ja-nel-a-di: November 2006

The Sonoma Landscape

The Coturri Winery
At 7am on Monday October 23rd my friend Adam and I began our journey to Sonoma Valley to spend 3 days with 2 fabulous wineries. The goal of our trip was to experience the end of the harvest, to document and participate in the wine-making process, to learn about natural wine, and taste the difference of wine when made using nothing but grapes.

Ok. Fine. I have tried and tried to explain to people why natural and organic wine is far superior to much wine we drink everyday. It's hard to explain. Indeed I will not discount the fact that there are many many amazing wines out there which I have drank over the years that taste really wonderful, organic or not organic. But it is also true that when you have tasted wine that is un-adultered by additives, preservatives and masks, you realize that there is a special purity that allows you to experience a much more exciting world of aromas and flavors. It's a little like wine - unleashed! Wine at it's best, where it's free to finally express itself. (Sorry if that sounds weird or corny, but it's true!!)

There is an inherent challenge, when a wine-maker is given one, and only one ingredient, grapes, to make a wine with the goal to entice the world's taste-buds with flavors, terroir, depth and richness. How do you take this one ingredient, and let it do what it does best, allow it to ferment in the most prime conditions until it is ready for the sniff, and then the swish in the mouth, and then the experience of it's complexities and nuances, making you wonder -- "Where is this from?", "Why is this so unique?... I need more!"... How much is 2 cases?!" HA! Well.... That is my experience at Coturri Winery.

Tony Coturri has been making wine his whole life. He is now in his fifties, I believe, and he is still making wine. Every day, his life revolves around what he loves most. He has a posse who believe in what he believes in, which always helps. They reaffirm the importance of staying true to tradition and the time-tested wine-making techniques.

The wine at Coturri is made by hand, the way wine was made thousands of years ago. Last year my good friend Ellie and I spent a day on an archeological dig in Israel. As we shoveled and dug into the earth we discovered remnants of an amphora containing wine from some distant century. The inscriptions were of old greek and clearly this jar of wine was over 900 years old. On the surface of the clay was a brownish red substance -- wine. Ahhh, well, some things never change, do they.... Well, ok they probably change a little, but one thing is sure, after all these years the human race still loves wine!

Ok, back to my trip.... at 9am Adam and I arrived at Coturri Winery, hidden in a beautifully forested part of Glen Ellen. Our ride north had been a smooth one, and we were greeted by two cute barking doggies who seemed to be thrilled by our arrival.

Arriving at Coturri Winery, Sonoma

One of the two cute doggies

We met Billy, a long time family friend of the Coturri's who has been making wine with them for over 20 years. He, Joe and one more guy, sorry, names have always been hard for me, were in the process of transferring fermented grape juice into the press, bucket by bucket.

Transferring the fermented grape juice into the press

Ok, now, despite the fact that my very own grandfather had his own vineyard and made his own wine, I was never given a proper rundown on the process of wine-making. So, you can imagine my curiosity. In fact, I was always in their faces asking what that was, what they were doing now, why they did it like this and I tried to get out of them as many details as I could to get a good understanding of what was really the intentions behind their simple-looking techniques.

From this initial moment, I realized, wow, this is laborous. Joe was standing on a short ladder reaching with a bucket into a massive redwood tank filled with purplish red gunk and foam. Bucket after bucket, into the the press this gunk went, and through the valve at the bottom of the press, beautiful red liquid poured into another bucket with a long hose whose path I had to track to discover that it was filling up the oak barrels lined up on the left of the building. I looked into the tank where Joe was working and noticed there was still much more grape gunk to transfer.

I was fascinated. But the day had only just began!

Meeting Nic — Working the Crush
Adam and I were here to document, to learn, to observe... Therefore, we had no clue what was about to happen, but as I found out later, this was pretty much how every day of the harvest was like. In the morning the first pick of the day arrives. Niccolo Coturri, Tony's only son, takes his truck to one of their ripe vineyards and the crates of grapes are ready for him to pick up. The guys all hustle together to get every crate on the truck. It piles high, a methodical process that must be done carefully, as there should never be a spill on the road or up sharp hills and turns.... Once the truck is full, they tie it down fast but carefully and off goes the load, to the winery.

This was what Nic Coturri was up to this morning and as we hung out watching Billy and Joe work, he arrived with a full load ready for the crush. What came to us were some delicious Zinfandel grapes, and you could tell the bees already knew how sweet they were!

As the load of grapes got backed up into the driveway, Billy helped guide the truck to the right spot. This is important because the back of the truck becomes a working space. It is the area that the grapes get transferred into the crush. Once they got the truck to the right place, not one moment was wasted, they started weighing.

Nic untying the Ccrates from the truck

Grape crates being set on the weighing surface

Each crate got placed one by one onto the weighing surface until there was no more room to fit another crate. Each crate is approximately 25 pounds, and once the whole load is weighed you realize you just carried 3 tons worth of grapes! The crazy part is, the grapes go on the weighing surface and then they go back on the truck, so they get carried twice! Ahhh! It's a good workout, that's for sure!

Once the total weight was logged, it was time to get ready for the crush. All the machinery got washed and set up. They used a pulley to hold up the crushing machine while the fermentation tank was placed below it. Two wooden logs were layed over the tank and the crush was then lowered to rest upon them. Then, they switched it on, and the crush began!

The crush gets cleaned before we begin

Once again, crate by crate, the grapes were thrown into the crush, separating the grapes from the stems and vines. About half the load of grapes were able to fit into one tank, and so we took a little brake in between, while a new tank was set up.

Stems being expelled

A growing mountain of yellow crates, and stems!

My favorite part of the winemaking process had to be the moment when the tank had just been filled. At this moment a crucial thing took place: The sugar levels were measured... and tasted! When grapes are just crushed, what you have is basically grape juice and lots of grape skin... We measured the sugar levels by placing a clean beaker into the juice filling it up to the top. The beaker got drowned into the middle of the tank so that the juice that filled it was balanced, then, in the filled beaker a thermometer-like measuring device was placed and gave us a reading that indicated the sugar level. Our first tank was at 26, I believe. Which is a good level of sweetness. After measuring though, came the best part.... Tasting! This was such a treat, something you just don't forget. The juice was SWEEEEEET, delicious, lovely... I could have drank the whole tank, had they let me... but that would have ruined the harvest, no? A cool thing I noticed is that every time you taste the juice from another grape variety from another area, naturally, it tastes different!

The sweet juice!

Ah! Besides it tasting so good, it was also such a reward after all the hard work. You could tell on Nic's face that the moment of completion and sense of achievement was heightened by the simple taste of the pure juice of the grape.

The newly filled tank, waiting for his sheet

After tasting the juice and feeling a buzz of euphoria, the tanks were moved next to all the other fermentation tanks and got marked and covered with a white sheet. This juice would now ferment for about 9 days until it is ready for the press. Every day, the juice shall be mixed and the sugar levels measured until they have reduced to 5. Once it reaches 5, all the juice will get transferred to the press where the remaining grapes and skin shall get squeezed to release every last drop of liquid.

The Press

Joe, filling up the press

It so happened that after the crush, we had a tank ready to really be pressed. The tank that Joe and Billy were emptying earlier was now at the stage where a real squeeze was needed! Now that every morsel was in the press, I got to see how they worked it!

First off they started laying logs of wood, which were shaped just to fit into the press right. Much of this wood was purple, from having been used many times. Several layers of wood was placed and then the press itself was lowered above it. Below was a valve on the press where all the liquid came out of, into a bucket that was attached to a tube that lead the fermented juice into French oak barrels. It is funny, but you would think that this process is a quick one. Just press the button to lower the press until it is as low as possible and then you're done! But no. Grapes are finicky and there were lots of pocket of juice that would not want to get pressed... We were explained that by stopping, adding more logs and pressing again, these pockets of juice give way and finally go throught he press into the barrels where they belong! Another thing we were told was that at times, one must be weary, as those pockets of juice could choose to "pop" or explode and if that happened, juice could shoot straight out at you without warning! Hence, you really don't want to wear your Sunday dress while working the press!! :-)

Last drops of fermented juice

All of that pressed liquid went into these French oak barrels

The Picking — kindof
La di da... okidoke. So, while that was going on, Nic was getting ready to go back down to another vineyard to get a second load of grapes, and so he asked us if we wanted to come with him and take a look at the vineyard and see how that part is done. So, off we went, into his truck which was old and cranky. I think it was from 1976 or something like that. It was strong and powerful but it was a bumpy ride on the country-side roads we rode on... I have to say though, the ride through Glen Ellen is a lovely one, and highly recommended for those who like nice foresty country roads with some rugged terrain and absolutely stunning views. The fall is so beautiful as every vineard is of a different hue of orange, red or yellow...

Are you still with me?

I waited at the vineyard while the boys did their thing.... Laborious laborious work. All the crates were placed one by one onto the truck, while I sat on a tire which hung from a huge oak tree. As I swung on the tree, the guys toiled away... but they all seemed to love what they did, and again felt a strong sense of accomplishment when they were all done. It was early afternoon now, but for some reason it felt like early evening... The truck was loaded and we were finally ready to go.

Lunch
On the way back to the winery, we stopped by the village market to pick up some bread, cheese and salami and stuff.... for lunch! At the winery, all the guys take a break for lunch and sit around together and break the crust, as they say in France. We had a glass of Coturri wine, of course, and a great selection of local cheeses, with succulent red organic tomatoes and bright green peppers from the garden. The guys all feasted on meats as well... This experience was so memorable. All these gruff guys with grape stains on their hands, clothes, faces, taking a moment to cool down. It was very rejuvenating, and I can say, this was a highlight of the day for me. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of lunch, so it will have to remain in my memory....

And Again...
After lunch, we set off to repeat the whole crush process again. With the new batch of grapes, the weighing started again, and when that was done, the tank and crush were set up, and then the grapes got crushed again and then, Nic asked me if I wanted to work the crush! HA! Well, I always love the chance to get my hands dirty so I could not decline the offer! I got on the truck and found that I was way short for this job!!! Nic explained to me that as I feed the crush with grapes, I must weed out any last remaining leaves and stuff out, so that it doesn't get crushed with the grapes.... Green leaves especially, as they tend to add sourness to the wine, down the line... But, as I tried to do that, I could not even see over the edge of the crate! The shorty that I am, I was completely useless.... Well, just to rub it in more, Billy comes over with 2 empty crates stacked together, for me to stand on.....

Evil! Well, I stood on them, and it worked! I lifted 25 pound crates one by one and fed the grapes into the crush for about an 45 minutes or so. It was great! I got my hands completely sticky with grape juice and a good workout too! It was a warm sunny day as well.

What fun.

Once I filled up the tank, we had to stop, measure the sugar levels, taste the juice, which was awesome, switch tanks and then continue, so I got to take a break and Adam decided it was his turn to try working the crush.

A Stroll in the Vineyard
The sun slowly started it's decent by this time and as we were tired, Adam and I decided to take a stroll over to their vineyard, with the doggies following us... It was a perfect day, and it felt so nice to be able to just find a nice patch of grass to lay back on and relax....

Adam told me he got a call that afternoon that Benziger Winery would be doing a picking at 4:30am the coming morning, and we were invited to join! So we discussed whether we should do it, and how... We decided to stay at a motel in Santa Rosa and get a few hours of sleep and then get up at 3am to head out to Benziger. Arrr! Craziness, but way cool! An awesome day at Coturri today and a truly unpredictable day to come.

All to come, in my next post.

Hope you are enjoying this report, so far.