Chase cellars helps out their friends by crushing grapes before the rain

The title is from a line in a song that I’ve always liked. “The soil of my soul.” While the song is not about wine, the line reminds me of many vintners who, with each planting, ripping, and harvest, leave a bit of their soul behind in their vineyard.

It’s easy to overlook that wine, with its crystal glasses, high end restaurants, elegant estates, and sometimes high price tag, is an agricultural product. At the end of the day, a vintner is a farmer. And in wine, that farmer knows every inch of their soil. They know which part of their vineyard gets the best drainage, which has the most clay and receives the most exposure to the sun. They can tell you about each vine planted, “See that knick in the vine there..that was diseased 16 years ago so we had to……” Sit a table with a group of vintners and they can talk until the cows come home about the grapes, pruning, weather, soil conditions, on and on. When I think of the words “Soil of My Soul” I think of vintners such as Black Cat, Muir’s Legacy, Sciandri, Volker Eisele, Pavo, Clouds Rest, and many others who have taken me into their vineyards and then shared with me the fruits of their labor. There is something very poetic about sharing wine with the vintner and at the vineyard that produced that wine.

This harvest I’ve been thinking a lot about the growers. It’s been a tough year. In a year where people are buying less wine they had a bumper crop. In years past wineries who purchased their fruit may have been willing to take on more than their contracted loads, but in a year where everyone is tightening their purse strings this is not the case. Many vintners, who spend all year caring for the their vines, babying the fruit, had no choice but to let the fruit hang and rot.

To make matters worse, we had a very cool summer. The weather was delightful for us humans, but it just didn’t get the grapes ripe enough. And while many were hoping and praying for one more heat spike to ripen the fruit, the worse storm in 47 years for October hit. In just 12 hours some parts of Napa and Sonoma counties received over 3 inches of rain. Grapes that were not picked now face the danger of rotting on the vine and the winery/vintner faces the danger of losing the vintage.

There’s always an eerie silence that fills the air during tough times. I can hear that silence now. Many wineries and vintners will be able to ride the storm, some will have to call it quits. The people most affected, as always, is the little guy.

For those of you who are wine lovers, you can help. It’s simple. Buy their wine. Go to the directory and find the types of wine you like and order wine from the wineries website. If you have trouble ordering wine, let me know. Small Lots Big Wines also has a wine club that ships just twice a year. Every wine we ship is from a small producer. When you come to Napa, visit the small winery. We have a concierge service that will match you to winery that best suits you. There has always been team work between SLBW and the wineries we work with. In time like these the wineries can use you on their team.