By Greg Perry
Kirkland Realtor
I work hard during the course of doing the real estate business. Now and then, I just have to get away to recharge. Recently Val and I took a week off to drive our motorhome to visit our friends Otis Holt and Lorin Leith's home and vineyard (Calypso Vineyard) outside of Sebastopol, California in Sonoma County. Calypso Vineyard is located in the heart of the Green Valley, the coolest and foggiest region in the Russian River Valley.
It was our first visit with Otis and Lorin, and my first time spending any kind of time on a working vineyard. Otis grows wine grapes that he sells to a high quality winery, and makes his own fine wines. Calypso is located next to the world famous Iron Horse Vineyard and Winery, maker of high quality still and sparkling wines. Most of his fruit is sold to the Scherrer Winery, which also produces outstanding wines.
I found myself inspired by Otis's passion for excellence and quality. For Otis, wine making starts in his vineyard. He carefully matches the grape varietals to the mini climate conditions on his vineyard. For instance, the Pinot Noir grapes are grown along the outside edges of his vineyard where the forest line can partially shade the plants as this varietal does better in a cooler areas. Otis is very outspoken at how much of the Pinot Noir grapes are grown in conditions that are too hot.
This trip found us in the vineyard as the grapes were throwing out their new growth from winter dormancy. I'm glad I got to witness the year's beginning. Otis taught me about the basic plant structure....the cordon arms, how the vines bud, how many shoots to leave after culling and how much fruit each shoot should deliver. As Otis worked through spring pruning/culling process, he quickly made decisions on which of these early shoots to keep and which to cull, all while keeping the vision of his ripened fruit in the fall.
Because his operation is small, he is able to harvest his fruit at exactly the precise moment for ripeness and maturity. These perfect grapes are what Otis uses in his wine making. As he explained to me, large commercial operations have over ripe and under ripe fruit in the mix. Not Otis. His wines start with peak fruit.
Traditionally wine makers process their fruit in crushers, stems and all. Otis manually removes the stems, discards any imperfect fruit and lets the fruit break down and ferment in simple open fermentors. Toward the end of the primary fermentation, he'll gently use a presser.
His small cellar and production area maintain the same temperature within 1/2 degree, year round. It's in here his wines develop in expensive french oak barrels for many months. He goes through great effort to insulate all wine from oxygen. He bathes everything with a layer of Argon gas, an inert gas that is neutral to the wine which seals away the threat of any oxidation.
When the wine is ready to bottle, it's done in this same area. Here's a little secret that I didn't know about wine bottling....the cork matters! Otis uses the highest quality corks. A good portion of his wine is bottled using archival grade corks, which won't hinder the wine's flavor and keep the bottle seal perfect while the bottle lies on its side for decades.
After bottling, these wines just lie on their sides in their bottles, in dark and controlled temperature conditions as they continue to develop and age gracefully.
For dinner on our first evening, Lorin made a wonderful pasta dish using fresh vegetables from her garden and Otis pulled a 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2001 Pinot Noir. Now when Otis pulls a wine bottle,its done very gently, almost like handling a new baby. These wines have layed on their side in those temperature controlled, dark conditions....never moving....and the sedimentation collects on the bottle's lower side. Here Otis works in extreme slow motion taking care to keep the bottle perfectly horizontal as he carries it to his stainless steel sink. He then lies the bottle on its side with the cork over the sink and gently works out the cork, letting out a few tablespoons of liquid. The precious wine is then decanted, introducing oxygen for the first time since the wine was bottled.
For that dinner, we first enjoyed his Pinot Noir. I thought it might be good, but I was unprepared for this experience! Because of his processes, Calypso Pinot Noir has less alcohol and is slightly less acid than the popular Pinot profile. The nose was red berry with slight spice. As this wine became alive with a little warmth and oxygen, it became its own sensation. After it was gone, I just wanted to keep my nose in the wine glass.
But if the Pinot Noir was great, for me, the Cabernet Sauvignon was spectacular. After aging over 10 years in the bottle, this wine's color was as burgundy as a new wine -- with none of the brickiness one would expect from a 10 year Cab. I've always held a good Cab as my favorite. This Cab exceeded all expectations and leaves me to wonder if this wine experience will ever be exceeded.
I also had the opportunity to enjoy his Zinfandels, Merlots and Syrahs from different vintages, young to over 10 years old. While some were spectacular, others were merely great. It's important to note, that Otis has won 8 consecutive gold medals for his Merlot in a major West Coast wine tasting competition. This makes him one of the few...perhaps the only...winemakers to achieve this!
Now, here's the hook. Otis will not sell his wine. He goes through his personal quest for perfection for himself (and Lorin).....and his friends. I've rarely experienced such generosity as his gift of a few bottles of his favorites to enjoy with my family as we departed. A gift that started as the rootstock he planted in the early 1990's. That continued with his attentive caring, propagation, pruning and harvesting all by his hand. The intellectual and sensory quest of wine making, using peak fruit and the best of materials to seek that perfect balance and structure--all in carefully controlled conditions. And most of all the patience to allow time to age the wine to become all it can be. In these fast days of instant gratification and technology, perhaps it's still the farmer who understands. We first have to sow and then care for our crop before we can reap.
All in all, we had a wonderful time with our hosts, Otis and Lorin. I returned refreshed......and inspired!
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