Our First Harvest
Reflecting on the year, I would have never have known all that we would accomplished when we originally set out. It all started with a shared vision Kittinee, my wife, and I had which was inspired during a trip to Burgundy France. Our experience there helped us make the decision to build a life within a community that lived through sustainable food and wine that expressed the depth of life in the culture where we could mature our identity. What better place than Napa!
I must give all credit for actually making this happen to Kittinee. She pushed us out of our comfort zone with the faith that we would simply just figure it out.
Harmony School Vineyard called to us so strongly that we bought it above our budget never having visited the property in person. Thank God for our friends Susan and Brett Snyder who were local and able to give us their vote of confidence on the property. There is a spriti about the property that brings peope together in celebration of the fruit is bears.
Paul and Dianne Jackel built a vineyard that produce some of the highest quality cabernet in the valley. They had the vision to build it on a gently sloping hill with southern exposure. Being in the Coombsville AVA also gives the vineyard exposure to the San Francisco bay marine fog and breeze which allows the grape to mature on the vine longer than the rest of the valley. The vineyard is planted with Cabernet Sauvignon clone 6. Finally the soil contains clay, shells, and remnants from a volcano that collapsed thousands of years ago. All of this yields a grape with a unique, sophisticated and complex profile.
None of this could come together without Omar Valdez who has been with the vines since he and his brother planted them 17 years ago. Omar cares for the vineyard like a parent cares for a child. This was abundantly clear after our first harvest with together where I saw him beaming with pride as we delivered the grapes to the wine maker.
Sean McBride of Crosby Romann was the wine maker up until the 2022 vintage. He is an amazing wine maker and was critical to elevating the success of the grapes for several years. During 2022 Napa experienced a late season heat wave that cause a lot of the valley to harvest a lot earlier than expected. I was working with Omar to keep an eye on the impact to Harmony School Vineyard. Visually we could see the grapes maturing but we needed to test the sugars to be sure they were still ok to stay on the vine. Paul and Dianne were also worried. Omar, Kittinee and I decided to bring in a new partner given the time crunch.
In my panic, we reached out to Reynolds Family Winery, Bruce Keiser and Sam Kaplan; all of whom I am greatly indebted to for their support. Events were moving fast and I did not communicate as well as I could have. When we decided to go with Sam I cannot help but sense I let the Reynolds Family Winery and Bruce down as they were committed to helping me and wanted to see it through.
When Sam came to look at the vineyard I know I was in the presence of a seasoned professional. He showed up with his partner Roberto Alfaro. Both have a commanding presence and without words it was obvious that they are tight partners. Getting right into business, we walked much of the vineyard evaluating the wines in minute detail. They both grilled me with questions about our growing practices (which are organic), the root stock, the clone of the vines, watering practices and on and on.
We agreed to take the grapes for analysis. They were tasting so good but the question was whether it was too late to harvest. The next two days were tough as I waited to get the results of the test. During this time I researched Sam and Roberto. As a result, I became a mix of excited and nervous. They both have incredible backgrounds and it was clear that working with them would take the wine to an entirely new level. I became nervous because while I have been studying all aspects of wine making and vineyard management for years, Sam, Roberto and their team’s credentials made me wonder if I was out of my league.
Roberto came to the property to tell me they were happy with the test results and plan to harvest October 7. I was to the moon and I could tell Roberto was too. He explained to me how Sam mentored him and helped him kick off his career as a wine maker producing 75 cases which sold out in an afternoon. As I get to know Roberto I have learned much about the depth of his character and it became obvious that we could partner to support each other.
At 6am October 7 looking out of my window I saw small lights dancing in the vineyard. I hardly put on my shoes as I raced out the door to be a part of my first harvest. It was a fury of people laughing, communicating an hustling. All of this was happening in Spanish which I am still learning to speak. To me it was chaos but to the rest this was a ritual whose rules were passed down and understood without policies, tests and planning.
Standing on top of the worn flatbed truck stood Omar. He appeared like a general, imposing orders and taking the grapes as they were handed to him then tossing them into the larger bins. As we wound down Omar rewarded his team with Model beer and Cokes. I could see in his face how proud he was to deliver such a great harvest from what is, in spirit, his vineyard.
Exhausted and almost running out of gas, I followed the grapes to the Akerstone winery where Roberto would receive them to start the crush. As busy as Roberto was, he made time for me to show me how he would process the grapes, ferment the, age them and bottle them. The facility is grand and beautiful. The people operating it make it as exciting to watch as a sports game…everyone is all business. In addition to the fermentation you can smell the professionalism.
Sam came out to say hi. As the three of us talked I learned how committed to excellence Sam and Roberto are. They are not comfortable. They want to be better all the time. As they were explaining this to me a forklift picked up a bin of the grapes and headed for the de-stemmer. As though it was rehearsed, the three of us stop talking mid-sentence and walked to position ourselves for a better view. We were silent as the grapes fell from the bin12 feet in their into the de-stemmer. I turned to Roberto and said that I have not had this feeling of adventure and excitement in a long time.
I was exhausted. I had not slept in over a day. All of a sudden I was overcome with a felling of re-birth. In that moment I belonged to the vineyard and the fruit of hard labor. We are producing something that provides income, pride, connections, security and celebration. I am proud to be part of this community, to be learning so much, and to represent my family.