After accepting an invitation from some wonderful friends, my wife and I spent Valentine’s Day in that famous valley over the hill. That day was a reminder of how fortunate I am to work in such a beautiful environment, even in the middle of winter. After a tasty lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, we visited a couple of wineries, one being a popular champagne house on Silverado Trail. I took the vineyard photos on Suisun Valley Road just before finishing off the afternoon at Wooden Valley, where we enjoyed a barrel tasting of the 2010 Petite Sirah paired with dark chocolate. Thanks Jim and Nan for helping me look good on Valentine’s Day; my wife had a wonderful time!

Salute’

With the combination of unseasonably warm weather and our kids on winter break from school my vineyard managing brothers took the opportunity to teach the next generation of Lanzas the art of pruning a young vineyard. This time in a young vines life is critical and the decisions made during pruning a new developing vineyard can be difficult because it sets the structure for the vine. For these kids, pruning the young vineyard is one of the best ways to learn how a vine produces fruit and how it functions. After day two, the boys were well educated on grape vines and were set out to work on their own. They claim that it was the best job they’ve had at Wooden Valley but I think that had more to do with the crazy, sunny 65 degree, weather we’ve been experiencing thank the somewhat boring job pruning can be. Salute’

One of the biggest joys in preparing a new vineyard for planting is getting to use very large earth moving equipment or “Big Toys”. In these photos, my brothers Larry and Ken are operating a 615 Scrapper and a D-8 Bulldozer. Larry is on the Scrapper leveling the fields so the water can drain properly while Ken is using the Bulldozer to deep- rip the soil in order to give the young vines a head start in establishing a strong root system. I’m very fortunate to have family members that are heavy equipment operators, because I’m definitely not one. I think my brothers would admit that they have fun operating these “Big Toys”. Land preparation is only the first step in a long three-year journey to bring a new vineyard to its first harvest. I’ll keep you posted along the way!! Salute’

Over the past few years, I’ve had the pleasure of being involved in the planning and participation of several valley wide events presented by Suisun Valley Vintners and Growers Association. These annual events are Anniversary Weekend, Passport Sunday, SVVGA’s Harvest Celebration and Fun Family Farm Days.  Each of these events has its own special theme and meaning and highlights what Suisun Valley has to offer. On November 18^th, next Friday, the Association will launch another very special celebration, Wine & Food…A Love Story. This particular event will be similar to Passport Sunday but all the wine producers will be in one convenient location and includes not only familiar Suisun Valley wineries but also some other wine labels using Suisun Valley grapes. The venue, The Clubhouse at Rancho Solano, was chosen for its perfect location overlooking our beautiful valley. The evening will feature wine, food, music and both a silent and live wine auction. Auction items will be exclusive to what Suisun Valley produces including wine, produce, olive oil and a few very special live auction items. My family has offered a polenta feed in our tasting room as one of the live auction items. This traditional Italian meal will be made by my brother Rick, Wooden Valley’s winemaker, using our Nonna Lena’s recipe and will be served by my brothers and me. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about this event.  I hope this celebration will become as popular as all other events the Association has created over the past few years. Hope to see you there!

Salute’

This past Monday was the final day of one of the most challenging and unusual growing seasons in recent memory. Mother Nature kept us on our toes from bud break to the final days of harvest with some very temperamental weather. We experienced an incredible hailstorm in April, record cool summer temperatures and let’s not forget those early October rains. I have to admit that it’s a great feeling to be finished with the 2011 harvest season. Despite the obstacles this year presented, I’m very excited to report that wines having already completed fermentation are tasting really nice. Most likely, the first wine to be bottled will be the 2011 Sauvignon Blanc, with release set for some time in February.

These photos were taken Monday at the Koch Ranch vineyard and I believe it’s safe to say that we saved the best for last. This vineyard is normally harvested in late September but because of cooler temperatures the fruit was able to enjoy the longest hang time ever which is every winemakers dream. We’ll keep you posted on how the 2011 wines are coming along but for now I’m just glad the grapes are off the vines.

Salute’

August and September 2011 held two of the best wine tastings I’ve ever attended!! I just never imagined they would be in a baseball stadium and an ice skating rink. Anyone who really knows me understands my close connection to wine and baseball but I never expected both would come together in such an entertaining fashion.

On August 26^th, I was able to attend the Junior League of Sacramento’s annual Wine & Dine event, featuring the region’s best wineries and restaurants. The event, held on Raley Field’s concourse, proved to be a tremendously spacious and accommodating venue for a wine and food tasting. On that beautiful and warm evening, I had the pleasure of visiting with many friendly wine enthusiasts who were all very interested in Suisun Valley wines.

Exactly two weeks later, I found myself in North Lake Tahoe pouring wine at the 26th Annual Lake Tahoe Autumn Food and Wine Festival held at The Village at Northstar . This time the event was held in and around the ice skating rink. Of course, there was no ice but once again, the venue provided an incredible location for a wine tasting event.

I highly recommend both of these events for anyone who enjoys wine and the great outdoors!! I can assure you I’ll be attending both next year.

Salute’

Some time ago, we rescued a bunch of vintage lug boxes from an old barn off Abernathy Road. Since that time, we’ve used those boxes for a variety of displays in the tasting room but I’ve always felt we had to come up with a better way to highlight them. So, last night when my wife called to tell me she would be late coming home from work I had some time to burn and decided I would play with those boxes and build a wine display. As I was building the display, I read ranch names, stamped on the ends of the lugs, like Piazza and Foon Ranches and reflected on the incredible amount of history that these boxes carry. Those are just two of the many farming family’s that once worked the orchards of our wonderful valley. I can only imagine the amount of fruit these old boxes carried in their prime but I’m sure it was a substantial amount. Back then, they would have been filled with pears, apricots, peaches, prunes and I’m sure walnuts as well. I know my wife wasn’t happy to get off work late but I have to admit I had fun building this wine display and thinking about Suisun Valley’s long and rich history.

Salute’

PS. I would bet that the 1930 Model “A” Ford on display at the winery hauled these old lugs many times!

After a very wet spring and a relatively cool summer thus far, I was beginning to wonder if we were going to see a 2011 vintage.  Today, after driving by our Pinot Noir vineyard, I laid eyes on something that made my day…..veraison!!!  Veraison is a viticulture term meaning “the onset of ripening” which we normally expect to see this time of year. During this point in the ripening process, we start to see the berries change color and go from acidic to sweet. This actually happens very quickly…one might say overnight. Of course, it’s much easier to see the transition in red grape varieties because the change is so drastic visually. I especially like this time of year because the berries begin to smell fruity and I start to anticipate harvest. Even though we still hope to see some nice 85° to 90° days over the next two months, seeing this today was a very good sign. This weekend, I hope you’ll drive through Suisun Valley and try to spot some grapes in the early stages of veraison.

Salute’!!

In June 2008 we celebrated our family winery’s 75^th anniversary. As part of the celebration, we decided to bring our 1930 Modal A Ford truck out of the barn to show some of our history. The truck was so popular with winery visitors during that summer that we decided to leave it on display permanently. Today, the truck sits in our yard and is used as a photo opportunity for our many visitors.

I can only imagine how much fruit this old truck hauled from Suisun Valley during its prime. In those days, pears were the main commodity in the valley, but I’m sure prunes, peaches, apricots, walnuts and grapes were also transported in this classic vehicle.

Since the truck was brought out of hibernation there has been some controversy among family members and winery visitors. “Restore it” or “Leave it original”? My vote is to leave it original but my Dad says we should restore it. What do you think should be done?

And by the way….the truck still runs great!! Salute’

One afternoon last week, I was sorting through a stack of mail, consisting mostly of donation requests and bills, when a letter caught my eye. It was the wine judging results from the Orange County Fair’s Commercial Wine Competition. The letter was carrying some fantastic news; our Petite Sirah had struck GOLD!!! For those of you who don’t already know, the Orange County Fair is a highly known wine competition in our industry and a gold medal coming from them is exceptionally good news.

Even though we’ve been growing this varietal for many years, in 2009 we finally decided to produce it for our tasting room visitors. Many growers and vintners in Suisun Valley believe that Petite Sirah is emerging as our “signature” grape. I guess you could say that this award adds credibility to their claim.

This photo of our Lambert Ranch Petite Sirah was taken about two weeks before harvest. As I look back on this photo, taken almost two years ago in October 2009, I’m still amazed at how nice the fruit looked. I realize that my, vineyard manager, brothers Larry and Ken made my, wine-making, brother Rick’s job a lot easier. The next time you’re visiting Suisun Valley, stop by the tasting room and taste the gold medal Petite Sirah for yourself.

Salute’