Grapes are grown in the vineyards, duh, and the best wines are made from great grapes. But great grapes don’t necessarily mean great wine. It is a dance between the farmers growing the grapes and the winemaker carrying the fruit forward. We have been fortunate to work with a great vineyard starting with the 2023 crush called V75 located in the Horse Heaven Hill AVA, and the 2023 wine in the barrel tastes great.
Carved from Imrie Family 101 Bar Ranch, the V75 vineyard is the ideal setup for growing elite wine grapes. Perfect soil, among the highest heat units in the State, pristine water from the Columbia River, southwest slopes, late-season frost-free conditions, and beneficial wind flow, combined with a talented and dedicated farming staff.
V75 is blessed to have the ideal locale for growing elite wine grapes, beginning with a neutral, sandy soil which is perfect for managing nutrients. The site also experiences some of the highest heat units in the state which allows for later hang time than many other sites. The water comes from the pristine and voluminous Columbia River and the gentle sloping southwest orientation is perfect for uniform maturation and easy harvest.
The site’s proximity to the Columbia River provides many advantages beyond the quality of the water itself and the natural heating effect which holds off the risk of all-season frost damage. More importantly, the river gorge provides a pathway for winds which stress and strengthen the vines and canopy, thicken the grape skins for more concentrated flavor, and keep the plants dry to minimize rot, disease and pests.
Jose Yanez is the Director of Viticulture and manages a great team in the vineyards along with Marcelino Perez as his Vineyard Foreman.
We are fortunate to have long term contracts for Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec and are excited for the 2024 vintage.
Jose and his team spend the year making sure the vines are balanced and healthy and in the October time frame it becomes a joint decision with me as the winemaker and Jose on when we pick. In the decision to pick, we are looking for fruit that is ripe and has tons of flavor. We don’t worry about the chemistry as other winemakers do, we want flavors and will deal with the fruit when it is crushed and in the fermenters. When picking we do have the option of machine picking (big machines that straddle the vines and literally beat the grapes off the vines and are picked up by conveyor) or hand pick. We always hand pick to make sure the grapes are delivered to the crusher intact and undisturbed.
When thinking of vineyards, grape clones are important. For our Cabernet Sauvignon we are working with clone 685, clone 17 for Merlot and clone 9 for Malbec. Trellis configuration and canopy management are also crucial to the quality of the grapes and often defined by what you are growing. V75 uses what we call VSP (Vertical Shoot Positioning). There are other trellis types including head trained, single and double cordon, single guyot, double guyot, Geneva double curtain, pergola and others. Then there is cane pruning and spur pruning. But that is a large conversation.
VSP involves 2–3 pairs of wires above the fruit wire. As the shoots grow they position them between the pairs of wires, so you end up with a hedge row. One thing they do before the vines begin to grow in the spring is to move the wires to the ground. As the shoots grow you move the wires up to trap the foliage. Jose and his team are also shoot thinning in the early spring to remove all shoots except for the two from each spur and also do “leafing” to open up the fruit zone.
I am fortunate to have a brother, Jeff Newton, who is a Viticulturist, trained at the UC Davis school of Viticulture and Enology, started in the vineyards hoeing weeds, pruning and training with field hands, and now growing wine grapes in the South-Central Coast region of California to lean on. He has developed one of the most successful viticulture farm management companies, Coastal Vineyard Care, developing vineyards in Santa Maria, Santa Ynez, Santa Rita, and other areas. So a toast to those farming our grapes.
Mark Newton, Winemaker
DiStefano Winery
