American Terroir

The Vineyard Spring

The land in the vineyards north of me has been heating up for a couple of weeks now. The sun in Napa and Sonoma is up by 6 am and it doesn’t set until after 8 pm. That means the rocks and the soil in the vineyards hold the heat longer and the air around the vines cools later than it has during the winter.

The intense yellow carpets of mustard between the rows in February and March are mostly gone now. Temperatures in Napa are going to get up to 90 degrees over the next few days forcing the flowers out of the new vine growth by the end of May.

Walk the vineyards and the bees and birds and insects are thick around you. If you should find yourself in the Alexander Valley in Sonoma, look up and you might see the clouds of Monarch Butterflies that have been leaving wine country the last 3 weeks to return to their summer homes.

In ancient times people thought the vineyard was a thing to both worship and to fear. The new leaves and buds pushing out each spring were proof that Dionysios, the God of wine still lived. The proof was easy to see, no one could miss it. The grapes were his body and the juice his blood.

Of course, these days no one believes that anymore—right? Still, if you were standing out here among the Monarchs and the bees you might not be so sure.

Modern winemaking is based in science, not religion and that change in attitude and action toward the new growth defines the way vineyards develop today. What is less obvious is that it also defines the people who work in the vineyard and on the wines.

To the extent you choose to buy these wines (or not) it will define you too.

Grape Farms

Winemaking in the last century focuses on dominating the land—identifying the problem and crushing it. There has been a century long kerfuffle putting up posts and wires of trellising to control the amount of heat and sunlight that reaches the not-quite-yet-grapes, spraying chemicals including sulfites to kill fungus and bacterial invasions, killing pests and adjusting the acidity in the soil to carefully calibrated statistical norms.

This approach has produced greater yields and better wines, but it also has created its own problems what with glassywing sharpshooters entering places it hasn’t ever been seen before and encouraging the root louse phylloxera that kills vines from within.

These days, not everybody is so happy with that way anymore. In California, we face the earliest severe drought on record and the wildfires are expected to be worse this year than last.

It is helpful to remember that vineyards are just grape farms. Under these changing conditions, despite the successful scientific divide and conquer method, some wineries are once again treating the whole farm—vineyards, surrounding land and creeks, roads and fences—everything as if it were a single living organism.

Which as it turns out, is a whole lot like thinking it’s God. Or At least Dionysios, the god of wine.

"I made wine out of raisins so I wouldn't have to wait for it to age." — Steven Wright (American Comedian)

American Terroir

I’m not sure how many people have noticed yet, but this kind of thinking has created a new American Terroir.

The astute readers of this most excellent newsletter will remember that in the original French sense, “terroir” means not just the dirt but everything that goes into influencing the wine, including the owners, winemakers and vineyard workers.. Not to mention the weather.

That warming of the earth we were taking about earlier is part of it. And all the plants and animals around the farm. Plus insects. Lots of insects. And pigs. Really, pigs.

Thinking about the whole farm as a single living organism leads you to talk to weeds and cajole caterpillars, but mostly it leads you to make different decisions and do different things to accomplish the same thing the scientific way does.

Jordan Winery https://www.jordanwinery.com/visit/

Alexander Valley in Spring

When I was Vice President of Clos du Bois we had vineyards in Alexander Valley. I spent some time driving a beat up old pickup past nearby Jordan Winery, which as fate would have it, lies directly on the migration path of the Monarch Butterflies.

So did our vineyards at Clos du Bois for that matter (cabernet mostly), but that was long before many vintners were thinking about bugs and butterflies as friends.

I’m just using Jordan as a real example because a) their wines have consistently scored in the 90-97 point range over years and b) they are very big on pollinator habitats and c) I have known both people and grapevines over there through the years.

Today, Jordan has a new program converting eight acres into a pollinator habitat. They have planted over 3,400 plants of over 100 differing species to increase the total number of pollinators in the vineyard, including the aforementioned Monarch butterflies and the ubiquitous bees.

The wildfires have killed off huge numbers of pollinators by scorching the places they live. It’s not just the vineyards and the buildings that have been destroyed or damaged.

Most wine grapevines pollinate themselves with the help of wind and gravity. The bees and moths and insects pollinate the plants around and in the vineyard which effect the vines. Which effects the taste.

Bees can also increase the vines pollen release up to 70% by chipping away at the plant’s calyptra —the part of the vine that holds the pollen. Sort of. Close enough.

(OK, so here’s the real definition: In bryophytes, the calyptra (plural calyptrae) is an enlarged archegonial venter that protects the capsule containing the embryonic sporophyte. See what I mean? Close enough.)

Bee’s also pollinate cover crops. Cover crops planted between the rows increase the water holding capacity, regulate nitrogen levels and consequently regulate vine growth. One of my partners planted beans as a cover crop one year when there was a shortage of beans and made a killing financially.

So it’s not all God and grapes.

"Wine in itself is an excellent thing."
Pope Pius XII Airen

Organic or not? Hmmm…

Wineries that adopt some or all of these approaches aren’t necessarily organic. Most of them aren’t. Organic is impossible to define in the wine business and the multiple certifications available (if you can afford them) are confusing and sometimes contradictory.

Organic could mean the vineyards, or the winery, or the wine and hardly any winery on earth could claim to be organic for the actual making of the wine. But, there are myriad other designations—”sustainable”, “solar powered”, “pollinator habitats”, “bird-friendly”, “regenerative farming”—and lots more. All of them stem from the same idea of earth friendly cultivation and production.

Some wineries either can’t afford to get, or choose not to get, certification and still pick from the best methods of several groups. Some follow the ideas of 19th century Austrian-Hungarian philosopher Rudolf Steiner. While I was at one Steiner based winery they told me the founders tasted the dirt in many locations before choosing that one for the vineyard.

Naturally, I had to taste the dirt too. I can tell you tasting dirt is not all its cracked up to be. I will not be entering the dirt tasting business any time soon. But hey, if it works, it’s OK with me.

Some methods involve burying cow horns at the end of the row under a full moon. Or, new moon. I can never remember which. And yes, cows have horns too, not just bulls.

All of them are trying to work with the earth instead of against it.

These wineries are just a couple of examples to get you started if you’re interested in knowing more. “Demeter” is a biodynamic certification organization you can find here: https://www.demeter-usa.org. They include maps and locations of biodynamic farms and products around the U.S.

A Walk Around

Wine can just be wine. It doesn’t have to have deeper meaning or a greater purpose. But after 50+ years in the business it has come to have both for me.

I have spent many years walking vineyards all over the world. I have been indelibly changed by those experiences. When I have been in unbearable pain I have laid down in vineyards and they have healed me.

When I have been unbearably stupid, I have stood up in the vineyards after fertilizers and chicken poop have been laid down. I considered the possibility that I would never breathe again. Or, need to.

I have roamed the black-tied halls of the inordinately wealthy both here and overseas to taste amazing wines with people who wouldn’t be caught dead in a vineyard. Or, Nature at all for that matter.

I have stood beside undocumented aliens in the American fields sweating, realizing at last that without them there would be no great American wines, or black tie dinners, or wine experts—and that there was no chance they would ever taste what they have created.

Did you know that some crews of undocumented alien grape pickers get up in the dark at 4:30 am to do calisthenics (by their own choice and unpaid) so they can stay in good enough shape to do the back breaking work of filling wine glasses in New York City?

All that and more is the new American Terroir.

Fetzer Vineyards in Hopland, California. Fetzer is a Certified B Corp. focused on Sustainability (video from Fetzer Vineyards at www.fetzer.com)