| In Chapter 3, Christian and Aimee learned about the six basic wine types ... William’s Wine Style Trios. Now they are on their way to a winery opening. |
Christian and Aimee arrived at Highpointe Winery the following Sunday and parked in the as-yet unfinished parking lot, which already held at least a dozen other cars. The winery was somewhat imposing, rising nearly three stories up a hillside. They would learn later that this design was purely functional. There were a few workers here and there, mainly working on the landscaping in preparation for the grand opening. Vineyards surrounded the entire building and covered the land as far as they could see in any direction. It was early summer and the vines were a brilliant green, but there was no sign of grapes yet. The couple went over to what appeared to be the main entrance, opened the big oak door and stepped inside.
“Welcome, please come right in,” said a tall, energetic fellow who was briskly walking their way, smiling from ear to ear. “My name is Eric and I’ll be helping to show you around today.”
“Hi. I’m Christian Rainier and this is Aimee. We’re guests of William Kensington.”
“Ah yes,” Eric chimed. “William said that I should expect you and that I was to give you the royal treatment.”
“And what does the ‘royal treatment’ entail?” Aimee asked.
“Actually it’s the same as the regular treatment,” Eric confessed. “We’re pretty determined to give every visitor the best experience possible. Please come this way and you can join our other guests.” Eric led the party down a long, dimly lit hallway. About halfway along they turned a corner and found themselves standing in the single room that made up the bulk of the winery.
“Well, this is it,” Eric announced. “Our ‘Great Room’. The only thing you can’t see from here are the barrel rooms.”
Christian and Aimee looked around the massive space. They were standing at ground level at the far end of the tasting room. The front of the building was almost entirely glass, rising up to the top of the building. On the floors above them stood a number of bright, stainless steel tanks. Looking over a nearby railing, they could see down into the bottling area. Thirty or so people were mingling noisily in the tasting area.
“This is quite the room,” Aimee said.
“We wanted to make a statement,” Eric replied, “but the design was driven by the needs of the wine. Having this large, open space gives us better control over fermentation temperatures, and it’s more efficient to heat and cool with our geothermal system. Now, we’re going to be starting a tour very shortly, so let’s get you a glass of something and I’ll let William know you’re here.”
Eric led the couple over to the tasting bar, which was amply filled with champagne flutes, and headed off to find William.
“We’re pouring a sparkling Riesling that our winemaker made just for the occasion,” the woman behind the bar told them, “and it’s been a really big hit.”
As Aimee and Christian were helping themselves to glasses, Eric returned. “William is over in that far corner and would like you to join him.” He pointed toward the front of the building, where they saw William waving them over.
“Thank you Eric,” Christian said. “I guess we’ll be seeing more of you later?”
“I’m sure you will,” he replied. “Now I have to go and make ready for the tour. Enjoy!”
William greeted them with a broad smile. “Aimee, Christian, I want you to meet Monique. She’s the winemaker here and she’s totally brilliant. I’m so impressed with this Riesling, Monique!”
Monique held out her hand. “I hear you two are William’s protégés.”
“A bit of serendipity, really,” Christian said, shaking Monique’s proffered hand. “We’re neighbours.”
“It’s great meeting you,” Aimee added. “Most of the winemakers we’ve met have been French or Italian or Australian. I’m afraid I can’t place your accent.”
“It shouldn’t be too hard,” Monique replied. “I grew up about a mile from here!”
“Local girl makes good,” William joked. “Actually Monique is a real coup for the winery. There was quite a scramble when the wineries found out she was available.”
Their small talk was interrupted by the sound of silverware on a wineglass. The room slowly came to a hush and the guests turned toward the source of the sound.
“Welcome everyone, welcome to Highpointe Winery. For those of you I haven’t met, I’m Tony Sharpe and I’m one of the owners of Highpointe. I thought I should tell you a bit about what we have planned today. In a few minutes we’ll be taking you on a tour of the winery. Bring along your glasses if you wish; we also have tasting stations along the way. Now, we’re going to break into two groups. One group will go from top to bottom while the other one goes from bottom to top.
“We don’t want to take up your entire day, so once the tour is done, we will adjourn to the back patio where we’ll be having a bit of lunch. We’ve managed to recruit Michael Kova, who is the executive chef at Emilia Trattoria. He and our winemaker Monique Dufour have put together a special lunch menu along with a selection of our wines. Now if you could break into two groups in a somewhat orderly fashion, one group can go with Eric – I assume you’ve all met Eric – and Monique, and the rest of you come with me.”
The assembled guests quickly divided into two groups. One group disappeared down the hall with Eric and Monique in the lead. William, Christian and Aimee decided to stay with Tony’s group. Tony was one of five business people who had come together for the sole purpose of creating one of the finest wineries in the area. Less than two years before, they won a bidding war for Monique, told her what they had in mind, and then gave her a free hand to make it happen. Monique immediately recruited Rob Gardner as vineyard manager. Rob was the second guide on the tour along with Tony.
“If you’ll come this way, we’ll start in the crush area, which is at the highest level,” Tony hollered above the commotion. “This, by the way, is our vineyard manager, Rob Gardner, and there’s a very interesting story in that.” Tony and Rob led the group down the hall and up several short flights of stairs to the crush area. In one corner was a small bar set up with tasting glasses.
Tony picked up one of the glasses. “This is our Pinot Gris. I thought it would be a refreshing way to begin the tour, since it’s a bit warmer up here. Now I’m going to turn it over to Rob who will tell you about some of the unique features of the winery.”
“What’s the interesting story?” someone called out.
“Just that this is my first real job at a winery,” Rob admitted. “Years ago I took a working vacation in wine country just for fun. We did all kinds of winery jobs, but I really got hooked on vine tending. Since then I’ve spent a lot of time in vineyards both here and in Europe doing vine research and helping out.”
“What did you do before that?” someone else asked.
“I was and still am a high school math teacher,” Rob continued, “although I’ve dropped to a partial load. But, to continue my story, I was doing some research at the winery where Monique was working and we got to discussing her Merlot. She wasn’t getting the quality she thought the vines were capable of. So I set up a series of trials using various canopy systems until we found the one that worked. Monique is responsible for my being here.”
“What sort of canopy system are you using here?” another voice asked.
“That depends on the grape and the location,” Rob stated. “Every grape responds differently to each style of trellis and canopy, and if you’d like to discuss this in more depth, I’d be glad to go into it later. Perhaps we should do a vineyard tour after lunch. But now I’d like to direct your attention to those double doors over there.”
Rob walked over to a pair of wide doors at the far end of the level, threw them open and stepped outside. “This is my area out here. We have 70 acres, of which 40 are planted. We contract out for some of our grapes, but our goal is to become completely self-sufficient so we can control the land was well as the grapes. This vineyard is planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The Pinot really seems to love the hill and we’re getting some great results.
“When we acquired the vineyards, we had to wean them off of chemicals. We now use only compost plus a ground cover between the rows. We’ve also eliminated pesticides and we’re using either organics or species-specific predators. The vines are tended totally by hand. We also green crop down to about two-and-half tons per acre on average.”
“I hope you have help,” someone joked.
“Yes, and I could use more,” Rob said, casting an amused glance at Tony, “but that’s another story. Anyway, our hands-on approach extends to hand harvesting as well. The grapes are harvested into small bins and then brought up to this level for triage and crushing.”
Rob led the group back indoors and stopped beside a large contraption – part table and part conveyer. “The grapes get dumped on this table for a final check and we remove anything inferior or suspicious,” he continued. “Then they go straight into the crusher/destemmer.” Rob pointed to a large machine in the middle of the floor that looked much like an inverted pyramid.
“From here, the crushed grapes and juice fall by gravity to the fermentation level. This means we don’t do any pumping. One of our philosophies is that minimal handling produces the best wine. The entire winery is built to take advantage of gravity at every stage. Because we put so much effort into the grapes in the vineyards, we want to make sure we don’t do anything that will shock them. Now, if you follow me, we’ll go down to the fermentation level.” Rob headed for a nearby doorway and proceeded down, with the group close behind.
“This is the fermentation room,” Rob said as his entourage arranged themselves in front of a number of large tanks. “This is also the press area. We use a horizontal bladder press for all of our wine. It’s the most gentle squeeze available. And even though it’s the size of a small bus, it’s portable.”
“You call this portable,” someone joked as they all peered at the massive horizontal cylinder at one end of the room.
“Well, it moves back and forth,” Rob explained. “We need that because red and white grapes are handled differently. Red grapes go straight into the fermentation tanks over there, but the white grapes need to be pressed first. And it’s easier to move the press to the tanks than move the tanks to the press.”
“How many pressings do you give the grapes,” William asked.
“Normally three, but we keep each press separate,” Rob explained. “With each pressing the juice gets more and more coarse, so that last press may not be something that we want in our wine. And we don’t let the marc go to waste. It gets trucked back to the vineyards and we spread it between the rows of vines. And since no one has asked the question, I’ll tell you that the red grapes are pressed after fermentation, after we’ve extracted the colour and grape tannins from the skins.
“You may have noticed we have both stainless steel and wooden tanks. Stainless steel tanks are great because they’re low maintenance, and it’s easier to control the temperature during fermentation. We brought in the oak and redwood tanks for our premium red wines. They’re expensive, but I think the results have been worth it.”
“For the price we paid they’d better be!” Tony called out from the far end of the floor.
“What’s the effect of fermenting in wood versus stainless steel,” a woman near the front asked.
“Monique could give you a better answer for that,” Rob said, “but the basic goal is to give the wine some spicy overtones that you don’t get from inert tanks. They also ferment at a higher temperature than stainless steel, and that’s good for reds. The real proof is a side-by-side comparison, but I’ll admit it’s pretty subtle. Now, let’s head for the barrel room.”
Rob exited the fermentation level from the far door and led the group down two flights of stairs, where they found themselves in the long, dimly lit hall where they’d come in. There were two sets of arched wooden doors, one at either end of the hall. Rob went over to the nearest door, opened it wide and motioned the group to enter.
The barrel room had that Old World quietness that only barrel rooms seem to have. About the size of a basketball court, it had an arched ceiling about 15 feet high. A single row of barrels lined each of the walls to the left and right, and a double bevy ran down the centre of the room. Just inside the door was a table set with glasses of red wine.
Tony drew their attention to the table. “You’ll find this wine interesting. It’s a hybrid grape called Chambourcin. It’s one of the grapes we don’t grow ourselves, and it’s a bit of an experiment so I’m curious to know what you think.”
The full glasses of Chambourcin were quickly replaced by empty glasses that minutes before had held Pinot Gris.
“And this is our nursery,” Rob said, finally. “We put all of our wines in oak. To get the best result, we use a combination of old, new, French, and American barrels. With a delicate grape like Pinot Gris or Riesling, we’ll use our oldest barrels, but with the Chardonnay, Pinot and Cabernets, we’ll use one- or two-year old barrels or a combination of old and new.”
“Why the American barrels?” someone asked. “I thought they were a low-budget option?”
Tony fielded this one. “I can assure you that, despite watching our pennies carefully, we didn’t allow any decision to compromise our goal. Monique insisted that American oak would bring out particular qualities in the Cab Franc and even the Chardonnay and, in our wisdom, we trusted her. Plus we saved about $500 per barrel. You’ll taste the results shortly.”
“How many barrels do you have here?” William asked.
“That’s a round-about way of asking us our total production,” Rob responded. “Between the two cellars we have 280 barrels, which will yield about 7000 cases. We have room for 400 barrels for a total production of 10,000 cases once we’re up to capacity.”
“How long do the wines stay in the barrels?” Christian asked.
“Anywhere from 3 months to about 14 months,” Rob answered. “It depends on the grape and what Monique has in mind. The Cabernets stay in barrel the longest, the Chardonnay about six months, and 3 months or less for some of the lighter wines. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of listening to me talk and there’s a lunch to be had. So if you’ll go back out the doors and turn to your right, we’ll head for the back patio.”
The group filed out of the cellar chattering excitedly. When they arrived on the patio, William ushered Christian and Aimee over to a table where they made themselves comfortable. Tony soon joined them.
“Is no one putting you to work?” William joked.
“The secret of good management is to hire good people and then let them do their jobs,” Tony answered. “Besides, I’m hungry.” He turned to Christian and Aimee. “I hear William has taken you two on as students. I hope he isn’t being too hard on you.”
“Well he serves us good wine, but he forces us to take notes,” Aimee quipped. “So far it hasn’t been too painful.”
“Well you’re in very good hands,” Tony added, “despite the note-taking. And what did you think of the Chambourcin?”
“It was terrific,” Aimee said.
“It’s rather amazing,” Christian added. “Both light and meaty at the same time. We may have to buy a few bottles!”
“That’s why we’re here,” Tony replied. “Oh, here comes Michael and Monique.”
Two figures were moving onto the patio, Monique in the lead and the guest chef just behind. The chef stepped forward and addressed the assembly. “Good afternoon, all. My name is Michael Kova, and while you were touring the winery and enjoying the wine, I’ve been hard at work in the kitchen preparing lunch. I have to say I’m delighted to be here today. I’ve been an admirer of Monique’s work for some time, and I’ve been keeping my eye on the way Highpointe is turning out. Quite impressive, don’t you agree?” The audience responded with enthusiastic applause.
Michael continued, “Monique and I put our talents together and came up with a few treats for you. The object was to create dishes that would enhance her wines without overwhelming you with an overly fancy lunch, and as our servers are bringing out the first course, Monique and I will tell you a bit about the pairing. Monique wanted to show her Off-dry Riesling, so the challenge here was to work with the sugar, stonefruit and citrus flavours of the wine. I put together a salad of organic baby greens with a mango-citrus dressing, and a dusting of pralines. And while you dig in, Monique will tell you about the wine that’s being poured.”
“Well the grapes come from our own vineyard,” Monique added. “It’s the oldest vineyard at 16 years. We kept the yield down and the wine was in stainless steel at all times. I used süss reserve to achieve just the right touch of sweetness, and I think Michael has captured the flavours very well with this dish.”
There were general sounds of approval as the group quickly dispatched the salad – and the wine. The salad plates were soon replaced by the second course, as Michael came forward once again. “Now, the next wine that Monique chose was something I hadn’t been aware of, so I’d like her to explain the challenge she handed me. Monique?”
“This one raised a few eyebrows,” she began. “I wanted to do a premium chardonnay entirely in American oak, and Tony and his team said go ahead. We had a very good season with the grapes and got huge character in the wine, just the sort of backdrop I wanted for the oak treatment. The American oak gives a lot more vanilla and caramel character that I thought would work well with the extract. We put 1/3 of the wine into new American barrels and did a partial malolactic as well.”
“To me, a Chardonnay like this just screams out for salmon, preferably off the grill,” Michael began. “I kept this dish on the simple side, to give the wine top billing. May I present, seared wild salmon on a bed of julienne veggies.”
“I’m impressed with the American oak here,” William said to Tony. “Brave move in a high-end wine. I hope Monique has more surprises in the works.”
“She’s amazing,” Tony agreed. “I would never have put my best Chardonnay into American oak, but here’s the proof!”
Highpointe Winery Presents
Chef Michael Kova and Winemaker Monique Dufour
Baby greens with mango-citrus dressing and pralines
Highpointe Off-dry Riesling
Seared wild salmon on a bed of seasonal vegetables julienne
Highpointe Chardonnay Reserve American Oak
Glazed breast of duck in wild mushroom sauce
Highpointe Pinot Noir
Kobe beef skewers marinated in light soy and Meritage Reserve with ‘mock risotto’
Highpointe Meritage Reserve
With the salmon and Chardonnay effectively dealt with, Michael came forward once again. “How many Pinot Noir fans do we have here?” Most of the hands in the audience went up.
“I think the people who call Pinot the heartbreak grape must not have Monique’s touch. Here I wanted to accentuate the gamey, earthy notes in the wine, so I have prepared a simple breast of duck with a wild mushroom sauce.”
“And it is the heartbreak grape,” Monique jumped in. “You never know when it’s going to be in a bad mood. But I think we pulled if off, and the duck, I think, is a perfect match.”
After the guests had polished off the duck, it was time for the final course.
“Our next wine is our Meritage Reserve.” Monique announced. “Meritage is a made-up name that refers to a wine made in the traditional Bordeaux manner. So here we have a Cab Sauv, Cab Franc and Merlot blend. This one spent 13 months in one-year-old French oak, and it’s also our most expensive – so buy lots. And Michael has prepared a dish that I think really shows off both the wine and his fantastic culinary skills. Michael?”
“Well I couldn’t very well let Monique outdo me, so I chose Kobe beef as a finale. A useful trick when matching food and wine is to put the wine into both the dish and the glasses, so my marinade has a liberal dose of this Meritage. On the side is what I call ‘mock risotto’. It’s a blend of finely chopped new potatoes and turnips, and it reminded me of risotto, so that’s what I called it.
“I would like to thank Tony and his people for inviting me here today. Creating dishes to serve with Monique’s wines was a treat for me. And if you’d like a repeat performance, please feel free to drop by the restaurant where we will be featuring all of Highpointe’s wines.” The guests applauded enthusiastically as Michael and Monique began to mingle.
“Well, I have to go do a bit of work now,” Tony said at last. Beaming with pride, he walked over to where Monique and Michael were holding court and addressed the guests. “On behalf of the owners of Highpointe and all of the staff who have worked so hard to make today a success, I want to thank you all for taking the time to visit. I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour, Michael’s amazing food, and Monique’s artistry. We invite you to stay and sample more wines in the tasting room, and Rob has volunteered to do a vineyard tour for those who are interested. I would just like to add one commercial message: This is a winery, and what better place is there to buy wine? We would be very pleased if you were to choose to take some of our wines to enjoy at home home. Again, thank you all for coming, and I’ll look forward to you becoming regular visitors.”
-TFO
