Winter

Jake Lorenzo

Dr. Iggy Calamari, inventor of the Wine Powered Pacemaker, shivered while rinsing Jake Lorenzo’s glass carboys. The gusty breeze didn’t help, and its wind chill effect made the 38° F temperature feel a lot colder. Bundled up in a heavy overcoat with a wool scarf draped around his neck and a wool knit beanie pulled down over his ears, the good doctor looked like a rotund model for a winter coat sale at Macy’s.

Dressed in layers, starting with a flannel shirt, a fleece vest, and a quilted puffer jacket that made him look like a Latino version of the Michelin Man, Chuy Palacios shed tears and sniffed at his runny nose. “I’m colder than a chunk of ice stuck in a margarita slush,” he complained. “My people are not meant to work in this kind of weather. We should be resting in hammocks swinging over a warm Mexican beach looking at the ocean.”

“Buffalo Bob” Dubanowski laughed crazily. His Bills Mafia t-shirt fluttered in the wind and his very white legs glowed below his plaid shorts until they settled into his red and blue flip flops. A longtime friend of Chuy’s, Buffalo Bob is legendary around Buffalo, New York because of the crispy chicken wings and homemade kielbasa sausage he serves at the annual Bills Mafia tailgate party before Bills games. One of the original Bills Mafia members, Buffalo Bob was visiting Sonoma for the first time to help Chuy raise money for a charity taking care of indigenous people migrating here from southern Mexico. “You want to know about cold, come visit us in Buffalo when we are in the playoffs this year,” he teased.

Jake Lorenzo has seen January football games from Buffalo on my television. Winds are howling, snow is swirling, and footballs fall from the sky like wounded ducks even when thrown by Josh Allen’s cannon-like arm. This detective is no sissy, but nothing about Buffalo in January strikes me as fun. I’m in agreement with Chuy on this one. I’d rather pass the winter on a warm Mexican beach sipping palomas and munching on fish tacos.

That’s why we are struggling in the Sonoma cold today. I had to get my wine racked and off the tartrates that had dropped out in my barrels since harvest so Jakelyn’s mom, Chuy and I could get down to San Pancho for a much-needed vacation. Iggy and Buffalo Bob agreed to help me clean my carboys: Iggy for the opportunity to try Buffalo Bob’s kielbasa and Buffalo Bob to taste Chuy’s birria and drink some Guerrilla Vino Pinot Noir.

Good food has always been a driving force in this detective’s life. Whether in a fancy fine-dining place, a simple food truck, or at a friend’s home table, delicious food has been one of my life’s greatest pleasures, especially when accompanied by wine. As much as I love a home-cooked meal, I miss the whole dining out experience. Venturing out after COVID lockdowns, I see that prices have escalated dramatically. The idea of Jakelyn’s mom and I spending $200 on a simple meal with a decent bottle of wine scares me to hell.

With the demise of Happy Dog, the cheapest hamburger in Sonoma is $16. Small pizzas start at $22. Oysters come in at $4 each. The cheapest wine at most Sonoma restaurants starts at $45 per bottle, and it’s something we would prefer not to drink. If the two of us go out for lunch, just burgers or pizza with a bottle wine, we are over $100. Semi-retired detectives don’t have that kind of money. Then again, Jake Lorenzo has never had much money. It didn’t seem important. I am creative though, and I’ve come up with a new plan for dining out. We are going ethnic. Seeking out ethnic food trucks, pop-ups, and home kitchens exploits my detective skills to their utmost. Looking for the best barbacoa or queso birria tacos? Then find a Mexican neighborhood and look for lines of people standing in someone’s driveway. Take a day trip to Chinatown to shop for fresh duck, squab, and frog’s legs in the bustling markets. Once you’ve purchased your bounty and tucked it into your ice-chest, try out the nearest dumpling house or Cantonese restaurant.

Ethnic restaurants don’t exist by themselves. They are more likely to reside in ethnic neighborhoods. Find one good Vietnamese restaurant in Oakland and you will likely discover several more within blocks. Visiting ethnic neighborhoods and searching out good food is like traveling to foreign countries, except most people speak English and can help. Prices in these restaurants are very reasonable and the food can be exquisite. One rule this detective follows in ethnic restaurants is to order at least one dish that I’ve never heard of before. These are easy to find. You just point to what all the locals are eating and say I’ll try that.

Sadly, wine is not readily available in most ethnic establishments, especially if they are in someone’s backyard. Jakelyn’s mom came up with the answer. We use one of our old six-pack canvas wine bags: the ones we used to carry our wine whenever we went on a trip before TSA disallowed liquids. We’ll select two or three bottles and place them in the slots. Wine glasses fit into the other empty slots. We lay a chill pack on top, toss a corkscrew into the front pocket and we are good to go. Owners of ethnic restaurants may think we’re crazy when we show up with our wine, but they kindly bring glasses and rarely charge corkage.

Today, we have finally finished racking the wine, cleaning the carboys, and putting everything back into the winery. We make our way into the warm house and start with a streaming bowl of Chuy’s birria followed by Buffalo Bob’s incredible kielbasa sausages. That’s ethnic dining at its eclectic finest. We pause after just two bottles of wine split amongst the five of us so we can deliver a comforting experience to Buffalo Bob.

We’re taking him to a winery that is filled with tanks being cold stabilized. The tanks will be covered with ice and the winery will be freezing. It is our hope to remind Buffalo Bob of home. We’re even bringing an old table if he feels the need to jump on it and break it. He is Bills Mafia after all. WBM

Obituaries

Donald M. Hess, entrepreneur, vintner, and art collector, passed away peacefully in Bern, Switzerland, on January 30, 2023, at 86. Arriving in Napa Valley in the late 1970s, hoping to expand his European mineral water business, he was instead captivated by wine – a love affair that changed the course of his life. Hess first acquired 700 acres of land on Mt. Veeder in 1978 and established The Hess Collection that year, developing 200 acres into vineyard land. The first Hess Collection wines were produced in 1983, and in 1986, he secured an additional 70 acres on Mt. Veeder, which included a historic winery dating back to 1903. Over the last 45 years, The Hess Collection has become a cornerstone of sustainably grown California Cabernet Sauvignon. Today, the winery owns four estate vineyards within the Napa Valley, totaling approximately 900 planted acres.

Clay Gregory, the former president and CEO of Visit Napa Valley, passed away peacefully on Feb. 1, 2023 at the age of 65. During the past few years he had suffered from complications related to a form of early onset Alzheimer’s. In 2019, Gregory retired from Visit Napa Valley, the official tourism marketing organization for the Napa Valley. In 2010, with support from the county’s hospitality community, Gregory established the Napa Valley Tourism Improvement District (NVTID) to ensure that funding for marketing and promotion of the Napa Valley as a globally recognized destination was maintained at competitive levels. He positioned VNV to support the entire valley, to ensure each town was equally represented. Prior to his role with the Visit Napa Valley, Gregory served in key wine industry leadership roles, including as president of Jackson Family Wines, and vice president and general manager of Robert Mondavi Winery. He also had his own wine label, Inherit the Sheep.

Michael Martini passed away at the age of 73 in January following a short battle with lung cancer. Martini retired from Louis M. Martini winery in 2015, after 40 years of making wine for his family. Louis M. Martini winery was founded by his grandfather in 1933, but Martini started working in the cellar in 1974, after some time spent in the military. He completed his fermentation science degree from UC Davis and in 1977 became the head winemaker, replacing his father, Louis P. Martini. The family sold the winery to E. & J. Gallo in 2002, but Martini remained in the winemaker position until he retired in 2015. He has been active in the wine community, serving on the boards of the American Society for Viticulture and Enology, California Wine Institute and Napa Valley Vintners.

Wineries & Winemaking

Theorem Vineyards named Andy Jones as winemaker. With some 15 years of winemaking experience, working with some the region’s most celebrated labels and vineyard sites, he is the ideal person for this role. Originally from Jackson, Wyoming, Jones migrated to the Napa Valley to further his career in the restaurant industry. A management position at a Michelin-starred restaurant soon proved transformative, opening his eyes to the world of fine wine. In 2008, determined to learn more, he accepted a cellar internship at Outpost Wines with Napa Valley winemaking legend, Thomas Rivers Brown, and never looked back. Over the next 15 years, with Brown as his mentor, Jones immersed himself in winemaking, gaining extensive knowledge and respect for technique while simultaneously assuming ever-increasing responsibilities.

Craig Becker, general manager, co-founder and director of winemaking of Priest Ranch, announced that Cody Hurd has been appointed winemaker. Previously assistant winemaker, Hurd has been part of Priest Ranch’s vineyard and cellar team since 2010. Working under Craig Becker’s direction, Hurd develops all winemaking protocols and oversees production while managing the longtime cellar crew. As winemaker, his focus is maintaining a portfolio of distinctive wine blends that are reflective of the full diversity of the vineyard. A native of Washington state, Hurd relocated to Napa Valley in 2009, and was invited to join Priest Ranch’s cellar team in 2010. Mentored by Craig Becker, he worked his way up over the next ten years to cellar master, assistant winemaker, and associate winemaker.

Jill Goodrich joined the Shannon Family of Wines sales team as region sales manager west. Goodrich brings more than 30 years of experience in sales and sales management in the wine industry and is responsible for overseeing the western region sales efforts for the entire Shannon Family of Wines portfolio. Prior to joining Shannon Family of Wines, Goodrich’s extensive career background includes leadership roles at A to Z Wine Works, most recently as vice president of sales, west zone, in addition to progressive leadership roles with The Hess Collection, Diageo and Philip’s Wine & Spirits.

Terlato Wines promoted Christa Rachlin to the role of vice president, national accounts, off-premise. Rachlin joined Terlato Wines in 2020 as director of trade marketing/commercial center of excellence. Prior to Terlato, her career had her at Diageo and Treasury Wine Estates where she held senior roles in sales, operations and trade marketing, calling on Target, Sam’s Club, Albertson’s Corporate and Amazon. Rachlin reports to Chris Miller, senior vice president of sales and will be a member of Terlato’s leadership team.

Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits welcomed Lisa Catanzaro as its new head of human resources. She reports directly to president, Tom Steffanci and works closely with Deutsch’s executive team. In this role, Catanzaro oversees all aspects of human resources including recruitment, learning and development, recognition, retention, diversity, and compensation and benefits. Catanzaro has dedicated the last 20 years of her career to supporting the most important asset of any organization: its people. For the seven years prior to joining Deutsch Family, she was the senior vice president of human resources for U.S. and Canada at Breakthru Beverage Group. Prior to joining Breakthru, she spent 15 years at Diageo, in multiple roles including senior vice president of human resources for North America.

The seventh annual Rich Smith Award of Excellence for outstanding contributions to the American grape and wine industry was presented yesterday to Marty Clubb, co-owner of L’Ecole No. 41, a premium winery in Walla Walla, Washington, and a major contributor to the Washington and American wine industry. Clubb has been deeply involved in both the Washington state wine industry and on a national level with WineAmerica for decades, in both cases serving in key leadership positions. His involvement starts with the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance and the Walla Walla Community College Viticulture and Enology program which is engaged in research and extension. On a state level he has served in key roles at the Washington State Wine Commission and Washington Wine Institute, and on the national level he has served as treasurer, vice chair and chair of WineAmerica’s Board of Directors.

“Due to our deep commitment to sustainability I have been reading and digesting all the articles on alternative packaging produced by Wine Business Monthly. In the December issue Richard Carey wrote “Flexible Packaging for Wine”. As a small producer we may not be able to leverage some of these technologies but as the industry evolves it is in our and everyone’s interest to consider what we can do. In a much broader perspective the article by Dr. Richard Smart in the August 2022 edition

‘The Climate Crisis, Carbon Neutrality and the wines in America’ takes a 30,000-foot view of the industry by someone who has been around it for almost half a century.

“I have to admit I really like the hard copy but, in an effort to walk the walk, I should commit only to the digital issues. Perhaps this will be my 2023 New Years resolution.”

Winery name and location: Blue Grouse Estate Winery sits on top of one of the oldest vineyards on Vancouver Island. Pioneering BC viticulturist John Harper planted an experimental vineyard on the Blue Grouse site in 1986-87 trailing upwards of 150 different types of grape vines, some of which are still in production today. The Bacchus, Black Muscat, Gamay Noir, Ortega, Muller-Thurgau, Pearl of Csaba, Pinot Noir and Siegerrebe are more than 20 years old and the Pinot Gris is 35 years old.

Annual case production: 7,000 cases and growing

Planted acres: 15 acres producing and 15 more in third leaf with 35 more being planted in 2023

Career background: I began my career in winemaking 23 years ago after a 25-year career as a chef. I was fortunate to have some fantastic mentors who allowed me to explore the craft and hone my skills—plus there were also many transferable skills from the culinary side I was able to lean on. When I joined Blue Grouse 10 years ago, I began to drive the process to have the Cowichan Valley recognized as a distinct viticultural area (which we accomplished in 2020 as a new sub-geographical indication) and I now sit on an advisory panel for the industry in BC.

What has been your biggest professional challenge? The biggest challenge currently is working in a small market without the ready access to colleagues (which is why Wine Business Monthly is such a fantastic resource). The obvious other challenge is that we are in a very cool climate and on the edge of where grapes grow easily, so my relationship with Mother Nature is always a complex dance.

Varietals that your winery is known for: Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and, increasingly, Chardonnay