Great Wine Starts in the Vineyard
When you swirl, sip and taste wine, you may know the grape variety and vintage, but do you know where—and how—those grapes were farmed and why that matters? There’s way more in that glass of wine than grapes and alcohol.
Throughout Silicon Valley, many grape growers are farming organically and sustainably. Some of these hardworking farmers sell their grapes to local wineries where they are made into acclaimed wines. And some of the growers have become distinguished winemakers. What they all share is a passion for wine growing that runs deep. We visited to two ranches—an old-vine vineyard in Gilroy and a newer Bordeaux varietal vineyard in Los Gatos—to find out what it takes to farm great grapes for great wine.
Besson Vineyard, Santa Clara Valley 118-Year-Old-Vine Grenache
The vines are gnarly with thick, weathered trunks. A leafy green canopy provides shade for newly formed fruit. Third-generation grower George Besson Jr. looks out over the 30-acre vineyard his grandfather bought in the 1940s in the Santa Clara Valley. “You’ve got to baby these grapes, they’ve been around so long,” he says.
Eleven of the 30 acres are 118-year-old Grenache vines planted on the Valley floor in 1910. They’ve been dry farmed and organically farmed ever since. Besson Vineyard is one of Santa Clara Valley’s few remaining heritage vineyards, and the family works hard to preserve vines that produce more concentrated, elegant wines. To that end, each vine requires hands-on attention.
“You look at the plants and they tell you,” George says. “You look at the leaves, the color and how they droop down. They say, ‘I need a little energy, I need a little help.’”
That might mean watering that one vine, pruning it back more, or boosting up canes (where the clusters grow) lying on the ground with what George calls crutches. Sometimes an old vine dies and has to be replanted. A healthy vine cutting is grafted onto new rootstock (the root system) by hand. Three years later, that vine will start producing fruit.
That’s all part of the many vineyard life cycles George has lived through. He farms his land the same way his grandfather and father did, working the soil, tilling it to keep moisture in the ground. George and his foreman of 18 years, Michael Alvarado, manage a small crew to prune vines; trellis plants onto the wires as they leaf out; and pull leaves, allowing sunlight to reach the ripening fruit and prevent mildew. Along with plant tending, there’s ongoing management of soil composition and fixing farm equipment.
Grape growing is farming, and farming is weather-dependent. Because old vines produce smaller berries and fewer of them, yields are lower than in newer vineyards. Weather events can impact yields even more. Rain, wind or extreme heat during the May flowering season can wreak havoc. The delicate tiny white flowers are easily knocked off the cluster. No flower, no fruit set, no grape berry, resulting in a smaller crop. Heat waves cause vines to shut down immediately, and too much sun on clusters can cause sunburned, shriveled grapes.
Weathering the weather is just one challenge. Another is finding—and keeping—buyers. The Besson family sells their Grenache grapes to local wineries. But there was a time when Grenache was not an easy sell. Then Bonny Doon winemaker Randall Grahm came along. Randall bought fruit from the Bessons for about 25 years under a long-term contract, when no one else was offering that.
“I remember him understanding the value of what we were doing and how that culminated into the bottle,” says Besson’s daughter, Denise. “That was a big deal for our family. As farmers, it’s an ebb and flow and a struggle. There are some years you are paid top dollar a ton and other years you get less.”
The harvest is another critical aspect of grape farming. Grapes are hand-harvested. But fruit doesn’t all ripen at the same time, so multiple pickings are needed to ensure consistent fruit ripeness. The fruit is sorted by hand, too, culling out leaves, shriveled bunches and other matter to leave only bins of clean, pristine grapes ready to go to wineries.
“When people say ‘Oh, that’s too expensive for a bottle of wine,’” George says, “they don’t realize all the love and care that goes into that bottle.”
A winery that also appreciates the care and effort that goes into raising great grapes is Birichino, Alex Krause and John Locke’s winery in Santa Cruz, which also has a long-term contract with Besson Vineyard. Alex and John are closely involved with the grape growing process, spending lots of time in the vineyard, getting to know the vines and the fruit, especially before and during harvest.
“The Besson Grenache is exceptional,” John says. “It’s not only the old vines, but the environment and location are well suited to Grenache.” They take Besson’s grapes to make Birichino’s 2016 Besson Vineyard Old Vine Grenache, an earthy and concentrated, yet smooth, wine with fresh tart cherry, pomegranate and cranberry fruit.
One way you can taste the grapes from these great old vines is at Birichino’s Santa Cruz tasting room. Sip from the Besson Vineyard Old Vine Grenache or perhaps the Vin Gris, a rosé blend made with Besson’s Grenache, to sample these cultivated and distinct grapes.
Lexington Wine Co. Gist Ranch, Santa Cruz Mtns 18-year-old Bordeaux Varietals
Tucked away among the redwoods 2,400 feet above Los Gatos, the Gist Ranch Vineyard covers 13 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The vines—easier to see from an aerial view—were planted in 2000, when Dr. Thomas Fogarty Sr. bought the land for one purpose: growing Bordeaux varietals.
Fogarty’s namesake winery, Thomas Fogarty Vineyards in Woodside, is best known for excellent Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. But Fogarty always wanted to grow and make Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and other Bordeaux wines. When an old Christmas tree farm went on the market, he snapped it up, cleared the trees, planted vines and named the new label Lexington, for the Lexington Hills and large reservoir below the mountains.
Today Lexington Wine Co. is in the capable hands of Tom Fogarty Jr. and winemaker Nathan Kandler. Together they’ve taken the project and run with it, making improvements in the nearly 20 years of the vineyard’s life. While Fogarty winemaker emeritus Michael Martella made the initial planting decisions, including rootstock types, grape varieties, clones, where to plant them and vine spacing, Tom Jr. and Nathan have been making changes as they discover what works and what doesn’t.
“The bottom of the upper vineyard used to be Malbec,” Nathan says, “but it never really played well.” So they grafted the vines over to Cabernet Franc, which has been very successful. They also grafted over 18 rows of Chardonnay at the top of the lower block to Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Those white grapes are blended to make Alma, a white Bordeaux blend that debuted this spring.
Nathan, his foreman Julio Deras and a small full-time crew farm organically and focus on building up healthy soils. They plant cover crops after harvest for erosion control and fixing nitrogen in the soil. That’s mowed in the spring and sprayed with compost tea, which is tilled into the soil, the only form of fertilization here. Then comes an incredible amount of attention to detail.
“We spend a lot of time with hands on the vines,” says Nathan. “Each vine gets touched about every three weeks. It is just constant work.”
Maintaining a mountain vineyard has its own set of challenges. For one, in the steepest rows, driving a tractor is too dangerous, so all work must be done by hand.
“The weather is more extreme here, usually colder,” Nathan says. “The wind blows the vines out of the trellis and makes the vines grow in weird ways. The soils are thinner and don’t hold as much water. Because we don’t irrigate, we spend lots of time building up the soils so they can hold water.”
Working the vineyard is just one side of the equation for Nathan. He also makes Lexington’s wines at the Fogarty winery. He’s got great grapes to start with, so his job as a winemaker is to let the vineyard express itself in the wines.
“Winemaking is farming,” Nathan notes. “You get only one shot a year. Beer brewers and spirits distillers can start a new batch anytime.”
You can taste Lexington’s luscious 2016 Alma white Bordeaux blend and complex, aromatic 2014 Apex red Bordeaux blend, as well as the herbal and savory 2014 Cabernet Franc and bold and powerful 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon at the winery’s Saratoga tasting room, on the newly minted Silicon Valley Wine Trail.
