Vintner's Notebook
(stuff Guy worries about so you
don't have to)
Flavor Farms
Great wines are the offspring when Mother Nature
kisses and caresses those special vineyards that are planted in the right places
and nurtured in the right ways. Take note: It's the vineyards that receive the
blessings and are the givers of the flavors.
All the layers of personality in those luring,
mouthcoating wines come from the soul of the vineyard -- the grapes.
The winemaker is just a steward. Yes, an artisan,
but also a steward of the flavors given him by the vines. It is the goal and the
responsibility of the winemaker to coax out and capture all those flavors that
are created in the skins and juice during the long growing season in the
vineyard.
The grapes are the reflection of the climate, the
different soils and the work in the vineyards.
The locations of the vineyards lend the distinct
characters to the wines...the cool, foggy, coastal influence in the Russian
River Valley serves up rich, but elegantly perfumed Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
while across the Mayacamas mountain range in the Napa Valley where it is
typically 10 degrees warmer, Cabernet Sauvignon basks in the sun on the mountain
hillsides.
If the varieties were switched the Pinot Noir
would ripen too quickly, be simple, flat and awkward and the Cabernet would
never ripen and remain more tart and green...no matter who the winemaker or what
their tactics.
The location may present a chance to create a
single vineyard wine to highlight a very special personality and place, like the
floral, tropical, and citrus in our Dutton Ranch Chardonnay, or the inviting
brown spice and bramble-berry from the gnarly 107-year-old Zinfandel vines at
our home vineyard.
In Napa we precision farm, and blend two or three
small vineyards into a masterpiece of lush complexity in our Napa Valley
Cabernet Sauvignon. All the great aromas and flavors of these wines are the
products of harvesting flavors that are born and ripened in the vineyards.
I wear both hats, of grape grower and winemaker
and I can guarantee that the results of any techniques of tradition or
technology in the winery are always smoother and more successful when you danced
with Mother Nature in your farmer's Sombrero.
Guy Davis
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"Vintner’s Notebook" quarterly email newsletter, we’ll take you
through each season in the vineyard and in the winery discussing educational and
informational topics as our family works toward
producing its distinctly delicious wines. To sign up, simply send an email to
dfv@sonic.net
and include the word "Subscribe" in the subject heading. Or just call
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