As we enter a new year and a new season, we’re happy to report that our Prima Vite club is growing right along with the vines! Prima Vite (“first vine”) offers members the unique opportunity to adopt and tend a vine in the Zinfandel vineyard adjacent to the winery. As of January, many of the 100 vines are sporting adoption plaques, and members have been enjoying events that bring them closer to the year-round process of winemaking.

In the fall, our Prima Vite team was a big help in harvesting and crushing their vineyard’s Zinfandel grapes, and they’ll soon be enjoying the fruits of their labor with a complimentary magnum of Prima Vite Zin. Club members also prepared the vines for winter with a day of long pruning that included a lesson from Jason and Tom Passalacqua, a few hours of pruning in the vineyard, and a winter luncheon of chicken and wild mushrooms with polenta prepared by Noelle and Jason. The day inspired such enthusiasm that one couple returned the following week for more pruning duty!

Postcard to Passalacqua Passalacqua’s Prima Vite (“first vine”) wine club puts members directly in touch with the winemaking process, from adopting and tending Zinfandel vines to assisting with the crush at harvest time. Give us a call for more information on the many benefits of membership; meantime, here’s what one member has to say about the Prima Vite experience. I want you to know that I love to help out at the winery because I enjoy learning the details, like to do some physical labor regularly, and can offer a helping hand to people I like. Nick Sokol, Santa Rosa, CA

Next up for Prima Vite is a lesson in short pruning, which will help their Zinfandel vines grow toward a high-quality yield for harvest. If you’re interested in participating, just give us a call for details…Several vines are available for adoption, and membership includes such benefits as the magnum of Prima Vite Zinfandel, use of the winery grounds for private events, and free shipping for purchases of two or more cases of wine. In addition to scheduled club events, members are welcome to offer their assistance in the cellar—another great way to get behind-the-scenes experience in winemaking at Passalacqua!

Floods, mudslides, and the distressing sight of grapevines floating down the Russian River have made us only too happy to retreat to the cellar. Most people assume that winter is a quiet time in the winery—a time to rest and reflect on the previous harvest. Actually, winemakers don’t savor the fruits of a particular harvest until several years after the event, when the wine has been bottled and had a chance to age. So the time between harvest and that future moment when a wine is ready to drink (having turned out as one envisioned or even better, and showing potential for improvement with age) is one of work, worry, and hope.

If one were to draw a simple graph of a winemaker’s work-and-worry schedule over the course of a vintage, July and August would form a flat line that rises steeply to peak in the harvest months of September and October, then descends gradually toward the doldrums of the next summer. November and December pass quickly as the last fermenting tanks—always Cabernet Sauvignon—are pressed off and barreled, and malolactic fermentation is initiated in the cellar. Hopefully, all wines to go dry (finished fermenting and no longer having any sugar present) have done so by the end of the year. As the weather gets colder, everyone breathes a sigh of relief as the fruit flies retreat. But that same chill can make the malolactic bacteria sluggish and put the yeast to sleep until spring, so frequent and vigorous barrel stirring is required to keep both organisms active. Delays in completing either yeast or malolactic fermentations put wine at risk of oxidation or, even worse, turning to vinegar!

From December through February, the different wines gradually finish fermenting as all the malic acid is converted to lactic acid. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir barrels then get a small dose of sulfur dioxide to inhibit spoilage organisms like Acetobacter (a vinegar producer) and Brettanomyces (a stench-producing spoilage yeast), but are left on the dead and quiescent cells of their gross lees and stirred frequently. Chardonnay and Pinot acquire a rich, smooth texture from this technique, as well as color stability.

On the other hand, the Zinfandels and Bordeaux varietals like Cabernet are racked off of or separated from their lees prior to further barrel aging. They also get a small dose of sulfur dioxide to deter microbial activity, but their texture and color stability require regular oxygen exposure. Leaving them on lees and stirring doesn’t provide enough air to keep them from becoming closed in and stale-smelling or promote the development of deep color, smooth texture, and typical varietal bouquet. Racking can be done from barrel to barrel or from barrel to tank. Either way, the lees go down the drain and the barrels must be thoroughly washed before refilling. It makes for a cold, wet day in the winter cellar, but marks the beginning stages of a red wine’s aging and is closely followed by winemaker tasting.

I almost forgot to mention that we did a small bottling before Thanksgiving of two very special Zinfandels from 2004. The first and smallest lot was the Passalacqua Estate Zinfandel, at less than 150 cases. The vines grow at the corner of the winery property behind the old tractor, and can be closely examined as one walks to the tasting room. It’s a classic Zin—robust in body and smooth in texture, with intense fruit essence of raspberry and blackberry overlaid with black pepper and toasty oak. Our second and slightly larger lot was the 2004 Dry Creek Old Vine Zinfandel, a deeply colored, deeply flavored wine with overtones of soft plummy fruit, subtle white pepper, and mocha tones from American oak. Zin lovers, you must have these wines!

For vineyard owners and wine consumers, Christmas arrived early in the grape harvest of September and October 2005. The yield was above average and the quality of fruit delivered to wineries outstanding, thanks to a year that Mother Nature truly blessed with prime growing conditions.

As in the year before, there was an early bud break with little or no frost damage. Sporadic rains allowed for early tilling and mowing, and growers were able to apply mildew-preventing sulfur on the days between rainstorms. Rain continued throughout the spring, eliminating the need to start the irrigation pump. We personally held off on watering our hillside Cabernet vineyard until the middle of July, the latest we’ve ever started irrigating. Such strategic withholding of water reduces growth, resulting in a smaller canopy while directing the vines’ energy into the grapes. It’s a delicate balancing act, because if a vine doesn’t have the right amount of water, the leaves prematurely turn yellow and curl, tendrils dry up, and grape berries can burn or shrivel into raisins. On the other hand, too much water encourages vine growth but can give the grape berries a vegetative taste and increase their size to the point that the desired raspberry and cherry flavors are diluted.

Spring rains soon gave way to warm days in June, which continued through October with no radical variations in temperature—a stroke of luck for the grower, because grape vines not only shut down during 100-degree-plus heat spikes but can draw most or all of the moisture from the earth. Hang time wasn’t a problem either, as Mother Nature allowed the grapes to mature on the vines through warm days and cool nights until wineries consented to the harvest. Depending on the winery’s criteria for the perfect grape, red grapes were harvested at 24.5 to 30 brix and white grapes at 22 to 25 brix, with acids and tannins being within the range desired by the winemaker.

Just as you can’t make a great stew with low-quality meat, you can’t make good wine from mediocre grapes. That being the case, the truly magnificent quality of the 2005 crop should yield memorable wines equaling the best of the 1980s and 1990s.