My good friend, Joe Bauer, takes pictures

To say “My good friend, Joe Bauer, takes pictures” seems an understatement.
Joe does Structural Engineering and is blessed with a variety of artistic talents, only one of which is photography.

I could go on, but he tells it better, both in words & pictures.

Joe Bauer:

This is a sample of the types of photos I often take.

As a hobbyist, I enjoy taking photos in the many small towns and farmlands along quiet two lane country roads.


Most of my photos are more the result of my travels rather than the purpose of my travels.
My wife Lori and I are both from the era when on a sunny summer weekend Mom would make sandwiches and Dad would load all the kids into the back of the station-wagon to "go for a ride".

We loved it then and still love it now.

These days when the urge strikes, we pack-up some cheese, bread and wine to head out in search of a back road that we have not yet explored.

Along the way we make sure to stop often and take lots of photos to remember our travels.



On occasion a nice photo is a bonus to the trip. With so many beautiful places in and around Napa Valley it's never hard to find a great photo opportunity.


It's a real treat that Pina Cellars is allowing me to share some of my photo memories with others.
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Joe will have a small collection of his pictures on display this Sunday during our participation in the: Rutherford Passport Weekend Spring Event

For more information:
http://rutherford-appellation-wineries.com/wineries.php
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Joe’s pictures will be on display Sunday, with Joe & Lori standing by.

Please stop by and say Hello
Lori (AKA Sis), Joe & Cindy (AKA My better half)

Piña 2006 Buckeye Vyd - Howell Mountain Cabernet

I noted in an earlier blog our participation in the upcoming Rutherford Passport Weekend. For more information click here:

http://rutherford-appellation-wineries.com/

As a footnote, I'd like to share the following about our 2006 Buckeye Vineyard Howell Mountain Cabernet:
Paraphrasing from James Laube's Blog (subscription only) of April 20th titled

Another Super Bonus Round of Cabernets

"On Friday I had what I like to call a super bonus round

of blind tastings, and once again Napa Cabernet provided the excitement, with more than a dozen 2006s (and a couple of earlier vintages) that would make any Cabernet drinker smile."
...
"The Piña, for example, has a rich core of gravelly-pebbly currant and sage, true to Howell Mountain."
...
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And then, we received the following Wine Spectator review:

PIÑA Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain Buckeye Vineyard 2006 Score: 94 $85
A classy effort, sleek and stylish, with a complex, elegant mix of loamy earth, dried currant, sage and spice. Firms up nicely on the finish, where this reveals greater depth and concentration. Best from 2010 through 2017. 573 cases made. -J.L.
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We'll be pouring the 2006 Buckeye this weekend.

Come by and give your taste buds a treat!

Starry Starry Night

It was around 4:00 AM when I first became aware of wind machines running. I listened for a while and got the idea to go in the spa where I could hear them better. Once again, I was enjoying that symphony of internal combustion engines, with Mother Nature as the conductor. I imagined her pointing her baton towards the south, when another wind machine started in that direction. And then she emphatically pointed towards the north and a loud wind machine responded. The stars were a brilliant backdrop to the presentation. For a moment, I thought I could see a satellite zooming across the skies, like I used to be able to see. But then I accepted, that without my glasses, that was not likely. But still a nice show. I thought more people should just surrender to it, get out of bed and appreciate the fact that we live in the middle of vineyards that need this protection. Easy for me to say, that's my normal waking time.
I'm sitting at my desk now, listening to the radio communications between our guys tasked with keeping Mother Nature at bay. But as I was making the first pot of coffee, one of our field foremen was getting ice out of our ice machine in preparation of the work day ahead. Life goes on.

Lafayette Stice, Winemaker & Farmer

The above picture was taken in front of Brun and Chaix winery circa 1890. The man with the mustache and holding a glass of wine is our Great-grandfather Lafayette Stice, a Rutherford Farmer and Winemaker. He was a leader in the wine industry at the turn of the twentieth century up to Prohibition.

That picture was taken around 120 years ago. The first airplane was yet to fly. The Great San Francisco earthquake was yet to happen. The first World War was yet to be fought. And John M. Piña was yet to leave Spain.

And this is what that area of Ladera Winery looked like in 2006

The Piña Brothers: Davie, Larry, John & Ranndy

Icicles in the Vineyard

Isn’t it ironic that the icicles above were caused by a method of frost protection? (Photo by John C. Pina)

One of the newer methods of frost protection involves the use of pulsating misters. This is how the water saving method works: well before the vines reach freezing temperature, the misters are activated coating the vegetation with water. As the temperature drops below freezing, the water starts turning to a “slushy” ice. As long as the misters keep putting out water, the surface of the ice keeps freezing, the ice gets thicker and in this case, longer. Unless the temperatures drop well into the 20’s, the continual buildup of ice keeps the vegetation at, or just below 32 degrees and prevents tissue damage. This type of frost protection is called Ice Encasement.

Save the Poppies!

As I left work on Wednesday, I noticed this crop of Poppies on the Silverado Trail just South of Skellenger Lane. It wasn't that long ago that the shoulders of the Silverado Trail would be somewhat void of vegetation. Chemicals were sprayed during the winter months that would keep seeds from germinating. Or later in the year, Roundup would be sprayed on the newly emerging vegetation. These days, there's lots of shoulder vegetation. And in among the weeds, California Poppies are emerging. I thought it appropriate to acknowledge the efforts made to save those Poppies, while eliminating the weeds. Workers with weedeaters take the time and make the effort to cut the weeds around the Poppies - It doesn't just happen by itself.

And as I traveled down the Yountville Crossroad, I snapped a picture of this bird-of-prey,
which I am including for no good reason.

Piña Vineyard Management/Piña Cellars/Piña Napa Valley

John C. Pina, Davie Pina, Johnny White

I’m sure I’ve confused some folks with the variety of posts I’ve done on this blog. Some are directly related to wine & wineries, some get into the details of vineyards and vineyard management, and some are unrelated to just about anything. Let me explain.
Piña Vineyard Management (PVM) was started in the late 50’s by my father as “John Piña Jr. & Sons”. It has grown steadily over the years and is now owned by my brothers Davie & John, and Johnny White. PVM manages about 50 vineyards mostly in Napa County with a few in Sonoma County. In addition to these ranches, PVM also does a variety of custom jobs for ranch owners & other vineyard management companies.
Piña Cellars first wine was a Chardonnay made in 1979. The winery was completed in 1982, and was owned by my father and his 4 sons: John, Larry, Ranndy & Davie. Since our father passed away in 1983, it has been owned & operated by the 4 brothers.
From the time the winery was completed, Piña Cellars and PVM shared the same building for about 15 years until PVM moved their offices down the road a ways. With the rapid growth of PVM in the 80’s, the winery operation was given a lower priority and put on the back burner for several years. PVM purchased the Howell Mountain property in the mid 90’s. They developed the Buckeye Lane vineyard and soon realized its potential for outstanding fruit. Because of this one vineyard, the four brothers decided it was time to jump back in with both feet (make that 8 feet) and Piña Napa Valley was born.
The first Howell Mountain-Buckeye vintage was the 2000 (337 cases), and it exceeded everybody’s expectations. People would come to taste and say “That’s great! What else do you have?” We soon realized this 6 acre vineyard would not be enough to carry the winery and started looking at other vineyards to expand our line.
The vineyard requirements were: 1) 100% Cabernet, Proven location, Farmed by PVM.
Piña Napa Valley now produces 6 Napa Valley Cabernet Single Vineyard wines from vineyards owned or leased by Piña Cellars or PVM, all developed and farmed by PVM.
Buckeye Vineyard – Howell Mountain
D’Adamo Vineyard - Napa Valley
Firehouse Vineyard – Rutherford
Ames Vineyard – Oakville
Wolff Vineyard – Yountville
Stone Corral Vineyard – Napa Valley (Not yet released)

In addition to the above single vineyard wines, later this year, we will be releasing a 2007 Reserve wine made from specially selected barrels of the single vineyard wines – Stay tuned.

60 years ago - Grampa Glos

Between Oakville & Rutherford on Hwy 29, you may have noticed a small sign "Glos Lane" for a driveway that goes East less than 1 mile, ending at the Napa River. That's where the Glos ranch was, and where my mom (Arline) grew up. My brothers & I have lots of great memories of swimming in the Napa River on hot summer days there. In addition to being a grape grower & home winemaker, our grandfather, Charles John Glos also had a large vegetable garden.
He was quite proud of his produce and would enter several items in the Napa Fair each year.
Recently, I discovered the above envelope, Dated August, 1949. In it, was the form listing his entries and winnings from those entries - $16.67

Its a bit hard to read, but it appears his entries included: Kentucky Wonder Beans, Lima Beans, Golden Bantam corn, Cucumbers Green, Cucumbers Lemon, Eggplant, Rhubarb, Swiss Chard, Garden Beets, Halflong carrots, Flat Turnips, Cantaloupe, Persian Melon, Boston Pie Pyn__?, and Crookneck Squash. He also tied with Alfonso & Harris for the Melon Division Sweepstakes.

It was an interesting glimpse into a very different side of the family history.

My Friday Night Date in Wine Country

Cindy called to remind me that she had a doctor's appointment and would be home early. I suggested she pick up something for dinner and we go to the Smith Ranch for a Pic-Nic dinner. The Smith Ranch (Not the real name) is one the larger vineyards we manage and it borders the Napa River. Yogi Bear, our black Lab mix loves to run through the vineyards there. She thought that was a great idea, so I planned to have everything ready when she got home.
I went to get our card table & 2 chairs before realizing our chairs are on loan elsewhere. I came up with the table and one old rusty fold up chair. As I searched for another thing to park my caboose on, I spotted a large plastic nursery tree pot. You know, they are fairly comfortable and strong, too. Our dinner (whose origin I will not divulge) was not suited to a big ole' Pina Cab. It did go quite well with a Hess Collection Artezin Zinfandel, though. And it's just a coincidence that Cindy is the HR Director at Hess.

We arrived just after 5:00. We turned Yogi loose and I set up the table, chair and tree pot as Cindy laid out our dinner. We sipped & ate & sipped some more. Yogi would come back to check in every 10-15 minutes, then head out again - His nose always to the ground. Twice, he must have gotten a bit warm, so he would bound down the river bank breaking through the brush (sounding much bigger than his 75#) and take a quick dip in the river. The water must have seemed warm to him. He's used to swimming in the Tomales Bay which hovers around 50 degrees this time of year.

After dinner, but before the wine ran out, we filled our glasses and strolled down the road above the river bank. The sun was getting low over the western mountain ranges and the shadows started moving faster & faster across the vineyards.

I commented that the sun would be down in 10 minutes and Cindy asked how I knew that. I said to look how fast the shadow is traveling up the Eastern hills, you can almost see it moving. She was entranced with wonder about that statement. You could see the wheels turning in her head. And it was like everything came together for her and it was mirrored in her face. I had taught her something! I always feel good about turning the tables on her - 3 out of 4 times it's the other way around.

We returned to "base camp" and poured the last of the wine. At exactly 7:30, we heard the wine train whistle in the distance and then the sun was gone. I was going to explain to Cindy that not all the train whistles sound alike - It's just that we only get to hear the same one over & over: Long, Long, Short, Long. It was going to be cool and I'd sound so knowledgeable and, and, and... one problem. She had explained the whole system to me after going to the railroad museum in Sacramento as a class chaperon.

So anyway, it was a great date & a great evening made just a bit richer by the trials & tribulations of the past year. Last year, Cindy was diagnosed with a serious illness. She had surgery and while there are lingering issues, the prognosis is good. She is anticipating the arrival of our first grandchild in May, an event she thought she might not live to see.

So anyway (yes, I realize that's how I started the last paragraph, too), you gotta check out this Wikipedia sight http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_whistle#Whistle_code
It has all the standard & different train signals. Oh, you already know them?
Test yourself on the following:
1) Used when an emergency exists, or if persons or livestock are on the track
2) Danger
3) Apply manual brakes to stop the train as soon as possible

AND it also has this:
Train whistles in folk culture

The well-known song "Five Hundred Miles" makes frequent reference to the sound of the train whistle as being audible over a great distance.

Excerpt:

If you miss the train I'm on,

You will know that I am gone.

You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles,

A hundred miles, two hundred miles, three hundred miles, four hundred miles,

You can hear the whistle blow five hundred miles.

Painted Lady Butterfly & Lady Bug migrations

Joe Bauer was out taking more pictures yesterday afternoon, and I couldn't pass up posting just a few more Painted Lady Butterfly photos. Theses two were taken at one Andy Beckstoffers Vineyards near his office.

Later this spring, we hope to have a small Joe Bauer photo exhibit at one of our open houses - Stay tuned.

Barn in Bloomfield, CA

The butterfly migration was still going strong in the Yountville area at 5:00 yesterday. It reminded me of a family vacation on the Feather River many years ago. Only instead of butterflies, we found ourselves in the middle of a Lady Bug migration. Swarms of Lady Bugs so thick, we had to use the windshield wipers just to drive down the road. It was the only highlight to our worst family vacation ever. That vacation is still the benchmark of bad. The "resort" cabin we booked had an "ant farm" in the kitchen, leaking propane, and no screens on the windows. We only lasted 2 days of the planned seven, and still laugh about it.