Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/10329
an art than a science. “We use data to prescreen the sites, but the final deci- sion is not based upon statistics.” Work in progress: Derenoncourt California is scheduled to release its 2007 vintage in September. Keeping the Land Alive Kari Flores, Crazy Flower Wines Kari Flores’s earliest memories of wine are the high-octane Amador County Zinfandels that she recalls from her childhood in Sacramento and her first exposures to French wine in an enology class at U.C. Davis. Flores, who is a viticulturist at Robert Sinskey Vineyards, pursued plant sciences and horticulture at Davis and lived in Napa for ten years before designing and planting her own Merlot vineyard at a site in Congress Valley, in the northwestern part of Napa’s Carneros Appellation. For several years Flores sold her fruit, but when the market for Merlot grapes hit an all-time low in 2006, she refused to see her organically farmed fruit left to rot and made her first vintage of Crazy Flower. A proponent of sustainable and organic practices, Flores is committed to polyculture; she keeps bee hives, raises Cuckoo Maran chickens, whose dark brown eggs are a favorite of the chef at Silver Oak Winery, and has a herd of rare Baby Doll Southdown sheep, a breed that was brought back from the brink of extinction and is prized for weed control in dormant vineyards. While Flores considers herself a winegrower first and foremost, her connection to the land and the vines is clearly evident in the glass; her approach to vinifying Merlot is a gentle one that results in aromatic and restrained wines of great finesse. Work in progress: A fan of bubbles, Flores would like to make sparkling and rosé Merlot. Skating to Success Ryan Zepaltas, Zepaltas Wines Ryan Zepaltas’s trajectory as a Pinot Noir winemaker can be compared to that of the Space Shuttle. In 2004, high scores for his first vintage achieved lift off for his fledgling Zepaltas Wines label; his talent then settled into a steady orbit, one that seems to be gaining speed at a comfortable pace. A Wisconsin native whose Lithuanian great-great grandfather emigrated Kari Flores with one of her Baby Doll Southdown sheep. from Greece, Zepaltas had already made quite a reputation for himself as a skateboarder before arriving in Sebastapol in 1998. His first brush with winemaking came when he took a seasonal cellar job at La Crema that lasted for two years. By that time, Zepaltas was interested enough in winemaking to seek experi- ence abroad, and he moved to New Zealand to work for Sauvignon Blanc producer Villa Maria. Returning to California in 2000, he worked a harvest at Siduri, where he has now spent ten years as a member of Adam Lee’s winemaking team. During his tenure, Zepaltas has seen Siduri grow from 4,000 to 10,000 cases and with it gained experience running a larger-scale operation. His own label—a portfolio of Pinots and Chards sourced from vineyards from the Sonoma Coast to the Santa Lucia Highlands—is currently at 1,500 cases and has a following that Zepaltas attributes in some part to a steady stream of decent press. His short term goals are to grow the label to 2,500 cases, “one customer at a time.” A team member at Siduri, Ryan Zepaltas released his own label in 2004. Work in progress: “Weird projects” and the likely potential of making wine in Burgundy and the Rhône. may 2010 / the tasting panel / 83 PHOTO: PETER GRIFFITH PHOTO: PETER GRIFFITH