Tasting Roomers visit Pina Napa Valley

Macario Montoya & Pam Bell

The Pina brothers have now been involved in 2 on-line videos related to the winery. The first was entirely scripted (by yours truly) from beginning to end. If you haven’t seen it, please check it out now at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmbm178fgf8 (It’s only 1 minute long). My good friend Tom Shirmang was the moderator and did all the talking. Well, almost all the talking. I said one word.

The second video was unscripted and courtesy of the Tasting Roomers. If you are not familiar with Tasting Roomers, here’s a bit of information I copied from their web site:

They made arrangements to feature Pina Napa Valley on their site. They provided us with a short list of potential topics for us to think about prior to their arrival. When we got around to the actual filming, I found out that each of the brothers would be interviewed separately. I was relying on my brothers to do most of the talking. So when Pam said I was next, I felt like I was back in high school and the History teacher had popped a surprise quiz that I hadn’t prepared for. I stammered a bit, talked a bit and left soon after speaking “my piece”. I almost told Pam and Jim that I didn’t need to be/shouldn’t be included in the video. But they did a great editing job and really seemed to present the brothers as we are. In my opinion, the star of the video was our assistant winemaker, Macario Montoya. I was so impressed with his casual, yet informative style, that I told him that I would be doing future interviews “over the phone”, and that his commentary would be dubbed in to make me seem smarter than I am.

Not too long after Pam & Jim came, we received an email from Pam:

Greetings Larry, John, Ranndy, Davie, & MacarioI just wanted you to know that the Pina video is now the featured video on our website. We hope you like it! We think it came out great and very much represents what Pina Napa Valley represents - hard work, real life, serious wine!
…

I think she summed it up nicely and captured it on film.

Please check it out at: http://tastingroomers.com/025-Pina.html

Nice work Pam & Jim!

the daily sip - Wine of the Week

Hey Folks,


Check out this website http://www.bottlenotes.com/ and their Wine of the Week.


(You can click on this image to enlarge, but you'll need to go to the website to click on any of the links)

“We’re here for a good time”

Gary & Martha Weeck

Martha raised her glass for a toast and said:
“We’re not here for a long time”
And the rest of the group chimed in and helped her finish the toast with:
“We’re here for a good time”

It was obviously a toast they had shared many times.

* * * * *

Gary & Martha Weeck were the high bidders for an auction lot we donated to the Taste of Howell Mountain event of two years ago. Gary & Martha were supposed to have coordinated an event date with us prior to 2009, but life got in the way. Martha was diagnosed with cancer last year. I emailed Martha asking about the toast and the illness. This was her reply:

Ranndy
…
You have my toast right. I have been saying it for years but now having fought through cancer it means so much more. I am in remission and I am okay talking about it. It is still with me and I can't taste all wines yet but it is getting better. We all had such a good time thank you all.

Best regards, Martha

Gary & Martha invited 12 of their friends to our dinner, wine tasting & games event. They were a fun group that works hard & plays hard. It was the second time they had the high bid on our auction lot.

Sippin & Chattin before dinner And these great eats were planned & prepared by Katherine (Pina) Capponi,
with some help from husband Dave & Dad (Larry)

Dinner in the cellar… And then the games began.

The game I am referring to is affectionately called

Bastard Cornhole (See earlier blog for details).

And when the last bag had been thrown, we returned to the cellar...

where Kyle Thomas was declared the Champion.

He won a signed magnum of PIÑA

that was immediately commandeered by his lovely wife Monica.

And a good time was had by all.

Loving those Hillside grapes…

We think hillside grapes are pretty special, and the birds seem to confirm that. And that’s why we need to take extra steps to protect the grapes from these voracious little predators.

It’s a labor intensive process to hang bird netting in the hillside vineyards that are too narrow & steep for equipment use.

Some folks think we go to extremes in caring for our grapes, and they are right. Because here’s what happens to unprotected grapes:

Welcome Ilaria!

Ilaria Anna Monticelli
Born Saturday August 8, 2009
10:22 am
8 pounds 5 ounces
21 inches

Cornhole Craze Expanding West!

It was almost 5 years ago (Nov 4th, 2004) that I read with interest, an article in the Napa Valley Register titled: “Corn toss craze sweeps Midwest”. This game is known much better as "Cornhole", but for obvious reasons some folks avoid using that name. Re-read that title substituting the word Cornhole and it will become very obvious why. It's basically a bean-bag toss game where the idea is to lob the corn kernel filled bags (Hence the name Corn Toss or Cornhole) through a 6” hole in a plywood platform (See above picture). Sounds easy enough, but that platform is about 30 feet away. I could go on for some time describing the game to you, but the following video will do it better & faster.

“The 2008 ACO King of Cornhole took place at the ACO US Nationals on January 23-24, 2009 at Sam's Town Casino in Las Vegas, NV.”
Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTZtFz2wUKc

The sport has been big in the Midwest for years, but the sport has been gaining popularity in the West. Cindy & I have always enjoyed playing games with the kids, whether that was softball, cards, board games, etc. So after reading the article, I figured we’d give it a try. I ordered a set of the equipment from one of the many on-line sources. It was great fun for everyone that played, at least while they were playing. As fun as it is, it’s usually only played with 2 players, or 2 teams of 2 players. So if you have a group of 15 and only one set of cornhole boards, it takes a quite a while for everyone to get a chance to play – And then there is the odd (15th) player.
I’m known for changing the rules to games, in an effort to improve them. So I set about changing the rules to Cornhole to accommodate more people at one time, and we’ve been playing the “adapted” game ever since. Since I’ve bastardized the Cornhole rules, I’ll refer to my version of the game as “Bastard” for clarity in this column. In addition to that, I’m thinking that Traditional Corhholers will call me a Bastard for messing with the rules of their beloved Cornhole.
Bastard goes like this: Before starting play, a random drawing is done and everybody is assigned a number (we’ve had over 20 people playing at one time on one set of equipment). The folks with odd numbers start at one end of the court, and evens go to the other end. Person #1 starts and throws all 4 bags at the box at the far end of the court (by the even numbered players). His score is recorded and then person #2, throws the 4 bags back in the opposite direction. Person #3 continues this pattern, and so on. After the last person throws, the same cycle is repeated, but the odds & evens swap ends to keep things fair.
The key to playing Bastard with a large group is to keep things moving. Players need to know their place in the order, and be ready to take their turn. Throwing the 4 bags can be done in a half a minute without rushing. So if you have 20 people, it takes about 10 minutes for everybody to get a turn, before the next cycle starts. A “traditional” Cornhole player may think that’s a long time between turns, BUT that is also a fun part of the game – 19 players all watch, encourage and heckle the current thrower from the sidelines. Played this way, it brings total strangers together for fun and conversation. I've organized and run numerous tournaments this way over the last 5 years. The hardest part is just getting people to agree to play "Cornhole". Once they start playing, they love it!

We donate group dinners and wine tastings as auction items to several different fundraisers. At one dinner/tasting, we had 24 people from 3 different groups. Playing Bastard had them all interacting and having fun together. It's a great "mixer".

On Saturday, July 19th, we had a event for our wine club members. The food was outstanding.

Our winemaker Anna barrel tasted wines with folks

and brother Davie hosted vineyard tours with Q & A sessions.

We even had a violinist. All those things by themselves would have made the event a success (even in the 100 degree plus weather).

But we also played Bastard and that's where we had fun, pure & simple. And once again, total strangers comingled comfortably without formal introductions. Over the course of the day, we had 43 people compete in the tournament. Hank Chavez was the high scorer and took home the prize of a Magnum of Piña.

I like to think that Bastard is the perfect game for winery events and I'd love to see it adopted by other wineries for their events - Just remember that we introduced Bastard to Y'all.

John's Grandson Cooper Donoho helping out

Traditional Cornhole games go until one of the players gets 21 points, and there are a few variables on how that scoring is done. Depending on the skill levels of the players, a game of Cornhole with 2 players can last a long time, or be over quite quickly. In Bastard with large groups, a time limit is set, along with a maximum number of 10 cycles. Twenty people can each get in about 10 turns in an hour and a half. So the time limit can be that no new cycles will be started after an hour and a half of play. I made up score sheets that have 10 frames similar to bowling.

The frame score is entered in the little box and the cumulative score in the larger area.
Did I mention that I changed the scoring, too? In Cornhole, the scoring is 1 point for a bag on the platform and 3 points for putting it through the hole.

In Bastard, you get 1 point for placing a bag on the lower half of the platform, 2 points for the upper, 3 for touching (or over) the hole and 5 points for putting it through the hole. Lastly, the platforms are closer together than in Cornhole. The hole-center to hole-center distance is only 25 feet.

One disadvantage of Bastard is that you don't play against only one person. Playing against one person, you have the opportunity to knock your opponents bag off the platform.

One advantage of Bastard is that you don't play against only one person. You play against EVERYBODY!

Last month, we had a party at the winery honoring our employees and volunteers. Even though we were still calling it Cornhole, we had a Bastard tournament. We had competitors of all ages.

In the end, Our wine educator Clair Palmer came in 1st place. Note his winning form below.

Clare has a few years on the rest of us, but he is still quite the competitor. He also plays a great game of tennis. Below is a picture of his tennis team (Nice hats!) after a tournament in Surprise, Arizona.And before I start getting Nastygrams from traditional Cornholers, let me say this: "Don't knock it until you've tried it.

Wine Club event photos:

Websites of interest:

http://www.kingofcornhole.com/

http://www.cornholeplayers.com/

http://www.americancornhole.org/

Fish Hats & Gold Shovels

Isn’t that one awesome hat?
(Photos courtesy of Joe Borreson of Balzac Communications, unless noted otherwise)

Two years ago, I was writing the bocce column for the Yountville Sun. After submitting one column, Sharon (the Sun editor), said there was no room for it, but that my column would appear the following week. Okay, these things happen, but I WAS curious to see why I had been bumped.
Turns out that in the area of the paper that normally contained my column, there was a lengthy article about Davie Pina being honored as Napa County Grower of the Year by the Napa Valley Grape Growers Association.
Dang, I was bumped by my kid brother! Well, he’s back in the news. How does he do it? Must have something to do with his headwear – Check out that hat! Is that wild or what? But I gots hats, too!

Here’s my current hiking hat and two retired hats:

(Photo by Ranndy Pina)

When I ran into a fellow vineyard manager while wearing my current hat, he asked: “Where did you get the Turkey feather?” But I can read between the lines – What he really wanted to ask was: “Do you realize THAT is a Turkey feather in your hat?” Hey, what's wrong with a Turkey feather? Even Ben Franklin said that the Turkey would be a better choice as the American symbol than an Eagle.

Ben wrote to his daughter:

"For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on."

Check it out here: http://www.greatseal.com/symbols/turkey.html

The following excerpts from a Wines & Vines article by Paul Franson will explain why Davie gets to wear that cool hat:
Napa Valley, Calif.--Members of the Rutherford Dust Society broke ground on an ambitious restoration of the Napa River bed today. The effort is intended both to restore the natural habitat of the river and protect adjacent vineyards from erosion; it should also reduce vineyard pests near the river.

RDRT (or "Our Dirt") seeks to:
* Understand the dynamics of the river system
* Stabilize river banks and address bank erosion to reduce fine sediment pollution
* Create a riparian buffer to protect agricultural land uses
* Reduce the impacts of flooding
* Protect and enhance fish and wildlife habitat
* Reduce Pierce's disease pressure on vineyards
* Provide ongoing education about the river and its watershed.

To read the entire article, please click on the following:
http://www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm?section=news&content=66010&htitle=Growers%20and%20Vintners%20Start%20Napa%20River%20Restoration

The only thing better than a hat with a fish on it is

a hat with 3 fishes on it.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, with their gold shovels are:
Bruce Wolff - Water Board, Larry Stone – President of Rutherford Dust, Davie,
John Williams – Frog’s Leap, Diane Dillon – Supervisor, Richard Thomasser – Flood Control

Pina Brothers Wine Tasting Video

As some of you already know, I come up with some pretty weird stuff.
Five years ago, I got this weird idea about making a Piña wine tasting video.
I convinced the brothers to go along with it and found some guys that could record it within our budget.
My good friend and former Piña Wine Educator, Tom Shirmang, agreed to moderate.

It’s only 1 minute long and its on YouTube with the following description:
The 4 Pina brothers of Pina Napa Valley taste other Napa Valley wines against their own.

Enough said – Please click on the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmbm178fgf8


And if you enjoyed that, here's another fun video provided by good friends Joe & Lori Bauer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imh4l83wIdg&feature=related

Yes, I think they had been drinking, too!

Instruments of Torture - Evil! Evil! Evil!

Even as you read this, these evil little bastards are multiplying.

We're told that everything in nature has its place and purpose, even mosquitoes, rattlesnakes and poison oak. I have a hard time accepting that, especially when it comes to these *!#&! stickers!

Oh sure , with their tiny little yellow flowers, they were kind of pretty and innocent looking about a month ago. But then the pretty little flowers went away and left the Trojan Horse to release the fruits of the plant in an effort to control the earth.

Sorry it’s slightly out of focus, but above is a picture of one of those fruits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribulus_terrestris
From the Wikipedia link above:
“…A week after each flower blooms, it is followed by a fruit that easily falls apart into four or five single-seeded nutlets. The nutlets or "seeds" are hard and bear two to three sharp spines, 10 mm long and 4–6 mm broad point-to-point. These nutlets strikingly resemble goats' or bulls' heads; the "horns" are sharp enough to puncture bicycle tires and to cause painful injury to bare feet.”
Those are the nutlets in the top picture. I took the other pictures along the shoulder of the Silverado Trail, maybe a half mile North of our winery. If you are interested enough to want to see them for yourself, they are right across the road from the Rutherford Fire Department sub-station. I spent maybe 15 minutes there after work one day this week, taking pictures for this post. When I went to leave, I noticed that my shoes felt different, and this is why:

When I was young and growing up on the Mt. Eden Ranch (Current Rudd & Plumpjack vineyards), there was a county program to eradicate these weeds. I remember the truck driving through the vineyards, but I honestly can’t remember if the plants were physically removed, or just sprayed, but seems I remember a spray tank on the truck (Maybe one of my readers can clarify this). At that time, there was a Western Auto store right on Main Street in St. Helena. We were regular customers there for .22 shells and bicycle tube patches.
The Latin name for this evil plant is Tribulus Terrestri. Cleverly hidden in those letters is the word “Terrible”.

http://www.naturesongs.com/vvplants/puncturevine.html
Gleaning some information from the above site:

Family: Zygophyllaceae, Caltrop Family

Annual Plant Size: Prostrate vine - generally less than 1" (2.5 cm) high, spreading to 5' (1.5 M) long in our area.

Habitat Preferred: Disturbed earth, weedy fields, roadsides Bloom

Color: Yellow tiny flowers

Other Common Names: Goat's head, Bullhead, *!#&! stickers!

Origin: Mediterranean

Comments: This is that obnoxious weed whose seeds are incredibly painful to step on, get tracked into your carpet, puncture your bicycle tires, and have to be pulled out of your pets' paws. The seed pod grows 4 "bullheads" in a circle … when mature it breaks up into 4 separate instruments of torture.

* = * = * = * = *

Yes, I think that descriptor they use: “Instruments of Torture” about sums it up.
Almost daily I hike through the vineyards in that area. On two occasions, I noticed that our Lab mix Yogi had stopped hunting and chasing rabbits, and was following me closely and limping. Both times he had one of these Goat’s Heads stuck in a paw, but being the great dog that he is, he never verbalized or vocalized his discomfort (Do those terms apply to dogs?).

Yogi Bear

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”