Grapes Gone Wild!

This is what a typical Pina Vineyard Management Farmed vine looks like this time of year. The canes have been hand tucked to be inside the trellis wires and the clusters are developing nicely within the fruit zone. The fruit zone is a horizontal band about a foot tall. And as the name implies, it is where the fruit grows. The reason the grapes only grow in this area is because the fruit only forms on buds that arise from the previous season’s growth. And each of the vertical canes (branches) was pruned back to 2 buds during the dormant season. In fact, the clusters above were formed during the 2008 growing season. Before pruning for the next year’s crop, some folks will study the buds on some pruned “sample” canes to forecast the number of clusters that can be expected, and prune accordingly. This is done by opening up the buds and studying them under a microscope. You can actually see the beginning formations of the clusters. I was amazed the first time I had the opportunity to see this.

Later in the year, the grapes will look something like this:

So what happens to a vine that does not get pruned back at the end of the growing season?

Here’s a good example: The picture above is a enlarged section of the picture below:

When a vine goes un-pruned, clusters form all over the vine. The above vine was not pruned because this block of vines is scheduled for removal. There are too many clusters for the vine to carry them all uniformly to full maturity during a regular growing season. The resulting crop is out of control and would not produce the quality of fruit used in most high end wines.

These are obviously “Grapes Gone Wild”

Gimme Five - John C. & Rickie L. Piña Family

Gimme Five by John C. Piña

Rickie and I live in the Alexander Valley of Sonoma County, not far from Healdsburg. We appreciate our two acres of country. It is almost the perfect setting. On three sides we are bordered by vineyards owned by Silver Oak. On the west side we have State Hwy 128, which isn’t a problem. I tell everyone that it reminds me of the Silverado Trail in Napa during my childhood. There is commute and vineyard related traffic and a few trucks in the morning and evening and then quiet. You can count on bicycles and motorcycles on the weekend. Everyone likes to travel the country road through a curvy canyon and finally more wine country. The neighbor across the hwy is the only drawback. You need the reality check or you would think you were in heaven.

In 2001 I committed half of my vegetable garden area to grapevines. There were two reasons for this move. I always tried to plant the whole vegetable garden area; you know, why waste the ground? I was planting 60 tomato plants and 25 peppers, and so on; it needed attention every day and became another job. The second reason was to have a little “home made wine” to share with family and friends. Both of our children and their spouses are into wine, so it seemed like a good idea. I made the mistake of trying to make the wine from the first crop in my barn. It should have been fun, but it was more like work and it wasn’t drinkable. It was time to change the plan. Why not take the fruit to the winery and let the winemaker whip up something special. I had a good idea of what to expect as I knew the fruit would be perfect. So the 2006 fruit was delivered to the winery and the process began.

I believe the year was 1988 or thereabouts when we had the last family hand bottling get together that I was involved in. The occasion was some unsold mixed red fruit, mostly Petite Sirah and Zinfandel that we made into wine for family use. It was called “Bare Butts” in honor of brother Ranndy’s two boys that were born in 1986. Everyone had lots of fun working together using the time tested tools of hand bottling. Everyone participates and all have a good feeling as they are connected to the end product. There is a certain amount of pride and accomplishment. It’s all good.

So in 2008 when the 2006 vintage was ready for bottling, our winemaker Anna said “I’ll just run it through the bottling line at the end of our regular bottling run.” I told her no, I have other plans. I’m sure she was thinking, “Just what I need is someone else making a mess in my winery.” Anna and Macario realized there are just some things you have to live with when dealing with a family member. They were a great help with every detail of the bottling plan. They got the wine ready, ordered the glass, corks (with Piña and Donoho imprinted) and foils. All I needed was the label and the labor.

I put the question to the family, “what are we going to call it?” There were several good ideas and some may think I made the wrong decision but I was making the decision. As my father-in-law enjoyed saying, “I’ve got the gold, so I’ll make the rules.” In this case I was just spending the gold. To me “Gimme Five” was the perfect name for the wine from our little backyard vineyard for several reasons. First, the vineyard is planted to five of the Bordeaux varieties; Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. Second, we have five grandchildren and third, who hasn’t heard the Gimme Five greeting. So the name was picked and now we needed a label. Rickie, Trish and Tracy put a plan together and some how they got the kids to hold still long enough to “give us five.” I think they all did a grand job. Below is a picture of the “Fab Five” that make up our “Gimme Five.”

From left to right we have Mays, Dallas, Emma, Cooper and Grace.

The "Fab Five" are the 8th generation to be involved in the wine industry in the Napa Valley. The 2007 Gimme Five Red Wine was bottled at Piña Napa Valley on May 23rd, 2009. All 22 members of the bottling crew were related to the Gimme Five by blood or marriage.

Gimme Five & Their Grandparents

Dallas, Rickie, Emma, Cooper, Grace, John C. and Mays

Tracy and Mays

Hayden Benjamin came to the "afterparty"

Trying to get the wine to syphon from the barrel

Gracie and Grammie putting the bottling date and vintage on the labels

Emma Jo creating suction on the filler

Mays foiling the bottles (with help from Mommy and Daddy)

Is the Piña the right direction? Mays making sure the cork is "just right".

Grace's favorite job of the day.

Putting the labels on the bottles with her special flair.

Tough guy Justin using the hand foiler.

Mays' turn with the foiler. We tried to have every team member do each job.

Six bottles of wine being filled at once.

Tracy taking a break to feed her nephew, baby Conner.

Rich checking the fill levels of the bottles.

John R. and his father-in-law, Gene, working through the technical difficulties.

Grammie with Cooper, the youngest of the Gimme Five.

The boys playing in the water when the bottling was done.

Nana Sue trying to keep them out of trouble.

Emma's turn to cork the bottles.

The twins were waiting patiently for their turn.

Grammie Rickie and Dallas sharing a secret.

The three Urquhart grandchildren, Conner, Dallas and Mays.

Urquhart-Piña Family

John, Mays, Gene, Tracy, Dallas, Sue, Cindy, Conner, Troy

Grandpa with the Boys driving the forklift.

Donoho Family: Emma, Cooper, Trish, Jason, Grace

John R. Piña family: John, Mays (with his cheesy grin), Tracy, Dallas

Urquhart-Piña Family

Troy, Cindy, Gene, Mays, John, Sue, Conner, Tracy, Dallas

Donoho-Ramirez Family

Riley,Emma, Stacy, Trish, Cooper, Jason, Grace, Juancho, Justin

John and Rickie's family

Tracy, Mays, John C., John R., Dallas, Emma, Rickie, Grace, Cooper, Trish, Jason

Back Row: Gene Urquhart, Sue Urquhart, Susie Wong, Rich Bietz, John R. Piña, Dallas Piña, Tracy Piña, Juancho Ramirez

Middle Row: Troy Schalk, Cindy Schalk, John C. Piña, Rickie Piña, Cooper Donoho, Trish Donoho, Jason Donoho, Stacy Ramirez

Front Row: Conner Schalk, Mays Piña, Emma Donoho, Grace Donoho, Riley Ramirez, Justin Ramirez

Bottle Shock

We bottled our 2007 Ames, Firehouse, Stone Corral and Wolff vineyard Cabernets in April. Having had barrel samples of these wines, some folks are anxious to pop the cork on these "finished" products. They don't understand that these wines may not be fully recovered from the trauma of bottling, better known as "Bottle Shock". So what is bottle shock? Some wines are so big & powerful, that the flow of wine from the barrel to the bottle generates electrical charges that get confined to the bottle. The wine wants to break free of these confines much like a young high spirited colt wants to get out of the pen. Think of it as a bottled lightning bolt. Over time, this powerful force gets absorbed into the character of the wine and will reward those who wait. But to those who release the "lightning bolt" too soon, they can experience bottle shock that leaves their hair standing on end and smoke coming out of their ears.

Our winemaker, Anna Monticelli, offers a slightly different explanation:

BOTTLE SHOCK
When a wine is bottled, it goes through a temporary phase called bottle shock, also known as wine sickness. The aromatics may be muted, the flavor components disjuncted and the alcohol and tannins can taste sharper and overwhelming. This is thought to be due to the agitation of the wine and it's exposure to excess levels of oxygen during the bottling process. And if a wine is filtered, it needs even more time to come back together. It can take a wine anywhere from a few weeks to several months to recover from bottle shock. Thankfully, wines are generally not released during this period so most people don't taste them in this disjuncted state.

Anna continues:

PINA BOTTLING
The 2007 Ames, Firehouse, Stone Corral and Wolff vineyard designate Cabernets were bottled in April. We will bottle the 2007 D’Adamo and Buckeye Cabernets at the beginning of July. At this time, we will also be bottling our new Mimbre and Cahoots wines. The Mimbre is our new reserve wine. Just as the Piña’s great-grandfather weaved cane into beautiful art, we’ve made the best blend from our single vineyards to make this stunning wine. The Cahoots is a secret collaboration of wine. And don’t ask cause we won’t tell!