Why do Clones Matter?
We always start our tours out in the vineyard, at Goosecross, and we quite often mention that Geoff Gorsuch, our Winemaker, has our nine and a half acre estate vineyard divided into 11 different sections. This is a Cabernet-dominated vineyard, but since we grow 3 other Bordeaux varieties on the property, there’s an obvious division into four and then I explain that the other sections are due to differences in spacing, rootstock, hybrid and clone. Almost inevitably the next question is “what the heck is a clone?”
The word clone tends to bring to mind clinical images of Petri dishes and labs and all the ethical questions that came up with the advent of Dolly the sheep. But, when it comes to grapes, new clones are purely an act of nature and the science involved is in studying them and learning how to identify them accurately.
What is a clone?
First of all, what’s a clone? Evidently, everything that grows, including us humans, is subject to natural and spontaneous genetic change, which we call mutation, another kind of scary term. But, mutation is just part of nature. The freedictionary.com defines it as “A change of the DNA sequence within a gene or chromosome of an organism resulting in the creation of a new character or trait not found in the parental type.”
As more time passes, the potential for mutation increases. For instance, Pinot Noir is a very old wine grape and clonal selection is a topic of intense interest and discussion among winemakers. Cabernet Sauvignon has only been around since the late 1700s and, though there are various clones available, clonal selection doesn’t generate nearly as much debate. We also know that some varieties, like Pinot Noir, tend to mutate more easily than others. What it means is that if you have a very old Pinot Noir vineyard, it could be that you have a few different versions of the variety growing out there by now. You’d have to study the individual vines very closely to know.
So, we know that there are variations within a number of varieties available. Our job is to figure out which versions we prefer and replicate them. This is where it starts to become scientific, which is just a matter of people paying very close attention.
This has been done on a comparatively casual basis throughout history, meaning that the grower would notice that some of the vines in his acreage performed better than others and he would take cuttings from those preferred vines to propagate new ones.
Easter and Passover Entertaining
Spring is a time of miracles, of new beginnings and a celebration of life itself. Easter and Passover are times for reflection, a chance to pause for a moment to count our blessings and recognize the miracles that happen in front of our eyes every day.
Of course we associate Easter with the resurrection, but it is deeply rooted in Anglo-Saxon mythology. It was celebrated long before the birth of Christ by pagans who reveled in the coming of spring and the renewal of life that it brings. Originally Easter was called Pascha, the Hebrew word for Passover. Pascha evolved into Easter, a word which we believe is derived from Eostre, the name of the Anglo-Saxon goddess of fertility and springtime. The date of Easter is determined, like its pagan festival equivalent, by the lunar calendar. Easter is also timed to coincide with the Jewish feast of Passover which celebrates deliverance from slavery and oppression. These holidays come like a breath of spring, marking new beginnings, and for agrarian cultures, like ours, the return of the growing and birthing seasons.
As we come together to celebrate the miracle of life we realize how lucky we are to enjoy such an abundance of wonderful food and wine, and to be able to share them with family and friends. Many of our Passover and Easter food traditions are symbolic, whether the symbol is religious or represents renewal. Eggs are traditional elements of both Passover and Easter celebrations. They symbolize birth and fertility in many cultures as does the rabbit. Of course these days the rabbit usually takes the form of the Easter Bunny who hides chocolate and painted eggs for the children to find, making chocolate a relatively new food tradition. The lamb was adopted from the lamb sacrificed at Jewish Passover and for Christians it came to signify Christ’s death on the cross. The Romans were responsible for making ham a springtime favorite. They buried pork by the sea in the winter to create a salty, cured ham for the spring. American pilgrims carried on the tradition, hand-curing pork in the fall in anticipation of the Easter feast.
There are some who believe that offering colored eggs as a springtime gift goes all the way back to the Ancient Egyptians, but we know for certain that we’ve been coloring eggs since at least the Middle Ages. The bright colors were meant to represent sunlight and the longer days of spring. The German tradition was to paint eggs green and eat them on Maundy Thursday, while in Greek and Slavic cultures eggs were dyed red as a symbol of the blood of Christ. As the centuries have gone by the eggs have become more and more ornate, reaching a pinnacle with the famous jeweled and enameled Faberge eggs made for the Russian czars.
Regardless of religion or culture, throughout the ages, food and wine have brought us together at the table to enjoy each other’s company. Colleen Topper, our proprietor and in-house chef has created some wonderful menus for Passover and Easter that include lots of delicious, traditional foods. Happy spring!
Passover menu
First course
Potato-Leek Matzo Cakes
serve with Goosecross Sauvignon Blanc
Entree
Caramelized Onion Beef Brisket
Baby Carrots and Asparagus
serve with Goosecross Syrah
Dessert
Almond Cake
serve with Goosecross Chenin Blanc
Easter Menu
First course
Asparagus & Orange-Grapefruit Salad
serve with Goosecross Sparkling Rose
Entree
Grilled Marinated Lamb Roast with Pinot Noir & Pomegranate
serve with Goosecross Pinot Noir
Dessert
Lemon Meringue Tartlets
serve with Goosecross Chenin Blanc
Los Carneros AVA
The name Los Carneros tells you about its agrarian history – it translates from Spanish as “The Rams,” referring to the many sheep ranches that dotted the country-side in the early days. For many years following repeal of prohibition, Los Carneros remained primarily an area of sheep and cattle ranching, while the upper valley was rapidly being planted to grapes. In spite of a history of grape growing in the 1800s, some believed there was not enough water, and that the soil was too shallow and impermeable to support commercial vineyards.
Finally, in the early 1960s, a few brave pioneers began planting vines, and, as they say, the rest is history!
Today, the Carneros AVA (American Viticultural Area) is renowned for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and sparkling wines of elegance and distinction, and is generally accepted as the best part of Napa Valley for growing them. It gained AVA status in 1983. As with all AVA’s, the minimum requirement is 85% Carneros grapes to put the Carneros AVA on the label.
Why do we have AVAs? Throughout the country the wines of certain regions have stood out, leading to an investigation of the mesoclimates1and soils that make the area and its wines unique. Growers and vintners within a specific region define its boundaries and give it a name (often historical or a reference to topographical features), or appellation, to set it apart. These appellations must be approved by the federal government.
Napa Valley was the first AVA approved in California as recently as 1981, reminding us how far the valley has come in a very short time. It’s a rather specific AVA (AVA’s vary radically in size), in that Napa Valley is only about 30 miles long, and a few miles wide. Many are unaware that Napa Valley produces less than 5% of California’s wine.
Generally speaking, the more specific the appellation, the more distinctive the wine is likely to be.
Almost as soon as the Napa Valley AVA was approved, the valley was further subdivided into more AVA’s based upon differences in soil, climate and wine character. This was a natural evolution, as we came to know the valley better and realized the wisdom of matching the right variety with the right place.
Cool climate, early ripening varieties, especially Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, shine in the Carneros. The San Pablo Bay near Los Carneros at the southernmost end of Napa Valley provides the foggy, windy air conditioning for the entire valley. However, as the valley progresses north, it moves away from the maritime influence. Consequently, heat loving varieties do well in the north, and the delicate, early ripening varieties are concentrated in the Carneros. For many years, winemakers have recognized that the uniformly cool, breezy microclimate throughout the Carneros region produces grapes and wines which share a common style.
The cool conditions lead to slow maturation, so the grapes are fully mature at lower sugar levels and higher acids, maximizing freshness while achieving great depth of flavor. This is the ideal situation for growing our signature aromatic, crisp, Goosecross Chardonnay.
The clay soil, once thought to be a possible detriment, has proven to be very favorable for high quality wine grapes. The clay tends to impact the vine’s vigor by restricting the development of the root system and providing just enough nutrients and water to sustain growth without excess development. Too much vigor can work against quality and lead to vegetal or bland tasting wines. Slight stress generally produces smaller, more flavorful grapes, because they’re less juicy, and the juice is watery.
Two clay soils, the Diablo and Haire series dominate the region. The yellowish-brown, Haire soils contain calcium from ancient marine deposits of sea shells, which is beneficial to grape vines. You can find these fossil shells today as you walk the vineyards. These soils are slightly alkaline, and have a very high clay content that provides good water holding capacity.
The more acidic, black Diablo soils are high in manganese, an essential nutrient for grape vines that helps plants to form chlorophyll. Diablo soils have a high clay content and good water holding capacity although they are slightly less permeable.
Haire and Diablo soils tend to alternate in a soil profile, suggesting that the grape vine adapts to a very different chemical environment as the roots grow from one layer into the next. The change in chemical environment slows the growth of the vine, restricting its vigor.
We’re fortunate that our Los Carneros vineyard includes some gravel and sand not often found in the region, interspersed with the clay soils, allowing for better drainage.
2004 marked the first release of a Carneros District Goosecross Chardonnay, and we have been gratified to find that it’s all that we hoped for and has been so well received. The wine reflects the elegance characteristic of its appellation of origin.
Regional statistics, Napa Valley Vintner’s association:
Climate: High temperatures during summer rarely exceed 80°F (27°C) and cool to the mid-50s (13°C) at night.
Elevation: 15 to 400 ft. (4.6 to124 m)
Lowest in Napa Valley: 18 to 24 inches (7.2 to 9.6 cm) annually
Footnotes:
1. Meso-climate: The climate of a vineyard site, hillside or valley. The term “microclimate” is used in its place extremely often. Microclimate correctly refers to the climate immediately surrounding the individual vine canopy (or green growth) and clusters. Vineyard and canopy management will strongly influence the microclimate, but not the mesoclimate.
Sherry
It’s believed that the first vine cuttings were brought to modern-day Jerez nearly 3000 years ago. Throughout its long and convoluted history, the wine didn’t always resemble the wine we now know as sherry. But, this delicious wine traveled the world with the help of distilled wine fortification. In fact, many historians believe that sherry was the first wine to be exported to the new world shortly after Columbus made his discovery. And, when Magellan set out on his famous quest to find the spice islands, it’s said that his expenditures for sherry were greater than those for weaponry for the entire voyage! Aside from the Spanish, the British are the world’s greatest consumers of sherry, courtesy of Sir Francis Drake, who raided the Spanish fleet at the port town of Cadiz. He made off with thousands of gallons of sherry intended for the Spanish navy, and so established it as a popular beverage at home.
There are wines made all over the world that borrow the name. In fact, for a while it seemed that any sort of white wine with fortification was called sherry. But, the original, authentic sherry is made in the regulated area called Jerez in the southwest of Spain. Within the European Union only wine from the designated area called the Jerez Denominacion de Origen (D.O.), or appellation, may be called sherry.
The sherry varieties, with the exception of Muscat Alexandria, aren’t often found outside of Jerez. The Palomino grape, also known as Palomino Fino, is the mainstay. It hasn’t succeeded elsewhere, probably because it doesn’t make very good table wine. The juice oxidizes easily and it’s also prone to flabby acidity, but those qualities, especially the tendency to oxidize, make it very suitable for sherry and Palomino accounts for almost 95% of the plantings in Jerez. The rest of the acreage is shared by Pedro Ximenez and Muscat Alexandria, which are most often used to make sweet wine either for bottling or for blending into dry sherry.
Making the wine is a fascinating process for two reasons: the special yeast called flor and the solera aging system. As harvest begins, the winemaker has two options, stylistically: fino sherry or oloroso sherry. Most producers make both. The vineyard lots that are likely to make the most light, elegant wines are selected to make fino sherry. Fino is often made of free-run juice only and is cold fermented to retain fruitiness. The coarser lots are better suited to make the oloroso sherry. If there’s any barrel fermentation at all, it’s most likely to be for the heavier oloroso wine. And, more than for any stylistic goal, it’s done to break in and neutralize the new American oak barrel. These barrels, which are called butts, are about three times larger than the barrels you see at most modern wineries. They’re only bought new out of necessity – oak flavor is not considered a virtue when it comes to sherry. When the fermentation is finished and the wine is about 11-12% alcohol, it’s time for fortification, so distilled wine is added. The amount is determined by the intended style of the finished wine. The potential fino lots are only fortified to up to about 15%. The fino wines are bone dry, light, by sherry standards, and very elegant in style. The oloroso lots are fortified to about 18% and are will make the dark, full-bodied, nutty styles.
Fino Sherry Production
The lower alcohol level for the fino is crucial because of the special flor yeast, which thrives in the bodegas of Jerez. It’s used in the initial alcoholic fermentation but its metabolism changes, afterward, and it uses the alcohol and oxygen to form a filmy, curd-like layer on the surface of the wine. It can only survive in an alcohol solution under 16%. The new sherry is moved into butts, for aging, but it’s important to fill them to only about 5/6′s full. The next spring, as the cellar warms up, the winemaker will begin to notice the little curds expanding until they cover the entire surface of the wine. The flor protects the wine from oxidation by using the oxygen in the headspace. But, the protection isn’t complete and that limited amount of oxidation gives the wine complexity. The flor also produces acetaldehyde which plays a significant role in giving the sherry the nutty smell and taste you expect. All wines have a small amount of acetaldehyde, but when it’s detected in table wines, it’s usually considered a flaw and makes the wine seem rather flat.
Unattended, the flor yeast will use up the wine’s nutrients and die, but periodic replenishing with younger wine and yeast nutrients keeps it alive for years.
The Solera System
Which brings us to the solera system. The butts are stacked up with the oldest wine in the bottom butt and progressively younger wines in the butts above it. Each year a little wine, no more than one third, by law, is drawn from the bottom butt for bottling. The wine is replaced by the younger wine in the barrel above it – and so on and so on. Theoretically, there can be some very ancient wine in the blend of extensively-aged wines, but the amount is negligible. The old wine lends nuance to the blend and the young wines help maintain a sense of freshness. Finos usually spend about five years in the solera system before bottling, but if the wine is refreshed at least a few times a year, the flor may live as long as ten years.
Beyond Extra Virgin Olive Oil
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Fun Fact by Diane De Filipi, Let’s Go Cook Italian: Beyond Extra Virgin Olive Oil
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Why Is Hangtime Such An Issue?
If “hangtime” or “extended hangtime” is a new term to you, it’s because it hasn’t been in use very long. It refers literally to the amount of time we allow the grapes to hang on the vine before we harvest. It’s become an issue because there’s been a recent trend toward leaving the grapes on the vine longer than we did in the past. It’s all a natural part of our evolution and learning curve here in California.
We’ve been making wine in California since Father Junipero Serra planted the first grapevine here in the late 1700s. There was a thriving industry here at the turn of the 20th century. However, prohibition was so disruptive that when repeal came around in 1933 it was almost like starting over again. It’s so easy to make bad wine that we became very analytically oriented and directed our efforts more toward suppressing fault than heightening the good. We had the equivalent of recipes from the University for making white vs. red wine and this is probably where California got its reputation for mediocrity.
Picking grapes by the sugar content
One part of the recipe was to pick our grapes according to the percentage of sugar, which may not be added in California. Here’s how it works: during fermentation, we can predict that 50-60% of the sugar will convert to alcohol, depending on the yeast (the rest converts to heat and carbon-dioxide gas). In the 1960s and 70s a common standard for red wine grapes was to harvest at 24 degrees brix, roughly 24% sugar, to end up at about 12.5 % alcohol. In some cases wineries even paid growers bonuses for delivering their grapes at a particular sugar.
As long as the weather is warm and dry the sugar goes up. Naturally, the growers wanted to get their grapes in before they risked rain damage, so these bonuses were incentives to keep them from picking too early.
Harvesting by flavor
Later on, as it occurred to winemakers that there might be more to ripeness than just sugar, we started hearing the phrase “hang-time”. They started emphasizing flavor development and seed maturity as they continued to monitor the sugar.
This is where things started to get complicated. In warm weather sometimes the sugar runs ahead of the flavor maturity. Working under the theory that if they don’t wait long enough the wine will have green, vegetal character and harsh tannins, winemakers became more inclined to allow the sugar to climb while they waited for what is sometimes called physiological maturity – mature flavors, crunchy grapeseeds and dry, brown stems.
Growers take a pay cut
Two significant issues were spawned by the trend toward extended hang time and higher sugars. One is financial. Most growers are paid by the ton. A study on Cabernet was conducted by Ed Weber, the Napa County viticulture advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension. He concluded that for each degree of sugar or brix over 26, a Cabernet grower’s tonnage goes down by about 5% due to dehydration, which means the grower’s paycheck also shrinks by 5%. Everybody likes a cut in pay, right?
The growers in the valley have been remarkably patient, probably hoping it’s a temporary situation, but as of a few years ago, they started holding meetings to discuss the situation and try to come to some kind of accommodation with local winemakers. Some winemakers prefer to purchase grapes by the acre so there’s no issue with yields and that practice may become more widespread if things continue as they are. It’s also been proposed that for every degree over 26%, the grower receive a 5% increase in compensation to balance his loss, but of course each grower and buyer must reach their own agreement.
Higher alcohols
The other effect of the higher sugar is higher alcohol in the wine. If the conversion rate during fermentation is between 50 and 60%, then grapes that come in at 28 degrees brix can produce as much as 16.8% alcohol! It’s a bit like having a glass of Port with your rib-eye steak. There aren’t many wines with a reading that high, but if you’re a label reader then you’ve noticed a gradual increase in the alcohol of California wines.
A Memorable Mother’s Day Feast!
Did you know that Mother’s Day goes all the way back to ancient Greek and Roman times? In fact, the Roman celebration, appropriately called Hilaria, was in honor of the mother Goddess Cybele. In classic Roman style, the revelry went on for three days!
As the empire fell, Cybele was replaced by the Mother Church and parishioners brought gifts and offerings. Over time people chose to honor their own mothers, as well as the church, with small tokens of appreciation. It’s said that in Medieval England, when it was common for the children of poor families to work away from home to supplement the family income, it became traditional to give these children the opportunity to “go-a-mothering” once a year. They’d bring home a special cake for their mother and spend some time with their family over the weekend. In some cases this was the only time, other than Christmas, that these children saw their mothers, so these were very-precious moments!
Here in the US, the credit goes to Anna Jarvis for instituting a Mother’s Day holiday. She had an exceptionally close relationship with her mother and felt a great void after her death in 1905. She convinced her friends to help her with a writing campaign to declare an official day honoring our mothers. They were very persistent in lobbying influential ministers, businessmen, congressmen and even took their case to then-President Taft. Finally, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued the first proclamation making Mother’s Day an official national holiday. Today, a similar holiday is celebrated in many countries all over the world and we are united in honoring our mothers for their love and dedication.
Here’s to you, Mom!
Colleen’s special Mother’s Day menu
Bibb Lettuce & Asian Pear Salad with Lemon Shallot Vinaigrette
Chicken Breasts in Orange Sauce
Asian-Style Cold Noodles with Lemon Ginger Sauce
Serve with Goosecross Chardonnay
Serve with Goosecross Chenin Blanc
Search for more delicious recipes in Colleen’s Kitchen
Chenin Blanc
Common synonyms: Chenin, Pineau de la Loire, Pineau d’Anjou, Steen
Believe it or not, there was a time when Chenin Blanc was the most popular white wine in Napa Valley before it was eclipsed by Chardonnay and fell into relative obscurity. In its home in the Loire Valley of France, where it’s often called Pineau de la Loire, it’s a variety that’s cherished for its delicate aromas of honeyed fruit, flowers and hay and also for its remarkable versatility. In that part of the world it makes many styles: delicate dry white wine, slightly sweet wine, sparkling wine and even exquisite late-harvest wines.
This is not to say that it isn’t grown much outside of France anymore but, in most regions, it’s relegated to the role of a work-horse blending grape. In California, it’s grown mainly in the San Joaquin Valley and blended with other white varieties to make every-day white wine. The vine itself is vigorous and capable of producing large yields, so it lends itself to that role. But, as the yields goes up, the flavors are increasingly diluted and the varietal character is lost. It’s prone to high-acid, which is a blessing in our warm climate and can be a curse some years in the cooler Loire Valley.
You can find a few brands of Napa Valley Chenin Blanc, if you hunt for them and, even though they’re not plentiful, these few are made by winemakers who understand what Chenin Blanc can be. They’re typically very flavorful and usually dry. Some are barrel aged, or even barrel-fermented, Chardonnay style. Our winemaker at Goosecross finds that a touch of sweetness accentuates the honeyed character, so our slightly-sweet wine is an exception.
South Africa has come on strong with Chenin Blanc and is now the world’s largest Chenin Blanc grower by far, dedicating about 17% of its wine-grape acreage to the variety that was known there as Steen. There are both excellent and disappointing examples. It’s grown all over the US and in other parts of the world but, through no fault of its own, most of the wines aren’t interesting.
Because of its many faces, pairing Chenin Blanc with food depends upon the style. Its high acidity predisposes it to be food friendly. The Chardonnay-like styles pair well with seafood and other light fare. Fruity examples will be delicious with sweet proteins like duck and pork. You can seal the match by using some fruit, honey or some of the wine in your preparation. The slightly sweet examples are a great counterpoint to hot and spicy Asian and Indian cuisine and are good companions for almost any cheese. You can find delicious recipes to pair with our Chenin Blanc in Colleen’s Kitchen.
Port
We have a 17th-century trade war between the British and the French to thank for popularizing the port wine we enjoy today. As the tariffs on French wine grew, the British wine merchants began looking around for alternatives. Relations with Portugal were good, so they began importing thin, acidic wine from the north coast – the wine we now know as Vinho Verde. It was decidedly unpopular so they moved inland along the Douro River and discovered some red wines with inky black intensity – these might go over better. To make sure the wines survived the voyage home, they added a bit of brandy as a sort of preservative or stabilizer. That was the first step.
A little later, one of these merchants visited a hillside monastery and noticed that the monks were adding brandy during the fermentation instead of waiting until the wine was dry. Now that was good! And, so, port wine was born. Since then, port-like wines have been produced all over the world. To this day, many Portuguese brands have British names that go back to these original merchants and shippers such as Symington, Grahams or Dow. And, you can easily find a bottle of California Port at the grocery store.
In recent years, the Portuguese vintners have differentiated their wine from port-style wines from outside of the region by calling them Porto. This is for Oporto, Portugal’s second largest city, which sits at the mouth of the 560-mile Douro River. In the European Union they may only use the name, port, when the wine is from the Douro Valley, but the regulations don’t apply to countries outside of the EU.
Grape Varieties and production
The traditional varieties used to make port are unfamiliar to most of us with one exception. The grape the Portuguese call Tinta Roriz is the same as Tempranillo or Valdepenas. Over 80 varieties are permitted in the production of Porto, but the majority of the plantings are to Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Franca and Tinto Cao. A small amount of white port is made and the only white varieties that are likely to sound familiar are Muscat and Malvasia. The Muscat is also used to make a small amount of fortified, sweet wine called Moscatel. The port varieties aren’t often found outside of Portugal. In the US, Zinfandel Port is popular and port-style wines are also made of Grenache, Carignane, Petite Sirah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Alicante Bouschet.
Since the fermentation is cut short it’s important to get as much color and flavor out of the skins as possible in the first few days. This means that frequent “punch downs”, to keep the skins and wine mixed up, are desirable, as is the heat, which builds naturally, to aid in extraction. When the wine has reached the desired degree of sweetness, grape spirits are introduced to kill the yeast, leaving a sweet wine enriched with alcohol. The sweetness is variable, but is often around 10% sugar and the alcohol generally runs between 18-22%. At this point the port is extremely potent, and somewhat harsh, so some sort of aging is necessary. The choice of aging vessel can include wooden casks, cement tanks or even stainless steel. And, as in Champagne production, blending different vintages together is more common than vintage dating the wine.
Port wines fall into one of two main categories: Most ports are called wood port, which is aged at the winery and ready to drink upon release. Vintage ports are far more rare and, therefore, more costly. They’re aged in wood relatively briefly and are meant for extensive bottle aging. The wine develops very differently in the bottle vs. the cask – the wine loses color and quite a bit of its fruit and intensity with long cask aging, so the wood ports are relatively light and mellow compared to the concentrated, complex vintage port.
Most of us reach for the wood port, that’s aged at the winery, for the sake of cost and convenience, but vintage port is a great selection to put away for that 21st birthday celebration or 50th wedding anniversary. But, as you’ll see, there are variations on a theme, when it comes to port. Here are some of the most common styles you’ll see on the shelves:
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Vineyard Development Q & A with Owner/Winemaker Geoff Gorsuch
A little background: Several years ago our beautiful Chardonnay vineyard began showing the symptoms of Pierce’s Disease, which is incurable. Our only option was to replant. It was a sad realization, but we also recognized crisis as opportunity. The vineyard was originally planted in the 70s and 20-plus years is a long time in a young wine-producing region like Napa Valley. The learning curve is steep and many of our ideas had changed over the years. In its way, having to replant gave us a chance to use what we’d learned. Please click here for information on how Piece’s Disease is contracted.
Q: Once you became aware that the Chardonnay had Pierce’s Disease, how much time did that leave you to plan on what to do?
Geoff: We first noticed the symptoms in the late 80s and started replacing sick vines one by one. Eventually the vineyard was over 50% replanted and even though the wine was wonderful, it was a really difficult situation because of uneven ripening at harvest with the mix of young and old vines. Plus we had old-fashioned spacing and trellising. We knew it was time to start over. But that gave us lots of time to think about replanting and to plan. We finally replanted in 2003.
Q: What’s the first step?
Geoff: Since so many years had gone by we thought it would be a good idea to take a really hard look at the property, so we hired a couple of the most respected viticultural consultants in the valley. They dug sample pits in different parts of the property to check the soil depth and composition, re-measured the meso-climate and we put our heads together to determine what to plant and where.
Q: Say you had to start from scratch and buy land. What does an acre on the Napa Valley floor run these days?
Geoff: Without a home site about $200,000/acre or unplanted, $150,000. Location and parcel size can make a significant difference.
Q: Why did you decide to go with the Cabernet family rather than planting Chardonnay again?
Geoff: When we took a look at the terroir it really called for the Bordeaux varieties. Of course, now we’ve got 11 different sections on 9.3 acres planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
Q: How did you get rid of the old vineyard?
Geoff: We hired a guy with a Caterpillar D-8 with a big fork on it to rip out the vines and shove them into a pile. Then we burned it all and hauled all the wires to a recycling plant.
Q: Do you need to do anything to the soil before you replant?
Geoff: Our analysis indicated that we needed to raise the pH, so we added some lime and then we hired another Caterpillar to rip down about 6 feet into the soil. That’s done to loosen compaction due to gravity and heavy machinery driving over it all those years and to try to get out most of the roots. Then they disked and smoothed the soil and we started pulling out rocks. We could probably have filled about 4 swimming pools with all the rocks we removed and it’s still rocky!
Q: Can you briefly explain why we can’t grow the vines on their own roots?
Geoff: World-wide, in most places you can’t grow wine grapes on their own roots because of lack of resistance to soil pests like phylloxera, so we graft the varietal onto resistant rootstock. Also, if you match the rootstock hybrid and the clone of the variety to the soil conditions, fruit quality can really go up.
Q: There are some differences in spacing, rootstock hybrid and clone out there for the Cabernet and Merlot. How did you decide what to do?
Geoff: We went back to our soil samples and even on our small site there’s quite a bit of variability, which is why we have the 11 blocks. You’ll find nice, loamy soil, very rocky soil and some in between. We also have a low spot where part of the Napa River used to run through. I don’t know if you’d say we have 11 specific terroirs, but we have lots of different soils and now that the vineyard is productive I can see that making those delineations is paying off. They’re doing really well.
Q: How do you decide on row orientation? You see everything in this valley.
Geoff: The hills that form the valley run pretty close to north to south and I think most of us plant east to west, so that both sides of the vines get plenty of sunlight without getting hit with too much direct sun exposure, especially in the afternoon. Everyone has his own theory and you’ll see north to south and virtually everything. Of course if you’re on a hillside, like we are in Howell Mountain, then you have to conform to the shape of the hill.
Q: And what about the trellising?
Geoff: There are lots of options. We went with the vertical trellis, which just means that the shoots are placed so that they grow straight upward and are trained through the trellis wires to maximize light exposure. It heightens the fruity character we’re so famous for here in the Napa Valley! It’s labor intensive to keep tucking the shoots into the wires every 3 weeks or so, and later on at pruning time you have to pick it all out. But it’s worth it.
Q: Can you talk about the advantages and disadvantages between grafting by hand vs. purchasing the pre-made grafts from a nursery?
Geoff: If you have enough water to support both the rootstock and the graft you can gain a year by purchasing bench grafts. The labor is already done and there are fewer misfires. In that case the bud for the variety is already grafted into the rootstock and both the root system and the varietal are growing and developing at the same time. You usually end up cutting back completely at pruning time at the end of that first season, but then when it comes back in the spring it grows really well. If you field bud you need skilled field-budders and there are more no-takes that have to be re-done. We prefer bench-grafts, but we couldn’t get the right combination of rootstock hybrid and clonal selection for the whole vineyard, so you can see places in the Merlot and some of the Cabernet Franc that don’t look as strong as the rest of the vineyard because we had to field-bud. But, they’ll catch up.
Q: Once you plant a bench graft how soon can you expect a crop?
Geoff: At least two to three years, and you’re doing a lot of thinning on those years. We thinned the entire crop off of some of our second year vines and even in the third year, you’re more interested in getting the vines well-established than in taking a big crop, so you thin. The fourth year you’re going pretty well.
Q: At what point do you think of the vineyard as mature?
Geoff: After about 5+ years.
Q: What does it cost per acre to manage the mature vineyard each year?
Geoff: Depends upon how much of the work you do yourself, but figure on about $800.00 to $1200.00 per acre per year. There are costs like protecting the vines from mildew and some years frost is a bigger issue than others. Also, there’s maintenance of the wind machines for frost protection and other farm equipment. If you do a lot with cover crops then it cuts down on tractor time and saves money. There are ways to economize, but you always know that the wine can’t be any better than the fruit that makes it.
Q: What kind of yield can you expect per acre?
Geoff: We’re thinking 3-4 tons per acre, even though the vines will probably be capable of producing more. You want to keep the tonnage down to keep the flavor, color intensity and fruity character up, so we do some cluster thinning during the growing season.
Q: What does that translate to in terms of wine?
Geoff: At 3 tons per acre, and 160 gallons per ton, you can figure about 200 cases per acre.
Q: How much is a ton of Cabernet worth these days?
Geoff: Napa Valley average was $3,973.00 in 2005. Sonoma was $2322.00. Again, that was the average and depending on location it can run even more. I saw that someone paid over $10,000.00 per ton in 2005!
Q: How old is too old?
Geoff: We hope to have at least 30 good years. At some point the vines drop off in quantity or quality, usually due to disease, and it’s just not viable anymore-much like we experienced with our Chardonnay. Sometimes the old vines surprise you and make really nice wines for a long time, but the average is probably around 30 years.
Q: What does the future hold for the Goosecross estate vineyard?
Geoff: We hope to do a Meritage blend and maybe some ÆROS along with a few separate varietals. The vineyard is still young and I’m sure that will be a subject for debate with my business partner, David Topper!
