A sense of relief

“I was thinking yesterday as I was pulling leaves out of the bin for our last pick of grapes for this harvest that in about 10 months from now I’ll be doing this all over again. The thought of seeing or picking another grape anytime soon is quite exhausting. I look forward to winter; the rain, the quite, the shorter days. It is also at this time I realize my deep appreciate for our workers and all that they do throughout the year. They put in long hours and are very dedicated as well as really caring about the quality of their work.
Right now we are doing things that will help us prepare for the winter months ahead. These include seeding the cover crop, checking drains, preparing the irrigation against frost and repairing roofs and siding. Even though there are no grapes on the vine there is still a lot of work to be done.” Visit our website to read more about it http://www.johntylerwines.com
~ John Bacigalupi

News and events for fall 2008

Check out what’s new at John Tyler Wines!

4th Annual San Diego Bay Food and Wine Festival
Nov 14-18th, 2008
John Tyler will be participating in the AIWF Celebrity Chef Luncheon and Live Auction. This a four course luncheon is hosted by celebrity Artist Thomas Arvid and Master Sommelier Joseph Spellman. If you would like to be one of our guests at this fantastic venue please contact nicoleb@johntlyerwines.com for more information.

ZAP’s 18th Annual Zinfandel Jan 28-31st 2009
If you are a Zinfandel lover, don’t miss this event! John Tyler will be pouring alongside some of the best Zinfandel producers. Ticket information can be found at ZAP

Progress on our Russian River Valley tasting room…
We are pleased to announce that construction has begun on this exciting project. Set amongst the oak trees in the heart of Russian River Valley, our projected opening is early next year. We will keep you up to date with the latest news.

Family business: how we do it!

This is a photo of my grandfather Paul Heck in the vineyard with his favorite horse Pinot. Many people ask me how I can work in a family business. We have all seen and heard the unfortunate stories of families that have big dreams for a business and in the end just can’t seem to make it work. Mondavi Family ring a bell on this one?

I think the first and most important things you must do is always treat the family business as though it was not family at all.  You should not run your family business any different than you would run any other business. There can’t be any “cutting corners” so to speak. Everything must be kept up to date and accurate. There can be no favoring, my sister and I both work together and do a variety of the same jobs. Her job is no more important than mine.

You must also try to keep emotions out of the picture, I think this is the hard one. When you build a business as a family there are so many more emotional ties to it. Some people have ego tied in as well, and have a hard time admitting when things aren’t going well. They don’t want to be seen as a failure. But if you can manage to keep these things in tact, you are on your way to being able to work together and succeed.

I myself often wonder what it is about being in business with family that can sometimes make it harder to succeed. I work with my sister, mom, dad, cousin and winemaker Tyler and both my grandparents on some occasion. I guess it can be frustrating when not only does everyone have their own opinion about how things should be run, but because this is your business you are more emotionally tied to it than you would be if you were working for someone else. There is that element of extreme passion to make things succeed.

We have quite a history of family businesses. My grandfather, Paul Heck and his brother Adolf bought Korbel Champange Cellars from the Korbel Bros in the early 1950′s. As a family, they reinvented the Korbel name, producing higher end champagne and even started making still wine and brandy. My mom was the youngest of 3 when they lived at the winery and remembers having a childhood full of family and good times. The family had reached great success, I think both men After reaching great success some members of the family became greedy and suffered from problems with alcohol. However it was after an affair, corruption within the family and money issues that there was no mending the problems that had occurred in the 40+ years of business.

Even though he died before I was born, I have learned a lot from my grandpa Paul. I hope that my sister and I will learn from what happened with Korbel to become positive family leaders with our new family venture, John Tyler. I love working with my family, every day I feel like I am providing a service to the legacy that my grandparents and parents have created.

Not just your average wine dog

Roxanne our German Shepard

There is something about wineries and dogs that just make sense. Whether they are out roaming around the vineyards or sunning themselves in the tasting room and greeting customers, wine dogs are a great addition to any winery. Everyone has stories and found memories of their dogs… here are some of mine.

Our wine dog is Roxanne, a 6 year old German Shepard. My dad has a great love of German Shepard’s and we got Roxanne (Roxy for short) right after my twin sister left for college. Our previous dog was Elsa, had just passed away. She was left on our doorstep Christmas Eve wrapped in a baby blanket with a bottle. We fell in love with her instantly although never really found out where she came from. Roxanne right away was a lively puppy and she had the classic, cute German Shepard ears that stood straight up. As a puppy she stayed close to the house but as she grew up and got more interested in her surroundings and she began to go out during the day with my dad. She has since become his constant companion, following him everywhere he goes. Sometimes he will have to leave her at one of the ranches because he is moving equipment around, she will patiently wait for him by his white Nissan pick up until he returns. To this day he is really the only one that she will listen to. She has never really been officially “trained” although she will sit and lie down on command and is almost to smart for her own good. I have always wondered if she were a  real person what she would say and the stories that she would tell.

After seeing the movie The Golden Compass I realized that Roxy is my dad’s demon, his alter in animal form. She barely ever leaves his side and is an incredible good guard dog. I have never had a sleepless night for fear of an intruder because I know that Roxy is outside protecting the house. She has never really been allowed inside the house however, my dad has a strict policy on not allowing animals inside. So she sits by the door, watching us intently as we eat dinner, waiting for us to throw her a bone.

In addition to the regular pet chow she also gets 2 scrambled eggs a night, it gives her a good amount of protein to chase the jack rabbits, or play fetch with you. Although she absolutely loves chasing after balls the one thing that we can’t seem to manage to teach her is how to bring it back. She isn’t a fair player because she will get the ball if you throw if for her and then run away with it, making you chase after her which she thoroughly enjoys.

Roxy is a special gift to our family. She provides protection, joy, fun and above all companionship. Sometimes I think that she enjoys walking through the vineyards just as much as my dad. Well, after all you know what they say “A dog is man’s best friend”

My family harvest in Russian River Valley

Quality control is an important job!

As the 2008 harvest is coming to an end I tend to look back at all that has happened and sometimes think how we survived yet another season of farming chaos.

Sometimes I wonder if any other family on earth operates the way that we do on a daily basis. Not all days are crazy but harvest time is absolutely debauchery…and not the fun out at the bars drinking kind. My grandparents decided long ago that they wanted to live in the country, to many of their friends dismay they put down a chunk of change and bought property out Westside Road in 1956. They purchased 60 acres for $30,000, which at that time was a ton of money. Since the day my dad was born he did nothing but play outside, so it was only fitting that he would become the vineyard manager, and that he did and has been since about the age of 17, he is now 51.

I have now completed my 3rd harvest with the family, being 100% hands on with everything. And I mean everything, from pulling leaves from the bins (Katey and I call it quality control) to driving the tractors to making 2:00 a.m sandwiches and bringing Iced Tea to dad so he doesn’t fall asleep on the tractor.

I now know why farm families in the old days had 5, 8, 10 children…because farming is a heck of a lot of work and it takes a lot of hands to make things run. It is no fun having to be up 18 hours a day and then do it all again the next day. I swear there have been days that my dad runs on 2 hours of sleep! It is crazy! Not to mention that fact that my sister and I both have other jobs. We both work at tasting rooms a few days a week. We would trade off getting up at 12:00 a.m, helping dad with harvest until about 7:00 a.m or so, take a quick shower and go to our other jobs until 5:30. I have to say it is REALLY hard to be nice to people when you have been up for 24 hours straight.

Fall is now upon us and winter just around the corner. I am usually not a winter person, I like the sunshine a lot, but being that winter is a time of rest I am sort of looking forward to it this year.

John Tyler Wines Pinot Noir

John Tyler Pinot Noir

Our family has always held a special place in our hearts for the Pinot Noir grape. Back in 1956 my grandfather–Charles Bacigalupi–took the advice of then University of California farm adviser Bob Sisson to plant Pinot in the Russian River Valley. Before this my grandfather had never heard of the Pinot grape and said he had to write the name down to keep from forgetting it.

He obtained the original budwood from Karl Wente and planted 14 acres. Today we farm 5 different clones of Pinot Noir and my dad will tell you that Pinot is definitely the hardest grape to grow. Its thin skin makes it more susceptible to mold and frost and picking must be done by hand.

We are fortunate that the Russian River provides the ideal growing condition and, despite the difficulties Pinot still remains our family’s favorite and most cherished varietal.  Carrying on my grandfather’s vision for this grape we produced our first vintage of Pinot Noir under the John Tyler label in 2002.

An unseasonal harvest

“The vines welcomed a difficult and challenging growing season this year. With one of the earliest grape harvests on record in Sonoma County, the contributing factors were a short growing season and cool start to harvest. Labor Day weekend marks the start of harvest for Bacigalupi Vineyards and this year was no different. The exception was the over 100 degrees heat spike that brought a significant amount of fruit ripe all at the same time.

Following a drought year in 2007, there were high hopes for rain in 2008. However warmer temperatures and lack of rain awakened the vines to an earlier then normal growing season. This leaves the young growth more susceptible to frost. With several consecutive nights of temperatures below 30 degrees the early growth was affected by the frost, resulting in some crop loss. An extreme heat wave contributed to some shatter in the vineyard but most of the heat’s effects were offset by the help of irrigation.

Eventually the summer fog returned to the valley, giving everyone some breathing room. The Wente and Pommard Pinot Noir was harvested on September 12th. Due to the Wente clone fruit the Pinot Noir color is suburb. The Zinfandel was brought in October 2nd. The higher than usual acid this year is reflective of the shorter growing season. This bright, natural acid is one of the main characteristics that Tyler, our winemaker highlights as one of the defining factors to our style of wines.

This year we crushed our first lot of Petite Sirah. This Foppiano clone was given to my father, Charles Bacigalupi by the Foppiano family in 1993. My father and Louis Foppiano Sr. have been friends, since 1956, the first year that we planted grapes in the Russian River Valley. My father would sell the Zinfandel, Mission and Golden Chaslis to Louis Sr. for the bulk wine. This went on for many years and my father and Louis Sr. and my father remain good friends to this day.

So even with all the obstacles. I have high hoopes for this year’s vintage. In all my years of farming, one thing I have learned is that sometimes the most difficult growing season produces the most memorable wine.”

~ John Bacigalupi

2008 Sonoma County Harvest Fair

The 2008 Sonoma County Harvest Fair was quite a weekend. Over 100 wineries particiapted in the 2 day wine tasting event! John Tyler Wines was awarded two medals for our 2005 vintages.

• Silver Medal – 2005 Zinfandel, Bacigalupi Vineyards Russian River Valley
• Bronze Medal – 2005 Pinot Noir, Bacigalupi Vineyards Russian River Valley