Defining Grape and Wine Quality Between Growers and Wineries

Lise Asimont, Director of Grower Relations

Thursday, February 27, 2014 2014 Michigan Wine and Grape Conference

Francis Ford Coppola Winery

Home of Wine, Food and Adventure

Winery • Production facility – 62,500 sf • 2 Restaurants, Tasting Bar -2 levels, Pool, Swim Cabines, Bocce Memorabilia • Tucker on a turntable, Godfather desk and other Godfather movie

collections, Oscars, Dracula Costumes, OFTH Neon Cocktail glass & bar, Apocalypse Now display

Sourcing Grapes for Pricing Tiers

Dining Out

Price

Casual Everyday Sipping

Entertaining

Festive Celebration

Special Occasion

Defining Quality

• Difficult to define metrics: – Vineyard – Winery – Consumer Endpoint

• Grower Relations: facilitate an open discussion between the winegrower and the winemaker

• Goal Oriented Winemaking

– Winegrower and winemaker working towards common goal – FFCW goal = final wine – Specific style and level of quality – Driven by price point

Main Goal: Make the Best Wine Possible

FIND THE RIGHT FIT

Create a long term business relationship between growers and winery • Identify key growers and vineyards for specific wine programs • Consider the personalities and abilities of all parties • Shepherd the relationship: communicate expectations and execute

programs to solidify relationship and raise final wine quality

Make A Strong Team: Winery and Winegrower

• Work with >150 growers – ave. 10-acre parcels

• Goal Oriented Winemaking – Pruning Bottling: every vineyard cultural practice geared

towards that one, specific wine

• Winemakers and Winegrowers Unite! – Everyone on same plan – Build a team of “core growers” – Extensive grower feedback program

Vineyard Cultural Practices for Higher Wine Quality

• Higher wine quality: • Vine balance (define site vigor

and crop load) • Field uniformity

• Viticultural plans • Contractual obligation • Vintage specific

Contractual Vit Plan

• “Boiler plate” • Sustainable farming practices • General examples of cultural practices • M.O.G. < 0.5% • No 2nd crop, sunburned fruit or raisining

– Delayed harvest exempt

• Disease and delayed ripening clause (Red Blotch clause) – Delays to the ripening process of a vineyard …is a delay in, or

negative impact to, color development, sugar accumulation, flavor development, or other normal grape maturity indexes of affected vines when compared to adjacent vines within a vineyard, …..

Vintage Specific Vit Plans

• Created each vintage

• Presented at the Grower Feedback Tasting meeting

• Verbal and/or written agreement

• Consistent with winegrower’s finances – Never ask for something unaffordable

• 2014 Drought Vit Plan

Vit Plan Main Points

• Prune “to count” – Create a structural foundation for the vine

• Sucker “to count” as early as possible – Reinforce structural foundation – Save on later canopy management passes

• Vineyard floor management is site specific – Address soil structure and health – Water holding capacity – Control or enhance vigor

Vit Plan Laundry List

• Canopy Management – Leafing or lateral pull – Mechanical or by hand – As early as possible: AT SET

• clusters develop in photo-intensive environment • Phenolic super-loading!

• Irrigation Management – California specific – Delay initial irrigation event – Maintenance irrigations post veraison @ 25% RDI

More Vit Plan- Almost Done…

Crop Adjustment – Requires accurate crop assessment

• Concerted effort between winegrower and winery • Ongoing conversation through entire growing season

– 2nd crop dropped during lateral/ leaf pull pass • Combine passes to save money

– Green and clumping clusters dropped • Basic tier programs: drop > 70% veraison • Reserve tier programs: drop 2 weeks > veraison

Last Bit of the Vit Plan Basics

• Vine Nutrition – Leaf blade or petiole analysis at BLOOM – Get results and execute fertilization ASAP

• N, P, K + micros Mn, Mg, Zn, Fe, Ca, etc.

– Leaf blade or petiole analysis at VERAISON • Did your post bloom adjustment work? • Last shot for fertigation or foliar spray • Make plans for post harvest broadcast

• Post Harvest – Irrigation and final fertilization adjustment

• Critical fall root flush

Post Harvest Grower Feedback Program

• Grower Feedback Tasting (GFT) – Individual – Packet of data, critiques, and notes – 2-way discussion

• Data intensive – Phenology and climate – Vintage critique – Vineyard practices critique

• Tasting – Young wines from previous vintage – Phenolics presented – Goal wines tasted

Grower Feedback: Phenology and Climate Data

Vineyard Phenology Budbreak 4/8/09

Bloom 6/1/09

Veraison 7/20/09

Harvest 10/2- 10/12/2009

Bloom to Harvest Interval (Days) 123- 133

Growing Season Climate Breakdown Vintage 2007 2008 2009

Growing Season Rainfall 6.6 5.0 11.2

DTF (Diurnal Temp. Flux) 30.8 31.9 30.7

DD (Degree Days Accumulated) 4112 4000 3761

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Discuss Quality Metrics: Harbertson-Adams Assay Phenolics

•Objective framework to analyze and discuss elusive term of “wine quality”

•Live-time analysis to manage fermentations and see quality of vintage

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2006 Claret2007 Claret2008 Claret

Define Wine Style: Diamond Claret

•Target a given wine style within the confines of each vintage

•Grower becomes a part of the goal oriented winegrowing process

Winemaking Practices

• During harvest – Adams-Harbertson assay – Daily discussion with grower relations

• Reinforce style/ quality of the vintage – Tank space management

• Use of tools to determine when to press off

• Blending – Early determination of quality level and program tier

• Participate in GFT’s

Francis Ford Coppola Winery Facility

• Certified Sustainable – 3rd party assessment – California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance

• Winemakers focus on specific programs • Embrace creativity and new technology

– Skin recycling for anthocyanin poor lots – Co-fermentation – Stirring on lees in tank – Specific press cycles for white wines

Tricks Our Vits Use

• Independent weather service

• Continuing education – IPM and local vit tech meetings – UC Davis, ASEV and Unified meetings

• Homemade databases – Contract and winegrower info – Phenology tracking – Vineyard visits

• iPads in the vineyard – Evernote, Numbers, SoilWeb, Sun Seeker, Agrian Mobile, Growing Days, NDVI’s

Newest Tool: High Revisit Aerial NDVI

TerrAvion image from 10.19.13

http://www.terravion.com

Better Than Technology

•Execute the vit plan! •Embrace technology •Boots on the ground

Are We There Yet?

• Have we achieved the specific wine style and quality?

• Wine industry is dynamic • Keep raising the bar on quality • Embrace creativity and technology but be on the ground

• Key to Success: Winegrowers are our partners • Foster sustainable relationships • Survive challenging vintages (2011, 2014) • Discuss and define metrics: Ongoing conversation

THANK YOU

Paolo Sabbatini Michigan State University Viticulturist and Extension Specialist Department of

Horticulture

Corey Beck Director of Winemaking and General Manager, Francis Ford Coppola Winery

The Michigan Wine and Grape Industry Council

The Winegrowers of the Francis Ford Coppola Winery