During harvest in wine regions around the world, it is useful to examine some of the practices that go into picking the grapes and transforming them into the delicious wine in your glass. One winery that has a unique practice is Quintessa, nestled in the Rutherford AVA of Napa Valley. Here they perform a harvest opening ceremony to pass the grapes through the value chain.
“It’s a practice that we have been doing for many years,” reports Rebekah Wineburg, Winemaker at Quintessa. “Early in the morning, as the first delivery of grapes is brought in freshly picked from our estate vineyard, all the employees gather on the crush platform in a circle.”
She pauses to gesture to the large outdoor area in front of the winery where grape bins are lined up in readiness for the beginning of harvest next week. Employees rush around scrubbing bins and washing grape sorting tables and destemmer machines.
“Then,” continues Wineburg, “the vineyard manager selects a bunch of grapes and passes them to the hands of the vineyard crew, and then to the hands of our winemaking crew, and then to the hands of our hospitality and sales team. In this way we honor all of the people who help to make and sell the wine.”
To honor their wine distributors spread across the nation, they commission a handblown glass wine pipette that is awarded to top sales professionals. The pipettes are then placed on a large wall display at Quintessa Winery with the name of each distributor, who is allowed to use it to sample wine in barrel when they visit Napa Valley.
Harvesting Native Yeast in the Organic Vineyards of Quintessa
Another intriguing practice at Quintessa is creating their own ‘pied du cuve’ each year. This is an ancient practice from the Old World to use wild yeast from the estate, rather than purchasing commercial yeast for wine fermentation. It is similar to a sourdough starter when making bread.
“Since we have 160 acres of certified organic and biodynamic vineyards,” says Wineburg, “I want to use natural yeast that lives in our environment. I believe this helps to highlight the special terroir of our estate. So each year I pick some grapes before harvest and place them in a small bowl with wild flowers and small rocks. Then I place this under our oak trees for a few days and allow it to start a natural fermentation. In this way we can connect the energy of the vineyard to our wine.”
It turns out there is a scientific reason for this practice as well, because according to research, forest oak woodlands are reservoirs for wine yeasts. Fortunately when Quintessa was established in 1990 by Augustin and Valeria Huneeus, they decided to farm organically and also to preserve as much of the native California oaks on the property as possible. This decision not only helped to create natural yeast, but also assists the winery in reducing its carbon footprint.
The organic grapes and native yeast appear to be working well because Quintessa has already sold out of their most recent release, the 2017 vintage. Priced at $210 per bottle, and only released 3 years after harvest, Quintessa’s cabernet sauvignon-based blend consistently scores very high with wine critics. The 2018 vintage will be released in September.
Mapping Quintessa Vineyard by Wine Flavor
A third interesting practice at Quintessa is the dual scientific and artistic work they are performing in mapping their vineyards for flavor.
“We have separated the vineyard into 85 unique picking sections,” states Wineburg, “and I have noticed over the years how the grapes in the various sections taste differently. For example, one section of the cabernet may taste of dark fruit and bigger tannins, whereas another section exhibits red fruit, higher acidity and velvety tannins.”
In order to explore this more deeply, Quintessa Estate Manager, Rodrigo Soto, hired two experts, Dr Pedro Parra, with a PhD in Terroir, and geologist Brenna Quigley, to uncover the geologic origins of the different vineyard sections.
“It is fascinating,” explains Wineburg, “because we are digging holes in these different sections of the vineyard and finding that the soil components are quite distinct. It is helping us to understand the unique flavors in the grapes and further refine our understanding of the Quintessa terroir.”
NOTE: This article was originally published in Forbes.com.
