History Replanted One Vine at a Time – An Interview with Winemaker Andy Harris

Chuparosa Vineyards (Ramona, California) www.chuparosavineyards.com

 

Q:  When did you first begin your interest in wine?

A:  About 19 years old.

 

Q:  How does a 19-year-old develop an interest in wine? 

Kids who learn from their parents to appreciate wine are extremely lucky individuals. In my case my parents didn't drink. At 19, I was flying down to a little place called Pope Valley, California from southeast Idaho. It was the only commercial skydiving center in the country at that time. I hated winters. I tried to get out as much as possible.  The next valley over from Pope Valley is Napa Valley. That was back in '70 before Napa was Napa.  Tastings were always free, a lot of dirt roads back then.  They loved to see you come through the door. I wasn't of legal age. They never checked because you're coming over from skydiving. You get a bad weather day you go to the next valley over and you taste wines.

 

One of the first places was Charles Krug Winery. They made a fully dry, Chenin Blanc back then that would just to knock your socks off. Started with the Chenin Blancs and then gradually moved into the reds. In ‘73 or ‘74 I bought a bottle of Stags Leap Cab for $2.75. It's a $140 ($200 per the website) a bottle now.

 

Q: Did you ever work for any wineries in Napa?                                     

I never worked there. In fact, I never worked for any winery other than just volunteer capacity. We did starting in the 90s, both my wife and I, took some courses here in Ramona. There was also a workshop series at Belle Marie Winery.  

 

Q: Did you ever want to start a winery?  

No, I'd like to say we had all this planned out and thought it ahead of time. We just fell into gradually. We bought this property in early 1995. It was an old avocado farm that the lady lost to the bank because of the water bills. We had to pull out all of her avocados. We never had any idea to really to make wine. It was kind of in the back of our minds that it would be fun to grow grapes? It couldn't be that tough, right? A fire came in 2003. It burned up to the back of the garage before we got it turned with the tractor. This whole back area back here was nothing but a cooked off landscape. That's was when we decided well “Hell, let's plant grapes” because I wasn't going to look at the moonscape for 3 or 4 years.

 

Q: Who did you turn to for help?

There's a winemaker up in Temecula Gus Vizgirda (He is now with Wilson Creek). He's helped out a lot of winemakers in this valley. He was an incredible amount of help, solid chemistry background, really solid chemistry background. Knows the difference between large lot and small lot winemaking and some of the pitfalls, just a really good guy to work for, always available. If you got questions you pick up the phone, you call him.  

 

The owner of Stuart Cellars (now under new ownership) used to run up to Napa. He had his own semi because he couldn't get reliable deliveries of wine equipment down this far in the boondocks. He would go up and get his supplies. He would always ask, "Hey, does anybody need anything while I'm going up?" Share the truck type of thing. 

 

There are many others who have assisted over the last several years including Mick Dragoo (Belle Marie Winery), Leon Sobon  in Amador County, Jim Hart, Joe Hart (Jim's father), and many others. In particular there are several winemakers I talked in Tuscany regarding making Brunello and Super T's. They were extremely generous with their time and knowledge. I did visit them in the winter when winemaking/farming duties are less and they had more free time. I also spoke with two winemakers in Australia regarding their handling of the continuing drought conditions. They published a paper on "bare cordon syndrome" that is triggered by multi-year drought. Their solutions work well here in San Diego given the drought and lack of any winter we have experienced over the last 4 years.

 

(Lum Eisenman was also someone that Andy turned to. He was a physicist that helped many of the Ramona Valley winemakers get started)..

Q: Why open in Ramona? You didn't buy the property with the idea of opening a winery?

No, we didn't. The research that we did before made the commitment, Carolyn went to a weekend symposium by a winery that no longer exists, that was kind of a cross between an urban winery and a county type winery.  They did a little research back into what this place was a 100-and-some years ago.  The premier industry was premium wine grapes. There was essentially nothing else that was turning the economic wheels at the time. In 1900, this place was exporting premier reds to Europe going head to head with the Bordeauxs.  There was no Napa or Sonoma on the map. Yes, they were growing grapes up there. They were not doing that well in terms of reputation. In terms of output, this place put out a lot of wine a 100 years ago. Two things happened. First thing I think it was sometime in 1912 was the incidence of Pierce’s disease. Took out a bunch of plants from Escondido to El Cajon. It got probably 30% of them. When they started to recover from that then a little thing called the Volstead Act in 1920 came along. The feds came in and said there shall be no more winemaking. Some of the winemakers in San Diego renounced their American citizenship and moved to Guadalupe (Mexico). Now today what's the premier wine growing region in all of Mexico? It's Guadalupe.  

 

Q: You've produced 6 different wines. What's the next focus is on those 6 or are you looking to expand your portfolio?

This winter will be the first year that we produce (a) white wine. It's Albarino. We planted it 3 years ago. We always give it 3 full leaves before we take first crop. You want to establish that root system. We drop crop the first 2 years.

 

Q: Have you won any awards as winemakers?

Carolyn was given San Diego County Farmer of the Year in 2015. She got the one for doing the most to get the wine industry off the ground.  

 

This year we entered 3 wines (in competitions). We entered our Zinfandel in the San Francisco Chronicle. That's 7100 wines. That's where all the big Zinfandels, that I have a whole bunch of respect for, they all enter that competition. We got a silver.

 

Some of my original inspirations Leon Sobon who makes some of the, in my opinion, the best Zins in the world. You try to take and put your wines where there's things that you can get evaluations based on wine which you respect. It's the same thing with the Malbec this year. We entered Malbec in Finger Lake's because there was supposed to be a 100-and-some Malbecs from Mendoza and Cantina there. We got a silver on that. We also entered the Cabernet Franc at Finger Lakes because there was supposed to be a bunch of Cab Francs there. We got double gold on that. There was only, I think, 2 double golds given to Cab Franc. The other one was from a winery in Goliath Israel. If you look at the wear and the growing season in Goliath Israel, and the dryness, and you look at Ramona California, they almost alike.

 

Q: How many hours a week do you devote to being a winemaker versus owner a winery?

Being a farmer? We're slightly different than some of the other operations in the county here. We grow a 100% of our grapes for our wines. That is a big time commitment. I think like old school if you go to Europe. You'll see that the winemakers are always intimately involved in the vineyards. It's only over in this country where the winemaker sits there and waits for the grapes to appear at his door and where the winemaking then commences. I don't agree with that philosophy. You have to be involved in the vineyard. You spend a lot of time farming. That's what I was doing this morning. In terms of time spent wine making it's got to be 1 to 2 days a week. Just chemistry analysis, there's 34 barrels in (our) barrel room. We do a full work up on each barrel every 3 weeks.

 

Q: What are your goals for the winery?

Finish this infinite construction. It would be nice to say, "Hey, I'm done." We have, like any small winery in San Diego County, we have storage issues. I have 1,170 cases right now in storage in Temecula because there's no bonded wine storage in this county. Vesper Vineyards, they're opening a warehouse in Escondido where I think we'll finally be able to get some local storage.  

 

Q: How many people a year visit your winery?

That's a tough number. We're only open weekends, 11 am to 5 pm. We will average about 18 to 22 groups per day. A group can consist of anywhere from 1 to upwards of 10 people. 

I'm running out of inventory so this may be the first year we don’t open the tasting room. It's getting to the point where I cannot, on the acreage we have right now, grow enough to support what's moving through the tasting room. Previous years we've always run out of the Super Tuscan Blend. We always run out of the Cab Franc. We always run out of the Malbec too. Usually the Zin will last mostly until December. Last year, I was a little premature on the lease in the 2011 because the 2010 just was gone, pretty much the same with [Brinella 00:17:21] this year. It's probably going to be a little tighter yet. Our production is pretty even from year to year. We pull right at 10.5 tons off these grapes every single year. That's without the Albarino.  Based on existing plantings we get very evenly about 10.5 tons a year. You'll see it 10.36, 10.45, each year after year. The farming's consistent. I think that's part of what produces a good crop.

 

Q: Do you have the most humorous wine tasting room story or disastrous wine tasting story?

Three people show up, a very attractive young Chinese lady, an older Chinese woman, and an Irish man. I said, "Good afternoon, can I pour you some wines?" They're just kind of looking around. They're not talking, just looking. I ask another way about 10 seconds later. It's an uncomfortable silence. Then the lady, the younger lady, says, "Okay, I think I'd like a taste of wine." As it turns out she's from mainland China. She's over here investigating some other wines because they're not happy with the wines that the French sold them. The French charged premium prices but sold them second-tier wines. They're not real pleased with that. Mom was over here for the wedding (but) also on a buying trip checking out wineries all the way from here up into the Napa Valley. She runs (a) restaurant on the 100th floor of (a) hotel in Xenjing, China. She was over here checking out wineries. How she found Chuparosa Vineyards in Ramona is still a mystery to me. They warmed right up after they started tasting the wines. They ended up spending almost 3 hours here talking wine.

 

Q: Did they buy any?

Oh, yeah. Wonderful people, I can't support shipping anything overseas because I don't have any inventory. That's what they were looking for. They really liked the wines.

 

Q: Who designed your label and what's the story behind it?

My wife’s sister and husband are both graphic arts designers They're really good. (Location 8). I'm an engineer. I know my limitations.  It looks local. These people are really good, gifted, professionals, it's another good reason I didn't even get involved.

 

Q: Do your friends and family think you're either crazy or living the good life?

Check both of the above boxes. "Oh, great you own a winery." You know that the gentlemen farming with your feet up and a glass of wine thing. Then they visit and see what goes on here. Nobody's gentlemen anything, it's hard work.

 

Q: What's the best and worst part of being a winemaker?

I'd say the best part is when you really produce a nice vintage and people instantly appreciate it. It's nice to see people come out to our place that like good, solid foundation, red wines. The worst part is probably dealing with the county and the constant shenanigans that go on over and over and over again and never seem to stop. That's probably the most frustrating part.

 

Q: Which publications do you reach for the latest developments in the wine industry?

The Wine Business Monthly.   Wines and Vines. I find the Wine Business Monthly has the more hard-core technical articles. 

 

Q: In winemaking, what's your biggest obstacle?

Probably the cost of the equipment, getting your process up to where you want it to make the kinds of wines, the styles of wines, and the quality of wines you want to make. It takes equipment. It is not a cheap industry. This is what we call an infrastructure heavy endeavor, like that tank behind you. They don't grow on trees. We have a new press coming this year also. It was not cheap either. It will allow me to do some things that I couldn't do before. The infrastructure is probably the biggest (obstacle).

 

Q: What should people never ask a winemaker? 

The ones I guess that irritate me the most is where do you buy your wine grapes from? That usually sends me right through the roof because we don't buy wine, we make it. We're a 100% estate, not because I had my nose in the air about buying other people's grapes, but we already do 10 1/2 tons a year. It's just my wife and I.  

 

Q: What can somebody do to improve their wine tasting skills?

First and foremost, taste more wine. Secondly, taste it intelligently. Learn to break the wine in your mouth down to it's 3 constituent compounds, the opening, the mid-palette, and the finish. Be able to take apart each piece of the wine in each of those stages. Everyone can learn to taste wine. People can learn to appreciate really good wines if they just learn how to kind of pick it apart. They'll find things they like and thing they don't. Not everybody's going to agree on that because everyone's palate's different. I think the best thing you can do is drink more wine and then learn to drink it intelligently.

 

Q: What has the recent drought done to the quality of your wines?

We are incredible fortunate sitting in this little section of Ramona Valley. What most people don't realize is that within our little valley right here we're at about 94% of normal rainfall.  I'm aware that California is in a severe drought.  In our little neck of the woods, we are not exactly suffering. Secondly, I have a really good well. We do drip irrigate. I like to control the water rather than Mother Nature. I think that's one of the advantages of growing down here, not a disadvantage, because so many time, as you move further up north into the wetter climes, people have good years and bad years based on too much water, too much water at the wrong time, right at harvest, torrential rains at bloom. Those types of things are real headaches for the people who are farming the grapes. We don't have to deal with any of that. I control the water. It's another lever I can use to bring in a better crop to make a better wine with.  

 

Q: Do you stress them out a little bit to get the roots deeper or do you try to keep the moisture more constant?

You can look at it in terms of what you do at the beginning of the plant's life versus what do you do when the plant has entered the production stage. I define the onset of the production stage as leaf on. At the beginning of the plant's life the last thing you want to do is stress it. It's trying to establish itself. It's trying to send down a good root structure that'll carry it for the rest of the life of the plant and give you the crop yields that you're looking for, so no stress at all the first 3 years. When it comes to stressing later on, I have a slightly different philosophy than a lot of people. It's farming, why would you want to stress your plants. If you want a good crop, make the plants happy. This business about stressing it to get greater intensity, no, then you crop down to the point whether your root system will carry the amount of fruit you have on the plant to full sugar and full intensity and the tannins come up properly. If you stress the plant and desiccate the grapes, the sugar levels will come up very quickly because you've desiccated the grapes. That doesn't get you tannin structure. That doesn't get that final maturation of grape.  

 

Q: If you had to start all over would you do anything different?

Yes, if I had to start all over I'd start with a true master plan instead of just getting drug into it step by step. That's much more expensive than a master plan. Secondly, I would have probably begun the build-out process of the infrastructure more quickly. Doing it the other way involves a lot of wheel spinning. When we first planted grapes we didn't ever intend to become a winery, ever. We were just going to grow grapes for a winery across the way. 

 

Q: I know you don't have a favorite wine but is there a wine that you're most pleased with compared where you thought it was going to be and where it ended up? The other way around is if you had to walk into a dinner party and you wanted somebody to taste something that is expressively yours, what wine, which of your wines would that be?

You're right, it is a tough one. We grow what some people refer to as a rather eclectic mix of wines. That eclectic mix came from wines I've run into during my travels across the world particularly Italian wines that I've worked off and on at home. Ones that I liked, I wanted to come back and try to duplicate. I spent a lot of time drinking really nice Zins up in Amador, Lodi, and upper regions of the Alexander Valley. I wanted to bring them back and knock them off. As far as my favorite wine, I've been a Zinfandel drinker since the mid ‘70s. That's not going to change. You've got to be nuts to grow it. It's a finicky crop. It's a difficult crop to make wine out of because it's going to try to pull every trick in the book on you. The most surprising one probably, was the Malbec. Up until 6 years ago, I think, Joe Cullen over at Cactus Star, was the only guy I knew of in the area that had any Malbec. He had just an itty bitty little test plot. We tasted some, I'm going to say 6 - 7 years ago now, and I decided then and there that somebody needed to get some of this stuff in the ground. Since we started taking crop from our Malbec about 3 years ago, others have planted Malbec just because of that.  You will see more varietals of wine grapes planted as time marches on.

 

As young a region as we are there are some really nice wineries here now. I think that's a testimony to the growing region and to the dedication of many people who try to make this come to pass. It has not been easy. It's been a knock down drag out every step of the way. Having said that, we're getting some modest success now. It's nice to see.

 

This interview was edited for length.