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.

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.

Pinot has always been there with its approachable, fruit-forward, and fleshy (sometimes even a little dirty) self; my only complaint about this cherished varietal is the deviations. From season to growing-region, winemaker, vineyard, row and clone the possibilities are endless… maybe that’s part of the reason I like it so much…

In a quest to understand this desirable creature, I had to opportunity to learn about it from vine to wine with Andy Mitchell, our Pinot Noir grower in the Santa Lucia Highlands, and Charles Hendricks, our very own winemaker at hope & grace wines. Andy Mitchell, the vineyard manager for the Hahn estate, grows the fruit for our signature wine, the hope & grace Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir… He and Charles worked together in selecting 3 clones for this wine… (Drumroll please)… May I introduce the Swan, 777 and Pommard Pinot Noir clones…

Definition in the Oxford Companion by Jancis Robinson: “Clone in a viticultural context is a single vine or a population of vines all derived by vegetative propagation from cuttings or buds from a single ‘mother vine’ by deliberate clonal selection.” This may be to achieve a certain characteristic, promote a clone that is not perceptible to a certain threat or it might just be as Charles so eloquently states, “We are searching for a new clone to plant in what we’ve come to know, from our intergalactic search for other potentially inhabitable planets, as the Goldilocks zone; where everything is just right… or in this case where the clone fits its environment.”

The following questions were very generically asked to both Charles and Andy and here are a few of their answers… (I offer my opinion too, no need for worry)

Any thoughts on today’s Pinot Noir clones?

Charles Hendricks: “When we talk of Pinot Noir clones it’s a number stew. Each clonal selection, usually from the French viticulture development and selection is assigned a number. Some of the early ones started as 103, then 105. They moved onto 115, then 667, 777, and now the numbers are somewhere in the 800’s. It takes time to see how these new clones play out in the climate of California. Remember, these were selected in cooler France, not sunnier California. We had to wonder…Will the fruit drop its acidity too soon, and leave a ho-hum boring flavor? Or will it be zippy and racy?”

Let’s get to specifics, what about the Swan clone can you tell me?

Charles Hendricks: “There was Pinot Noir before the numbers game began. Individuals selected material from their own vineyards or brought back material from their travels abroad. The more promising stayed in use, and got planted by more growers. Conversations could be had about the success or failings of these clones. Joseph Swan, an early pioneer in Pinot, made such a selection, and the success of the material came to bear his name. The ‘Swan’ clone stands up to the heat of California, and produces a wine with a finely scented bouquet. It doesn’t have much color, but then again some of the best Burgundies look like rose.”

Andy Mitchell: “The Swan clone is one of the more fragile Cholera clones and it can have some virus issues as it is a smaller berry with a thinner skin making it more susceptible to sunburn. It also does not need as much stress as an already delicate and low yielding clone with minimal drought tolerance.”

What about 777 (pronounced ‘Triple 7’)?

Charles Hendricks: “After some discussion, we took a chance on 777. It is much denser than the other two, and we like because it is said to add backbone to wine. This is exactly what it did for hope & grace. It is a bit of a late bloomer in the barrel but by bottling time, it smoothed out and beautifully integrated in the blend. It is a great component clone.”

Andy Mitchell: “The 777 much darker in color. It stems from the Dijon clones in variation and has been known to add a dark, rich and velvety characteristic to the wine.”

Why Pommard? (I also asked Andy where it was on the property and what’s going on in the vineyard…)

Charles Hendricks: “Another early selection was the Pommard clone; you can guess its origins. Pommard, for me, is the wine brut of Burgundy. It has none of the ethereal charms of a Musigny, or Romanée-Conti. It does, however, have a rich density and color. I don’t really enjoy French Pommard, but bring it to California and it does wonderful things. If I had one stand-alone clone to make, this would be it. It has the power and weight, but, also, it has great depth of fruit.”

Andy Mitchell: ‘The Doctor’s Vineyard is a 400 acre parcel with 80% planted to Pinot Noir. The F Block where the hope & grace fruit is sourced is the 3 clones(Swan, 777 and Pommard) on a non-drought tolerant 5C rootstock. The block is on an ancient alluvial fan which is extremely well drained but can also act as a reservoir on the Santa Lucia Highlands bench. Of the three clones, the Pommard is the clone of choice by all winemakers and it just flourishes in this spot. It can be a touch meaty but always has these beautiful intense and pure fruit characteristics. In the vineyard right now, everything is almost dormant and we are getting ready to prune so we can anticipate budbreak in March.”

Why all three? How did you get there? (I know what you are thinking… I am a great interviewer!)

Charles Hendricks: “With this little history, we tried to make an informed decision of what clones hope & grace wines would like to source from the Hahn Estate in the Santa Lucia Highlands. I had worked with several of the new numbers, and wanted a third to flesh out our Pinot. Most of the other numbered clones produced an overlap of the characteristics that I found in the Pommard and Swan selections. So we decided to add the 777 as our third to round out the wine and add a new dimension to the structure. For three vintages now, we blended all three clones to produce our Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir. Each clone has played beautifully off the other. This is why, I believe, our Pinot has the lushness, the fruit, and the density that it does. These pinots have the staying power of the great wines of Burgundy. Enjoy them now, or don’t. They’ll be there when you’re ready.”

Thank you Andy and Charles!

2008 hope & grace Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir

I now know why growers and winemakers can refer to Pinot Noir as the “heartbreaker”. This thin-skinned, delicate varietal needs everything just right… I am thrilled we have such an experienced grower and winemaker who have done their homework, taken the time and put in the hours to make sure that Goldilocks liked her porridge… if you haven’t tasted our Pinot Noir you really should… come by and see us anytime! Cheers!