NorthBay biz visits Passalacqua Vineyards, Ceja Vineyards, Clif Family Winery & Farm and Westwood Winery
Passalacqua Vineyards
By Michael Keel
2060 Mill Creek Rd., Healdsburg 95448
www.passalacquawinery.com
Case production: 450
Planted acres: 100
Grapes planted: Cabernet Sauvignon
Wines produced: Cabernet Sauvignon
Employees: 4 to 7
Tom Passalacqua walks the gravel road from his home on the vineyard to greet me and, at first glance, I know this is a man who respects the earth. His eyes are humble and his stride proud but modest. When I shake his hand, hard work is evident in his grip. People always say the eyes are the windows to the soul, but I believe it’s in your hands. Tom Passalacqua is a true gentleman and wise man of the vine. “You let the vine talk to you,” he tells me.
Born and raised in Healdsburg, Passalacqua attended the local high school then University of San Francisco followed by Hastings College of Law. After law school, Tom and his wife Sandi (who’s originally from Watsonville and went to college with Tom’s sister), bought 350 acres in Healdsburg in 1979 to start a cattle ranch. They were told by several Healdsburg residents, “This land isn’t going to be worth anything, and there’s no one out here. No one lives here—nothing. Good luck.” Between 1997 and 1998 they gave up the cattle business in favor of planting Cabernet Sauvignon vines. Tom says, “What started as a hobby grew into a major project.”
When Tom commenced development the vineyard, he bought a CAT D8 tractor and a backhoe, and he and his four employees prepared the land, including the underground work. They left a lot of the original landscape intact, including rock formations, ponds, creeks and forest areas. “We were lucky,” says Passalacqua. “We planted this property before machines were used for harvest. Patin Vineyard Management designed the vine rows to follow the contour of the hills. Some are planted in a North-South direction and others in an East-West direction, which resulted in the ability to use a picking machine at harvest.”
Tom’s experience with viticulture was all hands-on field training that started in 1998, and 99.9 percent of it, he says he owes to mentors Pete Opatz (Route 138 Vineyards) and Dale Goode. Tom Hobart of Allied Domecq Wines/Clo Du Bois (who unfortunately died in a 2005 plane crash) signed Passalacqua’s first 10-year contract to buy Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, which then allowed him to sell grapes to boutique wineries such as Dutcher Crossing and Owl Ridge and his son and daughter-in-law, Jason and Noelle Passalacqua, who make a 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon at Passalacqua Winery in Dry Creek Valley, which opened in 2004.
Passalacqua’s Cabernet grapes are grown on a hillside with natural drainage and a unique, rocky soil, which, Tom says, is a major factor that dictates quality. Tom has created a controlled environment of 23 parcels, sectioned separately so he and his crew can micromanage the vineyard.
As we walk between the vines, Tom stops me and whispers, “Just listen: It’s so peaceful out here. You know what hasn’t showed up this year? The robins. I don’t know why, but if the robins were in here today, we wouldn’t be able to talk. They’re really musical.” He quickly changes topic but continues to whisper, “Raising the perfect grape, I believe, is the toughest job I have. It’s like trying to harness the ocean.”
Passalacqua Vineyards does spray for pests occasionally, but Passalacqua says he’s headed toward organic. The wine growing business is unpredictable. You never really know if you’re doing the right thing until after the harvest, when you can taste the juice that goes to the winery. Every year, Mother Nature throws vineyard owners a different curve and, every year, Passalacqua has to tweak his game plan. He explains, “I’m in the vineyard just about every day—early morning and after office hours. I love pruning with our [workers], but you need to watch the vine grow—the space between the internodes, the tendrils and whether the leaves cup or start to shrink a little bit. The tendrils and the leaves and the space between the internodes will tell you when to water. You have to anticipate.”
Passalacqua planted 100 acres in one year when he began the vineyard as a hobby. Regarding the vineyard work, he says, “Our workers apply their trade, and we try to do everything—pruning, spraying, discing—ourselves. We didn’t buy a way of life, we are this way of life.
“I have a quality crew. I take care of them and they take care of me. We offer housing, both on vineyard land and by downtown Healdsburg. They’re hardworking and honorable.”
Passalacqua also provides medical insurance for his permanent employees and pays utility bills for all of his employees. He only brings a contractor to help them when needed, otherwise the entire 100 acres is farmed by his crew. He says, “They want to work. They want to work a minimum of 60 hrs a week, 6 days a week.”
Passalacqua is planting eight more acres and will eventually plant the remainder of the hillside we’re looking at, which will be a roughly two-year project. Tom says, “You have to be out there just about every day, visualizing the growth of the vines. You can’t rely on technology all the time. You really have to let the vine tell you what it needs. As crazy as it sounds, you should listen to the vine.”
Next time you decide a visit to a winery, make it Passalacqua Winery. When you take that first sip of Passalacqua Cabernet Sauvignon, think about what was put into that bottle and cherish each sip, for every conversation between the vine and Tom Passalacqua is sealed into each bottle.
Ceja Vineyards
(707) 255-3954
www.cejavineyards.com
Case production: Less than 10,000 a year
Planted acres: 200
Grapes planted: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah
Wines produced: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah, Vino de Casa blends (a red and a white), Bella Flor Dry Rosé, Dulce Beso Late Harvest White Wine and two sparkling wines (a Brut and a Blanc de Noir)
Employees: 12
Amelia Ceja is the first Mexican American woman to be president of a wine production company. She studied history and literature at the University of California in San Diego and, during summers and Christmas breaks, she worked alongside her parents pruning or developing a vineyard. Twelve years ago, she left her job to concentrate all her energy on Ceja Vineyards in Napa.
Amelia is an amazing person who speaks intellectually, compassionately and progressively when talking about Ceja Vineyards and her family. Amelia, her husband Pedro and his brother Armando (originally from Aguililla, Michoacán) arrived in Napa Valley from Las Flores, Mexico, in the late 1960s. The Ceja family roots run deep in the Napa Valley; her father was a vineyard foreman in Oakville, where the family was introduced to wine growing and picking grapes.
During harvest that first year in Napa Valley, Amelia met her future husband, who’s also a business partner. Pedro and Amelia were both 12 years old, and Armando (now head winemaker) was eight, when they met; to this day, all three main principles of Ceja Vineyards remain trusted allies. Currently, the trio is building a new, mission-style winery behind the administrative office at their Carneros property. Pedro designed it and, although he’s not an architect, his plans were so clear that Tom Faherty of Valley Architects in St. Helena had absolutely no problems turning Pedro’s vision into a reality.
Amelia and Pedro live right across the vineyard from the administration office, so she can literally walk to work. Amelia says, “We’ve grown all of our own herbs, and the new winery space will have an organic garden. I’m looking forward to applying to become a master gardener. There’s always room to get more education and broaden your abilities.” With an attitude like that, how can this woman not excel in everything she pursues?
The land Ceja Vineyards sits on is the very first property the trio bought in the early 1980s. At that time, Pedro and Amelia had graduated from college and Armando was attending UC Davis for a degree in viticulture. “We were all very poor students—no money, nothing basically—but we loved wine growing and knew we wanted to do it someday, though we had no idea when,” Amelia says. They bought the land at a time when inflation was horrendous—interest rates were 19 to 20 percent—and they almost lost the land. Luckily, by that time Armando, was finishing up at UC Davis and had gotten a job so he could contribute a little bit toward the payments.
Money became so tight; Pedro and Amelia were forced to move from Silicon Valley, where Pedro had an engineering job. Pedro’s parents already lived in the only house on the land with their younger children (Pedro is one of six siblings). But there was a little studio on the side of that house, where Pedro, Amelia and their three children lived. Amelia says, “It didn’t even have a full bathroom. It was a very challenging time for our family, but that’s what saved our property. We were able to make the monthly payment on the land and save it.”
Their very first vines were planted 25 years ago in the 15-acre parcel where currently a field of bright yellow mustard grass grows. They took them out last year because they were taken over with Pierces disease and they replanted Pinot Noir on better rootstalk; they’ll harvest those grapes around 2013. Through trial and error over years since, Amelia says, “We now have the perfect clones we wanted and love: Chardonnay that’s 15 years old, by the driveway, and everything in the back of the vineyard is Pinot Noir. In the Carneros region, it’s ideal to plant Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. We’re also going to plant some more Merlot.”
The Carneros region has the ideal wine growing conditions for Ceja Vineyards, in part because the climate influence comes from the San Francisco and San Pablo bays, but also because of the soil composition. The soil is very shallow, Amelia explains. If you dig deeper than 30 inches, you stop seeing any organic matter because the soil is so compacted. It’s good because whatever little water there is it doesn’t percolate very fast and the plants are able to use it. If it was gravely soil, the water would percolate too fast. In the Carneros region they do not get a lot of rain so it’s OK that the soil is dense—it retains more moisture needed for vine growth. “We elected to buy land in this area because we love Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and, in the early 1980s, we were one of the early pioneers,” Amelia explains. None of the now-neighboring vineyards existed at that time; they were one of the first few. When they bought the land, the Carneros region wasn’t even officially named an AVA (it was designated in the summer of 1983).
Pedro and Amelia were very young when they started in the wine business and, Amelia says, “If we had a business plan back then, we never would have bought the land. It was very brave. We had a lot of experience in viticulture—we were farmers in Mexico, we worked alongside our parents and we loved the lifestyle—but none of us studied business. But it’s OK, because we wouldn’t have any of this now. After we planted our first 15 acres, another piece came up for sale, and we bought it using the first profit from the first vineyard.”
Ceja Vineyards started as a tiny production company with parcels spread across the area. When they launched their own wine brand in 2001, they started with 750 cases—now they’re at 10,000 (hence the need to build their own winery). Amelia says, “Now we have a business plan, and we’ve been planning everything for the past 10 years. I’ve taken a lot of classes in business and marketing, so it’s time to use that education.”
Among Amelia’s many talents, she’s also quite accomplished in the culinary arts. Amelia says, “As a chef, I want all the dishes I love to pair well with wine: Mexican, Asian and Latin American are my favorite foods. They’re savory with spice components, and the wine’s acidity complements these foods perfectly.” She explains that they harvest their grapes earlier and at a lower Brix, because they prefer lower alcohol wines, the pH is lower and the finished product ends up with nice, bright flavors. They control everything in-house at Ceja Vineyards, from the rootstock all the way into the bottle. Amelia adds, “From the get-go, we decided we were going to make the style of wines we love, which are balanced, low alcohol, with bright acidity; wines that aren’t just great by themselves, but, more important, great when they’re paired with foods.
Armando is in charge of all the vineyards and makes their wines at the rented spaces at two other wineries. In 2012, they’ll finish building their own winery. Amelia says, “We use the labor force of the other wineries, space, and we pay a ton of money, hence another big reason to build our own winery.”
Amelia Ceja and her family have made what could have been just conversations into a reality. Though there were hardships and rocky roads along the way, those conversations of positivity and never giving up have led the Ceja family to be blessed with good fortune. My bet is that Ceja Vineyards will be around for a long, long time.
Clif Family Winery and Farm
By Christina Julian
1312 Vidovich Ave., St. Helena 94574
(707) 968-0625
www.cliffamilywinery.com
Case production: 10,000
Planted acres: 7.5, plus sourced fruit
Grapes planted: Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Cabernet Sauvignon
Sourced fruit: Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, Cabernet, Syrah
Wines produced: Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel
Employees: 15
Nutrition and fitness? A likely pairing. Wine and food? Another winning combination. Health food and wine? A bit of a stretch—or so I thought until my visit with Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford, the ever-fit, ever-active founders and owners of Clif Family Winery & Farm. The same dynamic duo that put “taste” into energy bars through another little venture, Clif Bar & Company.
Erickson got his start in the kitchen during his high school years under the tutelage of his mother and grandmother. His first commercial endeavor came in 1986, with Kali’s Sweets and Savories, which went on to become Clif Bar & Company in 1992. “I started to enjoy wine when I was in Italy, traveling around the world. I spent several months there, climbing and cycling” says Erickson, “but at every meal, it seemed like someone was having a glass of wine. It was just part of the meal.”
Crawford’s start in the business came from a different (yet similar) passion. “I grew up in a family that didn’t drink wine, so my introduction came when I lived in San Francisco as a dancer. I worked at a shop where they made handmade pastas and sold Italian wines. The wines of Italy are how I developed my appreciation for wine.”
Good taste–good cause
From Crawford and Erickson’s perspective (often from atop a mountain or bike) wine is just another part of an adventurous lifestyle, as is nurturing the environment, and, each became a contributing factor in the decision to purchase a Napa Valley farm property in 1997. The business (founded in 2004) is built around the tenets of sustainable food and farming, environmentally friendly packaging, renewable energy and a climate-neutral footprint. The couple’s roots are firmly planted in these endeavors, and the first sprout came in 2009 with CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) certification. “We’re always thinking about the environment—how we can affect it and protect it,” says Crawford. An additional certification from the Food Alliance is slated for completion this summer. “It’s a way to challenge ourselves. We’re always looking for ways to improve the way we look at the environment through our business,” she shares.
Mountain to table to farm
The Clif Family Winery & Farm is comprised of three distinct properties: five and a half vineyard acres on Howell Mountain, the Velo Vino tasting room in St. Helena (which opened in March), and farm property on Ink Grade Road in Pope Valley. “It’s a great area to farm in, so we’re putting in a two-acre Zinfandel vineyard,” says Erickson. “As for the other property, we know Howell Mountain is one of the great appellations in the United States. We really wanted to have a signature vineyard that could show our wine.” Crawford is quick to add another key ingredient: “We were looking for good cycling. That was important to us.”
The company broadens its ties to the community with a community-supported agriculture (CSA) box program that draws locals weekly with scheduled pick-ups at the tasting room. The experience is ripe with adventure, wine and cycling, including vintage bikes and cliff-hanging photos. “It’s a bit like coming home,” says Linzi Gay, general manager. “We offer a casual and fun food and wine experience.”
A unique pair
Whether it’s nutritious organic foods or an array of wines produced with a commitment to sustainable farming practices, Crawford and Erickson have made it their business to offer one unique pairing after another. To this end, at the tasting room, you can experience Clif Bar products matched with wine flights. A Lemon Zest Luna Bar served with the Rte. Blanc (named after Erickson’s travels along the “white” less-traveled roads of Europe) is sure to please. Equally adventurous are the Clif Mountain Mixes, which were developed to pair with the wines. “We can’t stop making food,” says Crawford. “We thought we should come up with something that people could enjoy and taste with the wine.”
In addition to the mixes, Velo Vino sells an assortment of Clif Bar products along with Luna women’s cycling wear. “We’re very connected to the cycling world, so we wanted to make the tasting room a place that’s friendly for cyclists to drop in,” says Erickson. “We hope they’ll stop by before or after [a ride] to try our wines and get the Clif experience.” Expect custom tours that blend biking and tasting with a stop off at the sensory garden. The friendly nature of the tasting room extends beyond the biking community to include visitors and locals (the latter receiving such perks as complimentary tastings and a 30 percent discount on wines purchased in the tasting room). Crawford’s hope for the experience: “To share our passion for food, wine and an active lifestyle. Having a place where visitors can feel really welcome.”
Cliff hangers and improv
Winemakers Sarah Gott and Bruce Regalia came into the mix because of a passion for and expertise in blending. The 2008 Limited Release Climber blend is organically farmed and exudes flavors of cherry and plum with a soft tannin finish. It pairs with Gary and Kit’s Smoked Paprika Almond Mountain Mix—a lively concoction. The Rte. Blanc is ripe with crisp citrus and tropical fruit flavors, and pairs with the Sundried Berry and Cherry Mountain Mix.
Crawford on Kit’s Killer Cab: “It’s an exciting wine. It’s not for the faint of heart. Napa is known for bold Cabs,” she shares. The Gary’s ImProv, speaks to Erickson’s own nature (he enjoys improvisational jazz trumpeting). “The original thought was that the wine could change every year,” says Erickson. “I think [Zinfandel] is a unique, improvisational kind of grape. It’s spicy and fun and goes with a lot of different foods. I feel like a lot of life is really an improv, too. We’ve been improvising at this business for 20 some years. It’s fun to have a label that reflects that.”
Crawford’s furthers the sentiment: “This [winery] is really fun and interesting. You can endlessly explore. It’s the endless adventure.”
Westwood Winery
By Christina Julian
111 East Napa Street, Suite 3, Sonoma, CA 95476
(707) 294-8278
www.westwoodwine.com
Case production: About 2,500
Planted acres: 24
Grapes planted: Pinot Noir, Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Counoise and Tannat.
Wines produced: Pinot Noir, Syrah, Rhône blend, rosé
Employees: 5
One fine day, John Kelly woke up with the realization that, despite an advanced degree in biochemistry from UC Davis, a career in academia wasn’t exactly how he wanted to spend his days after all. He contemplated his next move over a glass of wine…one sip led to the next. Wine Country boondoggles then led to helping a bio-chem buddy with some garage winemaking. Said friend, Bert Urch, then made the leap into commercial winemaking in 1984 with Westwood Winery. Kelly’s career aspirations in biochemistry melted away, and his roots in the wine world were planted.
Fast forward to 2002: Kelly, with four investment partners, purchases Westwood Winery from Bert’s widow Betty Stoltz. In 2005, the winery moves operations to Sonoma Valley, where Kelly serves as winemaker and partner.
Some roots are hard to ignore
“Being able to think as a scientist has let me pursue winemaking in a very focused manner. It’s also let me interact with wine scientists from all over the world,” says Kelly. “I’ve had very fruitful, intellectual contacts with people at the AWRI [Australian Wine Research Institute] and a number of people in South Africa, Italy and France. I’ve been able to discuss wine production issues at a very high level.”
Kelly credits his scientific background for his formal entrée into the wine industry. “My experience in the academic field gave me direct access to jobs at Stags’ Leap and Sonoma-Cutrer,” he says. “They needed somebody who could do research.” Prior to those posts, Kelly managed a high-end wine shop in Davis. It was here he helped sell the first vintage of Westwood Wine, a 1984 Lake County Pinot Noir.
Serious business
Much like wine in the Napa and Sonoma valleys, wine science is weighty stuff. “We’re making serious wines and trying to present them in a less serious manner,” says Kelly. “Unlike most California Pinot Noir production, we leave ours in barrel for at least two years. We’re producing wines that don’t fit the California stereotype. They’re not over-extracted, or fruit-driven. They’re not high in alcohol or pH level. In a sense, they’re iconoclastic.”
But seriously, how about what the wines are. “They’re food-friendly, complex and multi-dimensional, showing much more than just fruit. They show more finesse than you’d expect,” says Kelly, “and they age extraordinarily well. We’re still drinking the 1986 from Haynes Vineyard.” (When Westwood’s section of the four-decade-old Haynes Vineyard in Napa Valley was bulldozed in 2006, Kelly made sure to retain a chunk of the vineyard’s legacy for his own vineyard. “I’m the only guy in California who has that particular selection of bud wood [from Haynes],” he says. “To me, preserving that bit of heritage is kind of important.”)
The largest aspect of the winery’s production (anywhere from 700 to 1,000 cases), comes from the redFOUR Rhône blend that was birthed during a chance meeting at Tablus Creek Vineyard in 2000. “I was invited to a commercial tasting and was blown away by how continental those wines tasted,” says Kelly. Turns out Robert Haas, managing partner at Tablas, had a relationship with the Perrins family of Chateau de Beaucastel in France. The pairing ultimately led to a California planting (with many steps in between) of a special budwood, the same that was offered commercially at the tasting.
“I walked into their business office and ordered 50,000 buds,” shares Kelly. The soil at his Annadel Vineyard in Sonoma is also a factor, comprised of Arbuckle, Manzanita and Tuscan gravelly loam. “The redFOUR is more than the sum of its parts. It’s very food friendly and lively with lots of raspberry. It has good structure and holds acidity,” says Kelly. In addition to the special budwood and vineyard soil, Kelly credits Jean-Marie Martin of JMM Vineyard management, who helped him plant the vineyard in 2002.
Beyond the stereotypes
Much like his wines, Kelly doesn’t fit any one particular stereotype. He’s balanced his days between research and winemaking from the onset. He served that dual function at Stag’s Leap where he worked with Rex Geitner. “He was a good guy. I owe a lot of what I learned about the vineyards to Rex,” says Kelly.
Then he worked with a crew at Vinwood Cellars in Geyserville that included Helen Turley, Mary Edwards, Joel Peterson, Robbie Winestock, Carol Franzia, among others. “We were all making wine and overseeing production at a time when there was no legal mechanism to do that,” he shares. It was during this time, in 1988, that some of the guest winemakers were issued among the first-ever alternating proprietorships.
Kelly then put in a brief stint at Duckhorn and another visit back to the research vault, this time at Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards. During this period, Kelly’s friend Stoltz passed away and, at Betty’s request, Kelly began to balance time between Sonoma-Cutrer and Westwood. From there, he took a position at Vinquiry, all the while continuing his involvement with Westwood, building up sweat equity in the company. “I see my role as a steward. Buying that particular piece of property [Annadel], and maintaining it in agriculture when it very easily could have gone to housing was important to me.”
The lighter side of the equation
As serious as Kelly is, he’s not beyond seeing the lighter side of things, especially when he speaks of winemaking techniques. “I call my approach to winemaking ‘pre-emptive minimalism.’ I’m not a ‘natural’ winemaker, and I’m not a technical winemaker,” he says. “My goal is to do as little as possible to achieve the desired result—to take proactive steps early, so I don’t have to do any extra work later. Another way to look at it is constructive laziness.”
A visit to the Westwood tasting salon serves up a personal, intimate affair. The one-to-one connection is what’s key. “I like sharing what we do with people. In a sense, this is performance art. We participate in people’s lives, indirectly. I talk to the people who buy my wine, we stay in touch. It’s about being a part of people’s lives—the good part of people’s lives.”
