could be left in the press to take up the extra space. If not, it might require several additional layers of alternately stacked wood spacers to make up the difference.

But this press had a unique feature that I have not seen on any other press (That’s not to say they’re not out there, I just haven’t seen them). This press had an upper basket and a lower basket. If you look at the picture above, you can see the handles on each section. Both sections would be used together most of the time. But if need be, either section could be used alone for smaller loads. Adding further to its flexibility, is the fact that the upper basket comprises about one third of the combined total, and the lower basket about two thirds of the combined total. So, depending on load size, the press could be used at one third, two thirds or all of its capacity. Simple, but ingenious at the same time.

If you find yourself passing by on the Silverado Trail, stop in and check it out.

This part of the press is called the platen. I know, I looked it up on the internet. Amazing tool, the internet. Using different wine presses over the years, I never knew what those parts were called. After the must is transferred to the basket, the platen is placed over the must and pressed downward forcing the juice out the spaces between the staves of the basket. The platen above is hanging on the wall in our cellar. It has a bit of family history to it. My dad was managing several vineyards in the mid sixties. During that time, Bob Pepi Sr. bought the vineyards that now are part of Cardinal winery in Oakville, and my dad took over developing and managing the vineyards. They became pretty good friends and started making wine together in what had been an old dairy barn. They even made a small wine cellar in the back corner of the barn. When they poured the concrete, someone scratched “P & P Cellars” in the wet concrete. Bob Pepi Sr. acquired a wine press from the cellar of an old Italian in San Francisco. We used that press for many years, but eventually decided/needed to replace the old platen with new wood. But, we kept the old platen and eventually mounted it on the wall. Yes, it’s a bit rough and at some point in it’s past, someone nailed what appears to be galvanized sheet metal on the surface to hold it together. I’m sure that Anna, our winemaker, shudders at the thought of wine actually coming into contact with any part of it. I don’t think she even likes it in “her” cellar, but its part of our history, and Anna has learned she needs to choose her battles with the brothers.

========================================

After viewing the original post, Joe Bauer sent the following pictures:

Even though this is a very small press, this is an excellent picture

of the basket (1/2 removed), the platen and the cake.

Lori (Sis) removing the platen and breaking up the cake.

Well why did you think they call it a cake? (Yes, it was her BD)

Foot note: I never had a sister, so I "adopted" Lori to fill that void 5 years ago

World War II - 4 Star Family

The movie Saving Private Ryan, was about a family with 4 sons serving in the military during World War II. One scene shows the Ryan home with a 4 star service banner in the window.

I’m sure the significance of the banner was lost on many viewers. The banners were common during the war, with the number of blue stars indicating how many family members were serving in the military. A gold star would indicate that the member had been killed serving their country. For obvious reasons, very few families had a 4 star banner.

There is lots of action & drama in this movie. But for me, the most dramatic part was when Mrs. Ryan was washing dishes at the kitchen sink and looked out her window to see a dark car approaching up the quiet country road. She dries her hands and goes out to the front porch. The car stops in front of her house and a clergyman gets out. At that point, she realizes that he is bringing bad news and slumps to the floor. The scene fades to one of the D-Day beaches littered with dead soldiers. The camera slowly zooms in on one of the dead soldiers lying face down in the sand and “Ryan” can be seen stenciled on his backpack.

===================================================

On October 12, 1911, John M. Pina & Maria (Mary) Pavon (and her family) boarded the British Steamship Willisden at Gilbralter and left Spain. Thirty five years to the month later, the Napa Register would report the following:

Joseph Pina, of Rutherford, is the fourth Pina boy to return safely from the war.

His three brothers, Alfonso, John Jr. and Mike, all returned earlier.

That same year, John Pina Jr. would take over running the Mt. Eden Ranch at the Oakville Crossroads & Silverado Trail. Fourteen years and four sons later, he would found Pina Vineyard Management.

Mike, John Jr., Joe, Alfonso

(Check out the car on the right)

The Evolution of the Napa Valley Harvest

As we anticipate finishing up the 2008 harvest of Napa Valley wine grapes, I’ve been reflecting on the methods of harvesting grapes in the Napa Valley over last 50 years. I’ve reached that age where I can legitimately use that tired old phrase “When I was young”.

So here goes; When I was young, we lived on the Mt. Eden Ranch. The Mt. Eden Ranch is the home of the current Plumpjack & Rudd properties bordering the Oakville Crossroad and the Silverado Trail. Not long after WWII ended, my dad returned home, married, and took over running the entire 80+ acre ranch. My dad (John) and my mom (Arline) started a family: John C: (born 1946), Larry (1947) Ranndy (1950) and Davie (1952).

Mom & Dad on their wedding day

We lived in a small house, next to the old winery. The winery still had several large redwood storage tanks and over a dozen open top fermenters, even though they had not been used since prohibition. It was also where we stored the wooden grape boxes used for harvest. These boxes were solidly constructed out of clear grain redwood and could hold up to 50# of grapes.

When harvest rolled around, these boxes would be loaded on a 40’s vintage flatbed truck, and spread in the vineyard the night before harvest. I still remember the sound the boxes made when they hit the ground. The next day, the pickers would fill the boxes and carry them to the end of the vine rows. There, they would be stacked, and the picker would use white chalk to write his number on the top box. As the truck moved through the vineyard to retrieve the filled boxes, the driver would note the number of boxes picked by each person. One man would place the boxes on the truck bed, as another stacked the boxes in neat rows. When the truck was loaded to capacity, the load would be tied down and the truck would head to a public scale, or winery, to be weighed. At the winery, the truck would pull up next to a grape “hopper” and the boxes would be dumped one-by-one into the grate covered box. A cleat conveyor would move the clusters into a crusher, where the berries were removed from the stems. The berries and juice (collectively called “must”) were then pumped into fermentation tanks; usually large redwood or concrete tanks during this time period. And so, the winemaking process began.

The 1960’s saw the introduction of stainless steel fermenting tanks, screw conveyors and grape gondolas. The gondolas were basically large steel box trailers capable of carrying between 3.5 to 5 tons of grapes. The average vineyard row was wider then, and these gondolas could be towed by a tractor, right down the vine rows. The pickers would fan out on the 3-5 rows on either side, fill their grape boxes, carry and dump them into gondola as it was towed slowly through the vineyards. When full, the gondola would be unhooked from the tractor, and a truck or pickup, would tow the gondola to the winery. During this time, the wineries had to construct tall steel crane structures over the now larger hoppers. At the winery, a large cable with a hook would be connected to one side of the gondola. The hoist would lift the gondola from one side, tipping it over to dump the grapes into the hopper. On some gondolas, the tank would separate from the frame for dumping. On others, the tank was connected to the frame, and the gondola, wheels and all, would be tipped upside down to dump the grapes. This was a huge, labor saving method, compared to transporting and unloading the wooden boxes. But, there was no margin for error in this process. If the hoist operator got careless, several tons of grapes could end up on the concrete. And then, you’d see several unhappy cellar workers in rubber boots, with pitch forks, pitching the grapes into the hopper. As well as several unhappy growers waiting in line to dump their grapes. But when everything went smoothly, one gondola could be used for several loads in a single day.

Simultaneously during this period, the larger growers and wineries would use the so called “Valley bins”. These steel bins held about 2 tons, and several were carried at one time on semi-truck & trailer rigs. The gondola and valley bin methods reduced harvest expenses and had a loyal following. They are still used at some valley wineries today. Over the years, the need arose for harvesting smaller lots of grapes going to smaller wineries that could be dumped by a forklift. Already in use for pears and other fruits were 4 ft X 4ft wooden & synthetic bins or boxes. Enter the half-ton bins for harvesting premium wine grapes. This is probably the most common method in use today at Napa Valley wineries. While they have their advantages, they also have their disadvantages. They have to be handled more than gondolas, and usually require a forklift in the field. Whereas gondolas reduced harvest labor & equipment expenses, the half-ton bins increased them.

But with time, some wineries, especially sparkling wine producers, thought the grapes needed to be handled more delicately than with the gondola & bin methods. They felt the grapes were getting crushed during harvest & transport and the juice was being exposed to air. They opted for smaller containers to be used in the process. They transitioned to what we in the industry refer to as “FYB’s”. FYB’s are most commonly yellow synthetic boxes. Less common are red & blue boxes. They are slightly smaller than the original redwood grape boxes, and stack easier. But the harvest process is very similar to when the redwood boxes were in use. Most growers dislike the additional time & money it takes to harvest this way and have adopted the acronym FYB for F___ing Yellow Boxes. They can’t really conceive of the benefits and consider those overly demanding winemakers to be the source of the problem. We continue to use the half-ton bins, but maybe someday…

Myself, I miss hearing the sound a redwood box makes when it hits the ground.

Brother Davie at 7 years of age in his 1960 “Hot Rod”
(Note the creative use of the redwood grape box)

Foot note: After writing this article, I discovered that one winery claims the FYB acronym stands for Famous Yellow Boxes. Yet another refers to them as Fun Yellow boxes. I don’t see them as famous or fun, so I’ll stick with my interpretation.

Grape Contracts Past & Present

Recently, I was forwarded an email offering grapes for sale. The interesting thing about this email was that the price per ton was dependent on the Brix (% of sugar) at harvest. I’m sure this is a common practice now, as it should be in these days of extended hang time. The following text is taken from that email:


It’s common knowledge that as grapes are left on the vines past Brix readings in the mid twenties, they will start dehydrating, and thereby lose weight. It has become an issue between growers and grape buyers, when the grape contracts do not address this factor. Many long term contracts from years past simply state that the buyer will pay X dollars per ton, and the grower will harvest when directed by the buyer. So, as some winemakers are prefering additional hang time in recent years, the grower is feeling cheated. I’m thinking that eventually, most all grape purchase contracts will address the Brix vs $/ton issue.

But, what made this email even more interesting to me, was that I remember a winemaker from 30 plus years ago that had contracts where the price was determined by Brix at harvest. But those contracts had a significant difference in philosophy from the current contracts. To the best of my recollection, that winemaker wanted Cabernet in the 23.5 to 24.0 Brix range. And there was a schedule right in the contract noting how much the grower would be “docked”, if the grapes were delivered outside of that range – Lower or HIGHER! And these were not buyer directed harvests. In other words, the buyer didn’t tell the grower when to pick, the grower decided when to pick (with minimal intervention by the winery). So as the grapes approached maturity, the grower was forced to continually test the grapes in the field in an attempt to hit that optimum target Brix range at harvest. Vineyard owners would often pressure their vineyard foreman or vineyard manager to deliver the grapes in the optimum range. Missing the target could have a significant impact on the profitability of the crop.

One other thing to consider is that the ripeness of the grapes varied from bunch to bunch and vine to vine more than today’s premium wine vineyards. Some winemakers feel the most important factor for quality grapes is a uniform crop. Today, most vineyards receive more time and attention than those of past years, at least in the premium wine category. There is much more emphasis on canopy management, sun exposure, water management and selective fruit thinning. Probably the biggest contribution to a uniform crop is the selective fruit thinning. Selective fruit thinning is when small bunches, and less-ripe bunches, and excessive numbers of bunches are cut off the vine to promote uniform ripening of the rest of the crop. This is not done without a bit of anguish. Imagine paying all year long for the best care of your vineyard, only to have to PAY MORE to have some of the fruit cut off and just fall to the ground.

So back then, making the decision to pick was a bit of a gamble. It was not uncommon for picking to be put on hold as the first load of grapes was delivered to the winery. After the Brix reading was taken, the grower would decide to continue picking, or send the crews home.

Field testing for Brix and Brix readings done at the winery will be the topic of another day.

So who was the winemaker that developed some of those early Brix related contracts?

That winemaker just happened to be related to the grower noted in the above email.

Care to venture a guess?