Adding Chardonnay to Gantz Family Vineyards

Calera Pinot Noir clones with the canes removed; the head will be cut off when they graft the new Chardonnay.

Way back in 2009, when we were establishing Gantz Family Vineyards, we selected Pinot Noir as our grape of choice. Russian River Valley is famous world-wide for our stellar Pinot and we knew we had a lovely little spot to grow it in, as well as phenomenal winemakers interested in buying from us.

For our clones, we selected Pommard, the workhorse of Pinot, and Calera, the darling of wine makers. Calera is not the darling of wine grape growers. Pinot Noir is famously the most difficult wine grape to grow. It has very thin skin and is sensitive to frost, wind, soil types, and critical glances. Calera is the most hypersensitive of the bunch.

After 10 years of fussing, babying, pleading and praying, we’ve decided enough is enough. The Calera blocks returned as much as 50% less fruit than the other clones.

The Russian River Valley is also world famous for our luxury Chardonnay. Forty-six years ago, at the Judgment in Paris, the 1973 Chardonnay from the famous Napa winery, Chateau Montelena, was given top honors over France’s best vintners. Those grapes came from Russian River Valley’s own Bacigalupi Vineyards.

With support from our winemaker clients and our vineyard manager, we’ve made a momentous decision to graft the fussy Calera clone over to a beautiful Chardonnay grape clone, Mount Eden. Of course, we will continue to grow the Pommard and Mariafeld Pinot clones, which are so popular with our winemakers. Our 4.5 acre vineyard will now be 65% percent Pinot and 35% percent Chardonnay.

Beginning with new rootstock would take us five years to have sellable Chardonnay. Fortunately, we can perform top (or T-) budding, which is the process of budding new clone material onto an existing rootstock. Next year, we expect the harvest on the new Chardonnay vines to be at about 50%, which we will be able to sell. We will have a fully mature harvest the following year.

We’re lucky to already know that this Chardonnay clone does spectacular on the property. We have a small block of the same clone that we’ve been growing just for Clay’s use. We harvest it ourselves and Clay uses his talents to make a wine available only to friends and family. It has become a favorite and our daughter regularly forces us to send cases of it to her in Houston so she can impress all of her friends. (note: the latter part of that sentence was written by our daughter.)

We’re so excited for this new chapter. Wish us luck!

A Reflection on 2020 at Gantz Family Vineyards

Pinot Noir at Gantz Family Vineyards. Image courtesy of AldenAlli.

‘Tis the season to reflect on 2020, and what a year it was! There is so much we could talk about, but we’ll confine ourselves to the year in farming. Farming, like life, is full of ups and downs, and 2020 seemed to provide both ups and downs in abundance.

For us, the year started on a very positive note, as we rekindled our relationship with Dan Kosta. We started our farming career by selling our first harvest (2013) to Kosta Browne Winery, then one of the top Pinot Noir producers in the world. Dan Kosta and Michael Browne created an amazing brand, treated us as partners and family and we always felt incredibly fortunate to be a part of their vision. After six wonderful years, Dan and Michael went on to other projects and ultimately so did we. So, starting anew with Dan and his team, including winemaker Shane Finley, and their AldenAlli project felt like a homecoming and has made us very happy!

AldenAlli and Gantz Family Vineyard teams. Image courtesy of AldenAlli.

For 2020, and hopefully into the future, our grape purchasing partners are AldenAlli and Lombardi Wines, our old friends and fellow Kosta Browne alums, Tony Lombardi, and his winemaker, Cabell Coursey. Being back among friends was a great way to start the farming year, and 2020 unfolded wonderfully. One of the exciting things about working with new people is that you see your vineyard and farming practices through new eyes, which allows you to revisit past practices and learn. Cabell had said that he established an “area of focus” each year, picking one part of his practice to focus on and seek to approve, which seemed to us to be a great idea. So, we began the year with a commitment to focus, with our vineyard manager Jim Pratt, operations manager Jose Cervantes and their team, on our irrigation strategies in an attempt to improve grape quality. The year was unfolding beautifully with a good (but not excessive) crop and great conditions.

Then came August, usually a time when most of our farming work is done, and we are simply (impatiently) waiting for harvest. In the predawn morning of August 16, Celeste and I were awoken in the middle of the night by a huge lightning storm that lit up the sky all around us. It was beautiful and awesome, but unbeknownst to us, it and other lightning storms that night were responsible for starting hundreds of fires in both Northern and Southern California (over much of the Western United States, in fact), which burnt over the next few weeks. While it was uncomfortable here for a while, the biggest consequence was a temporary one—the area was blanketed with smoke for a month or two. All that smoke was a game changer for us.

Smoke contains phenols (specifically guaiacol and 4-methylguaiacol, among others) which in higher concentrations contribute to smoky flavors in wine. Interestingly, they are also present in toasted oak barrels, and contribute to the appealing flavors attributed to wine aged in oak. Definitely a case of too much of a good thing. These flavor compounds are absorbed into the grapes through the skin and can result in a condition in the finished wine called “smoke taint,” which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

So, after the smoke cleared (so to speak), we met with our winemaking partners to consider what should be done, and decided on a testing strategy to determine whether the smoke taint phenols were present in our grapes. And, it turns out, they were.

“...Grape growing and wine making are endeavors where good enough is never OK, and continued improvement, learning and commitment to excellence are key. ”

— Clay Gantz

You might imagine that, at that point, the question of what to do about it became a matter of great debate. Not having a crop for 2020 affects us, of course, but it also affects our winemaking partners because it means no revenue from wine sales for that vintage. But the decision was easy. Our goal as growers and our partners goals as winemakers is to make incredible wine, and the risk that wine made from our 2020 vintage might not be incredible was enough for all of us to quickly conclude that we should sit out the 2020 vintage.

Through this all, we were reminded that grape growing and wine making are endeavors where good enough is never OK, and continued improvement, learning and commitment to excellence are key. Second, we learned that who your partners and whether or not you and they have shared standards and goals is critical. We are so happy to be partners with AldenAlli and Lombardi, and to learn that our goals are aligned. We know that we will be able to do it again, with better results. Third, we found out that the old saws about agriculture being a risky business are true. While we didn’t have pestilence, we did have fire and plague (COVID, anyway) and the damage visited on our community from this 1-2 punch is real.

Sitting at home in the Russian River Valley today, you would have to look hard to see any evidence of the fires. The air is clear and the fall weather is lovely. Once the COVID vaccine is widely available and you are ready to travel again, we want to let you know that the Russian River Valley is here waiting for you, as beautiful as ever and full of people dedicated to doing whatever it is they have chosen to do as well as humanly possible. We and our friends will be here ready to greet you! And, let’s hope 2021 is better than 2020! Happy New Years and best wishes to all of you!

Gantz Family Vineyards. Image courtesy of AldenAlli.

Harvest 2019 at Gantz Family Vineyards

After a bit of a roller coaster of a year, we wrapped up harvest 2019 on Friday, September 27.

Since 2013, we’d been selling our Russian River Valley Pinot Noir fruit to Michael Browne and Dan Kosta of Kosta Browne Wineries and felt honored and lucky to be part of their vision. However, Dan and Mike sold the winery last year and after the large harvests of 2018 and the spring flooding at the Kosta Browne facility in the Barlow, we were told by the new owners that they couldn’t accept our grapes.

While the timing wasn’t great, it did give us a much needed opportunity to reimagine how we wanted to move forward, and we are very happy to have found a new home with Lynmar Estate and Lombardi Wines, both producers of fine Pinot Noir we always have admired.

Working with new winemakers has proven to be a gratifying challenge. Together, we revisited some of our assumptions about farming best practices and we are poised to make changes that will, we think, take our vineyard up a notch. Our goal has, first and foremost, always been to produce the finest quality Pinot Noir and we feel that we are taking another step in that direction.

Harvest this year happened three times.

On Tuesday, September 17, a nine-person, majority-woman crew from Cornerstone Certified Vineyard showed up at 6:30 a.m. to harvest blocks 4 and 5 of our 4.5-acre vineyard. We were fortunate to be joined by our kids, Angelina M. Lopez and Michael Lopez, who got to take part in their first harvest at the vineyard. They finally had a full sense of all the work we do as they joined in the days preceding untying the bird nets, lifting the bird and drape netting, and leafing; and then, on the day, helping haul and picking out leaves and detritus from the dumped trays.

Our son, Michael Lopez, with Celeste and Clay Gantz

Don't forget about Jake!

Our daughter, Angelina M. Lopez, with Clay and Jose from Cornerstone Certified Vineyards

A majority-women picking crew

We were also joined by winemaker Cabell Coursey. We worked with Cabell when he was the viticulturist over at Kosta Browne, and now are glad to be working with him again as the custom crush winemaker for Tony and Christine Lombardi’s label, Lombardi Wines. Cabell got in there on Tuesday -- hauling the bandejas or trays to dump them in the bins so the crew could keep picking – so Clay, Michael, and Celeste got in there, too. Angelina went and ordered pizza.

Winemaker Cabell Coursey with Celeste and Clay

The majority of the rest of the fruit was picked Tuesday, September 24. An 18-person crew showed up at 3 a.m. to pick blocks 1-3. This was a more typical harvest for us, a large crew beginning early in the morning. Sadly, Angelina had returned home, but fortunately Michael was around to lend a hand. We had a great crew and a very efficient pick, and about ten tons of beautiful Pinot Noir was to the two wineries by 6:30 am!

The balance of our fruit will be picked earlier Saturday morning. We will be joined by our good friend Jim Barnes, who said he is looking for a “peak harvest experience.” That sounds good to us.

Once harvest is over, we look forward to a period of relaxation and catching up on lost sleep. There is equipment to service, farming plans to be drawn up, and a lunch or two to thank our team. Also, there is time for reflection and introspection. Every year, after harvest, we challenge ourselves to up our game. This year will be particularly exciting as we have the opportunity to sit with our new partner wineries, and discuss how to achieve our shared objective of producing the best Pinot Noir possible.

Gantz Family Vineyards Pinot Noir Fruit

Our Pinot Noir fruit from 2018.

In 2013, we sold our first harvest to Michael Browne and Dan Kosta of Kosta Browne Winery. We felt fortunate to have this tremendous start. During the next six harvests, we were made to feel that we were part of a family telling an important story about Russian River Valley Pinot Noir.

Last year, Michael and Dan moved on. Although we were told by the new owners that we would have a contract for 2019, both the abundance of fruit in 2018 and the March 2019 flood of the Barlow-located winery put them in a position where they could not accept our grapes.

Now, late in the game, we find ourselves hoping to sell our 2019 fruit. We’ll be fine if we don’t. We know how lucky we are to be in that position. But we’d hate to see this beautiful fruit go to waste.

Professional winemakers, don’t hesitate to contact us if you’d like to discuss purchasing our Pinot Noir this year or in future years. You can find more info here and throughout the website. And please help us spread the word.

We’re looking forward to the next chapter.

Gantz Family Vineyards

Harvest 2017 at Gantz Family Vineyards

Gantz Family Vineyards measures itself on quality and not quantity, but after last week's harvest, we were pleased with the results. As a relatively young and small vineyard experiencing only its fifth harvest, the main thing we want to see is improvement year over year. We were pleased to see growth in 2017, with an abundant amount of Pinot Noir fruit harvested and delivered to winemaker Kosta Browne Winery.

As it goes with farming, it was down to the last minute before we were absolutely confirmed on the picking date/time. It was supposed to be at 2 a.m., Wednesday morning (September 13), so Celeste figured she had time to rehearse with her a cappella group Tuesday evening, come home for a nap, and start fresh. No such luck! Our vineyard manager, Jim Pratt of Cornerstone Certified Vineyard, announced that picking would start at 10 p.m., Tuesday night (September 12). So Celeste left rehearsal early and hit the ground running! We like to provide lots of "fortifications" for the crew; Clay made sure the crew knew where the snacks were and proceeded to make pot after pot of coffee.  

Delivery of the bins

So many bins

Even though Kosta Browne had delivered more bins than ever, we still needed to supply 2 of our own!

Pulling up the bird netting

Both of us help with the "sweep" harvest, picking up the grapes that the crews drop or miss. But later in the evening, it became apparent that because of our new leafing strategy, it was hard for the guys to find and pick the fruit, particularly in the Pommard and Calera blocks. So Celeste decided to go out and pull leaves away, just ahead of the crews; it's a task she's planning on taking on again next year. She can't do it all, but it certainly helps.  

Vineyard workers

We're very fortunate to be working with Jim Pratt and his crew from Cornerstone Certified Vineyard

A lot of leafs

Our new leafing strategy kept our fruit from getting sunburnt but also made it difficult to pick.

Clay

Clay and Celeste followed the workers, getting at the fruit that they missed.

The crew started at 10 p.m. and finished at 6 a.m., working through the mild, 61-degree night. Just as the last crew member emptied his tub into the bin, a few raindrops began to fall. As the last bin was fork-lifted onto the truck, the rain started to pour in earnest, complete with lightning and thunder. We couldn't believe our luck! The crew started at 10 p.m. and finished at 6 a.m., working through the mild, 61-degree night. Just as the last crew member emptied his tub into the bin, a few raindrops began to fall.

Delivery at Kosta Browne Winery

The Mariafeld 23 clone, which we introduced into the vineyard last year, performed better than expected and Sam Ausburn, Kosta Browne's viticulturist, was pleased about the quality. It was a nice result, especially because deciding to replace some of our Calera with the 23 wasn't an easy decision. We do feel like the results validate (at least initially) some of the steps we took for the first time this year:

• The fourth cane in the Calera calmed the vines and resulted in better set.

• A new leafing strategy helped protect the grapes when we had the Labor Day heat spike.

• The grapes seemed to respond well to a regulated deficit irrigation strategy.

Because it is farming, we have to give a big nod of thanks to Lady Luck. Our row orientation (E-W) combined with our leafing strategy helped to protect the clusters from the hot weather. An E-W row orientation is unorthodox, but we picked it (with counsel from our former vineyard manager Ulises Valdez and Kris Lowe) because of the way our site was laid out and because, in our spot in the Russian River Valley, we were not too worried about sunburn. This year was not ideal for growers by any stretch -- with heat spikes, wide temp fluctuations and rain during harvest -- so we feel like we were very fortunate.

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