The weather is nice, not warm, but that delicate spot between uncomfortable extremes where wine grapes like to live. I’m meeting Charles Hendricks (CH), the winemaker and co-owner of hope & grace wines for the past twelve years at a renowned local restaurant, steps from the Yountville tasting room, a perk of the tasting room location.

I always identified with Maverick from Topgun. There is a natural knowledge of how to do things… I joke that I come stupid to each vintage without pre-conceived ideas of what’s going to happen.

Charles Hendricks arrives promptly, dressed in a clean black t-shirt and tan cargo pants. He elicits a comparison to Dr. Drew from TV, crisp, and casual. His attire is functional while still expressing a clean aesthetic. He informs me he’s primarily working in the cellar today and won’t be in the vineyards.

He approaches the lunch confidently, he’s familiar with the menu, the dishes, and most importantly the wine; his Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir graces the list at this restaurant.

RM: When you eat somewhere where your wine is on the wine list do you order it?

CH: Not usually, I like to try something else, see what other people are doing.

So he selects a Russian river Pinot Noir as a comparison. After the initial pleasantries are completed and orders made I continue.

RM: Not taking into account any wine you personally have made, what is the best wine you’ve ever had?

Charles stops only for a second and responds with surety.

CH: ‘78 Domaine de la Romanee Conti Grands Echezeaux I think it was in 1992.

RM: Where were you?

CH: I was in San Francisco at the restaurant of a friend and I was bemoaning the fact that I couldn’t find any good pinot noir and I was going to write off the whole category, and the chef goes ‘no you’ve got to try this.’ She pulls something off the shelf in their wine cellar and it’s this bacon fruit bomb that overtook my whole system from mouth to belly, everything was echoing those flavors; it was ethereal and I still remember that… and I said ‘ok I’ve got it now’ and it laid out where I want to be.

RM: And nothing has stood up to that since then?

CH: Nope (no hesitation).

RM: You talk passionately and eloquently of wine, is that what you want to be since boyhood?

CH: Growing up all I knew was veterinary medicine… my dad was a veterinarian and when an animal was injured in the middle of the night he’d wake me up and we’d go down to the veterinary hospital and I’d be doing treatments with him or helping with a surgery… I liked it, I liked to make them better and work in the animal hospital. It was very fulfilling.

RM: And how did you go from that to the wine world?

CH: Coming from Anaheim, CA there wasn’t a wine culture at that time. And UC Davis was the only school with a veterinary medicine program so I applied there and got in. In college everyone took ‘Introduction to Winemaking’ because you got to drink the wine… but after I took the class it struck me.

RM: What was your favorite part of the class… besides drinking wine?

Charles chuckles, he has a calm and friendly air about him. The staff have recognized him and we are graced with a salad compliments of the chef: Artichokes two ways, shaved and fried with an anchovy vinaigrette. He is gracious in his acceptance and he digs into the salad as we continue.

CH: The agriculture really appealed to me. I took a year and two thirds under my physiology major and I changed my major to viticulture… and then I was kinda one of the first that wrote my own major that included the viticulture and the winemaking courses. The programs had not yet been integrated because of politics. Back in the ‘70’s the grapegrowers and the winemakers were always fighting each other. The grapegrowers were trying to put the peddle to the metal and make the highest yields possible, to hell with the quality, and the winemakers were reading about Bordeux and low grape yields… so they didn’t understand each other.

RM: You were interested in the viticulture… what do you think drove the division?

CH: Back then the grapegrowers were paid on sugar points and the higher the sugar content the more they got paid, as opposed to now. It showed that there weren’t the common goals of today. Today when you contract with a grapegrower you contract for tonnage and you develop a relationship, some of my wines I’ve been sourcing from the same growers and the same vineyards since almost the beginning. The grower knows what you want and knows he has to provide clean fruit of high grade.

RM: You were at UC Davis which is now world-renowned for their Food and Wine Institute, but you were there before that… how did you learn what you know now?

CH: Yeah I was there in the dark ages… (Charles chuckles). In the California wine world back then it was an active time of experimenting trying to figure out what we had… it took us 5-6 years before we found out the Text Books had lied to us. Everything was technically correct but we discovered that it doesn’t work that way in real life.

RM: Where did you learn your secrets then?

CH: Trial and error… probably 10 years experimenting with different problems in wine. Working at different wineries that each had unique issues, barrel issues, cellar issues, etc. I got really good at working with difficult wines.

RM: You’ve worked in a lot of places with a lot of different people in the industry, how would other winemakers describe you?

CM: That’s a good question… probably a cowboy, (Charles smiles feeling comfortable with this idea)I don’t keep the best notes. I always identified with Maverick from Topgun. There is a natural knowledge of how to do things… I joke that I come stupid to each vintage without pre-conceived ideas of what’s going to happen. I’ve watched larger companies try to computer model when the grapes will be ready. I never made wine from a laboratory model… you just have to be out there in the grapes doing it. I don’t follow a textbook or a computer model and that’s where the cowboy comes in…

… to be continued.

The use of cover crops and legumes planted in the rows between the vines provides fertile, nitrogen rich soil allowing for healthy vine growth. Later in the season, the cover crop is tilled into the soil providing a second burst of nutrients in the mid-season. The promoted biodiversity encourages growth of beneficial flora and fauna and fosters a wildlife habitat for native animals. Ladybugs, beetles and lacewings which can call this habitat home thrive and consume potential natural pests to our vines. Any chemicals that are used sparingly in the vineyard are organic approved & considered reduced-risk pesticides. This results in a higher fruit quality thus allowing Charles to make a more natural wine.

This is a commitment that our growers make not just on earth day but all year. When you open the new 2010 hope & grace Pinot Noir from the Santa Lucia Highlands, please feel good about the decision you made knowing that you are supporting the work, craft and respect of our winemaker and growers and their dedication to the environment.

Quick Tip: Two things to remember when buying and serving a large format bottle. First, part of the purpose of a large format is the drama, so pour straight from the bottle without decanting. Second, aim for a bottle in the double magnum size and never above a Joroboam, anything larger and you will be unable to suavely pour. 

In wine bottles we mean. Did you know that the large sized wine bottles are primarily named after kings, royalty, and other notable figures of the Middle East? Those history buffs out there know who Methuselah (said to have lived 900+ years), Nebuchadnezzar, Rehoboam, and Balthazar are (For a brief history lesson), but for those of us in the wine world they hold more meaning as sizes of large-format wine bottles. To confuse things more, there are different standards if you’re referring to still or sparkling wine. So, for the purpose of this short post, we will be talking about still wines (hope & grace style!). For the airplane industry and the avid pic-nicker there are the small bottles. Most popular on your next flight or in your hotel room bar are the Piccolo or Chopine sizes that are 1/8 and ¼ respectively. You can pick up a bottle of the hope & grace Santa Lucia Highlands in a Demi, ½ bottle size at our tasting room and pair it with a couple Govino logo glasses for your next out-door adventure. Most people are familiar with the full bottle that is universally known as 750ml (Not a full liter). Then we start talking about the big-boys. Luca De Ferrari of Poderi Boscarelli noted “Producers and drinkers are always attracted by the larger formats of wine bottle, such as the magnum, for an added element of ceremony” and it has been observed that the large format bottles slow the aging process allowing the wine to age with elegance in comparison to smaller bottles. At hope & grace we keep a select number of magnums (double bottles) in the tasting room for discerning guests. Then we start getting into the names of old kings and leaders. A Jerobaom is equivalent to 6 bottles and an Imperial/Methuselah is equivalent to 8. Primarily bottles above that size are sparkling, although it has become more popular (and somewhat of a status symbol) for wineries to produce very limited large size bottles for events or publicity. Have you seen the one at Beringer? It’s called “Maximus” and holds 173 bottles of wine and in 2004, the Guiness Book of World Records dubbed it the world’s largest bottle.

Liters                         Name                                      Bottle Equivalent

0.375L                        Demi-bottle                           ½

0.75L                          Bottle (duh!)                          1

1.5L                             Magnum                                 2

2.25L                          Marie Jeanne                         3

3.0L                             Jeroboam                               4

4.5L                             Rehoboam                             6

6.0L                            Imperial/Methuselah          8

9.0L                            Mordechai/Salmanazar     12 (A Case)

12.0L                          Balthazar                                16

16.0L                          Nebuchadnezzar                  20

18.0L                          Melchior                                24

Most likely many early vintners found ways to protect their wines using oiled cloth or other means, but soon a thin lead sheet became popular to protect the cork of wines. Lead was used because of its malleability to the unusual shape of the neck of a bottle.

In the ‘90’s however in a major crackdown on heavy metals in the United States the FDA banned the use or importation of wines with lead capsules. Reasons range from the detrimental effects in landfills to the trace amounts that would be left on the lip of the bottle and potentially ingested during consumption. Regardless, wine producers started using other materials, Tin being another easily pliable material quickly took over. But between 2002 and 2008 the cost of a ton of Tin increased 250%. Capsule producers started turning then more and more to Aluminum, Plastics, and Aluminum-Plastic Hybrids.

Of course now other closures such as the screw top have removed both the cork and often times the classic capsule from use. When you pull the capsule off a bottle of wine it most likely is aluminum or plastic with some exceptions being Tin. They are heat-shrinked onto the bottles giving a nice feel. When you’re at your local wine store take a look around, do you see any “naked” wines. Some wine makers have started to go back to using no capsule at all (Since many wineries don’t cellar there wines in dank dungeons with cork weevils much any more), preferring it as more natural and interesting looking.

Some wine makers have also decided to dip the mouth of their wine bottles in wax, for example our special Cuvee Amor has been dipped. The rest of our wines you will find have a Tin capsule. Nate, one of our local tasting salon experts at hope & grace notes that “you can tell the difference between capsules most easily when you cut them.” He explains an easy way to identify what the capsule on your next wine is… “First, if it’s a bottle of hope & grace it will be a tin capsule, that’s easy. You can tell because tin will leave a smoother cut when cut with a wine key or similar straight blade. It will also feel heavy when removed from the bottle. Aluminum tends to cut with a more jagged edge and if you compare it to a tin capsule, it’s much lighter. Plastic and plastic hybrids are generally easy to identify because they don’t cut very well, often times the entire capsule comes off when cut, and it feels thin and more brittle than the metals.” Check out more information on local capsule producer Lafitte USA’s website. They have more information about polymer capsules and cutting edge new options.

Many people don’t know what “coopering” is. Coopering is the age old process of producing a cask for the transport of dry or wet goods (each needing a different level of sophistication). Around 225 BC the first wood containers were developed for the transportation of liquids. You might also hear people talk about “toasting” which many equate to a morning ritual with coffee and eggs, but in the wine world refers to lighting a fire and putting an unfinished barrel over it, thus “toasting” the interior. Another vocabulary word for the day is “stave” which is what the individual curved pieces of wood that make up a wine barrel. For what may appear to be a very simple wine barrel there is a long and often times secretive process that each cooperage uses. From the origin of the oak down to the specific forest in a specific country, to the amount of aging pre-toasting of the barrel “staves.” Check out Seguin Moreau Napa Cooperage that has a detailed description of the long and complex process that goes into each barrel.

Ever wonder about all those corks piling up in your kitchen, den, drawer, wherever? Where did they come from?

The illustrious cork has seen many permutations and uses over the millennia. One of the earliest discovered uses of the cork was in none other than a clay cask of wine in the 4^th century BC in Italy. At that time cork also started “popping” up in literature.

We have the monk Dom Perignon in the 18^th century to thank for the modern usage of a cork in glass bottles, as he started using it to replace wood stoppers for his now famous champagne.

Cork is a fantastic product, being resistant to rot, buoyant, nearly air impermeable , easily cut, and for a tree product, very sustainable. You see, the trees are not cut down. The above image is actually a piece of the bark of the Cork Oak tree that is pealed back (leaving the tree alive and ready for harvest every 10 or so years). Cork Oak trees can actually live to upwards of 300 years. The bark is then boiled to sanitize it and make it more pliable. Then the corks are cut straight from the piece of bark by hand leaving holes like our sample. The remaining bark as can be seen in the image is often ground up into bits and used in flooring, composite corks, sandals and other products. (Great illustrated guide to the process here)

So take those used corks, make a bulletin board or some other DIY out of them (30 great ideas for all your corks!) or take them to your local store or winery that can recycle them so they can happily seal another wonderful bottle of vino.