Home /
-->
How We Make Our Estate Meritage
In 2002, we had to re-plant our home vineyard here at the winery because the Chardonnay we planted in 1978 was diseased. The phrase “crisis as opportunity” comes to mind.
After almost 25 years, we had a chance to take a fresh look at our property and re-evaluate what belongs here. It’s a process! We hired three different consultants to take soil samples and check the meso-climate1 throughout the site. Much to our comfort and delight, the three consultants came back with almost identical recommendations: Plant red Bordeaux varieties2.
What Is Meritage Wine?
With that decision made, Geoff Gorsuch, our Winemaker, immediately thought about making a Meritage wine. A Meritage (pronounced like “heritage”) is a blend of Bordeaux varieties and so the wines are usually Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot- based (there are white Meritage wines, too, but they’re less common). Since varietal wines had been the standard of excellence here in America, the Meritage Association was created to distinguish hand-crafted, high-quality blends from simple red or white table wines or generic, so-called “jug” wines. Geoff wanted the freedom to blend the varieties together in the way he most prefers, regardless of varietal percentage. He takes the best our property has to give, and blends it into a beautiful expression of our vineyard site to make a single- vineyard, estate grown, Meritage blend.
Planting The Vineyard
We hand-planted lots of Cabernet Sauvignon, some Merlot, and small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Our consultants helped us select the various clones3 and rootstock hybrids4 to match the variability of the soil throughout the 9.5 acres. The vine spacing also varies, depending on the anticipated vine vigor, or lack of it, in different parts of the property. Before planting we re-graded, installed drain-tile and brought down the acidity of the soil a bit.
The vineyard is on the valley floor between the old Rector Creek and the Napa River-Conn Creek junction. Small as it is, the vineyard has been divided into 11 different sections according to variety, clone, rootstock, spacing and other variables. These sections are monitored separately regarding water, nutrients, canopy management5, and of course, harvest date. It’s a lot for Geoff to juggle, but it’s the only way to get the kind of results we’re looking for.
From planting the rootstock or benchgrafts6, it is 3-4 years to the first small crop. We think of the vineyard as mature when it is 6 or 7 years old, and hope that it will be with us for decades.
Read more
How We Make Our Estate Chardonnay
Wine making is so simple, it was discovered by accident. Fresh grape juice, unattended, will become wine sooner or later. But here’s the hard part: will the wine be any good? Science helps us bottle wine that is much more predictably sound than it was 100 years ago, but we can’t make memorable wine in a lab.
The real fun and art of winemaking lies in the endless variables that come up along the way. Where and how to plant? When to harvest? How to handle the grapes at the winery? What kind of yeast to add? What kind of fermentation vessel should we use? Which barrels to buy? It goes on and on.
We’re going to focus on the choices that Geoff Gorsuch, our Winemaker, makes along the way to produce Goosecross Chardonnay every year.
Planting A Vineyard
Geoff will tell you that the wine can only be as good as the grapes that make it. There is no way to make a wonderful wine out of mediocre grapes, no matter how skilled the producer. Geoff’s goal is to get his hands on the best possible fruit and then to conserve the beauty of the fruit through attentive, but not intrusive, winemaking.
In our case, as a small, family winery, the winemaker is also the vineyard manager. Geoff is hands-on from the planting of the vines, every step of the way, until the wine is bottled.
You’ve heard the old real estate saw: “location, location, location.” Well, it truly applies in growing grapes for wine. Getting the right variety in the right location is 90% of the battle. We grow our Estate Chardonnay in the coolest region of Napa Valley, known as the Carneros Region. This is an ideal location for Chardonnay, where the grapes ripen slowly in the persistent morning fog, and cool evening breezes. The resulting prolonged “hangtime,” literally means that the Chardonnay has enough time on the vine to develop completely mature flavors and to delight us with a little tropical character. The soil is typical of Carneros, in that there is clay, but it is interspersed with some gravel and sand, improving drainage.
Before planting a vineyard like this, we bring in experts to take soil samples from various parts of the property, and also to measure the specific mesoclimate1 throughout the vineyard. With this information, we can make good decisions about selecting the optimal clone2 and root-stock hybrid3 for the site, and also set up the best spacing and row orientation for eventual wine quality.
For this site, we selected the low-vigor, SO4 rootstock in order to keep the yields down and flavors concentrated. A vertical trellis system4 in this location, running east-west, allows for plenty of light exposure to heighten fruitiness with very little risk of sunburn.
With these choices made, we lay out the posts, stakes and wires for the trellis. We dug the holes, planted and trained the vines and attached the trellis wires by hand. A drip irrigation system completes the installation.
From planting the rootstock or benchgrafts5, it is 3-4 years to the first small crop. We think of the vineyard as mature when it is 6 or 7 years old, and hope that it will be with us for decades.
Pruning 101
It’s March – I know these vines look like they’re dead right now, but they could wake up and start growing, literally, any minute, just like the roses in your garden. So, it’s time to get this business of pruning wrapped up. Geoff, our Winemaker, foolishly agreed to show us how it’s done. 
He’s a very patient man!
First, a little carbo-loading for the arduous task ahead:
Geoff explains the theory and, with trepidation, hands over the pruning shears to Mark, our Tasting Room Manager, downtown, at Wineries of Napa Valley.
We managed to come out of it with all digits intact
So – the theory, according to Geoff Gorsuch: “For each vine, it’s a balancing act – getting a leaf-canopy to cluster ratio that’s appropriate for the vigor of the vine and the site. Balanced vines make balanced wine.”
“Before”
“After”
Next post: Geoff explains in a little more detail
