Sonoma is B A C K | A Day of Tastings for Slow Wine Guide

On the road for Slow Wine Guide 2022, I ventured into the lush agricultural splendor that is Sonoma to visit wineries that, due to the pandemic, we were not able visit in person for tastings last year. 

While the pandemic has made us all shyer about traipsing about in wine country and socializing, it should also make us more appreciative of what we do have. And what we locals have is a gold mine. As I visited Sonoma wineries this year, I was struck by the throngs of people in downtown Sonoma. Summer was happening and summer seemed sort of like a trump card, capable of overriding (at least temporarily) the accretion of cares and woes. 

One winery that I had particularly missed last year was Amapola Creek, formerly owned by Richard Arrowood, which he sold to his Moon Mountain neighbor Brion Wise (of B. Wise Vineyards). It was a huge year of change at the winery.

Arrowood is continuing to make the wines during a transitional period, training the new team on his practices. Committed to organics, under his long time association with organic viticulturist Phil Coturri, I was curious about the vineyards' certification future, but was told that the organic practices and certification are continuing. 

The tasting setup at Amapola Creek

The wines here are always so exquisite. Though it is mostly famous for reds, I've been a huge fan of the Chardonnay as well which comes from one of the few Russian River growers who is organic. 

The former tasting room director retired, but his role has been ably filled by young talent, Daniel Caresio, who, charmingly, came to Sonoma State to play baseball and ended up getting a degree in wine. Daniel was well trained by his predecessor.

The Wise's, whose fortune comes from fossil fuels, are huge fans of African art and have changed up the tasting room to showcase some of their collection. From Moon Mountain

View of the terrain on the road to Amapola Creek

From Moon Mountain I traveled north to Suzanne Farver's new vineyard (and forthcoming wine label) in the Petaluma Gap–Panther Ridge Vineyards. While her wines have not yet released, I wanted to see the site and get a feeling for the place. 

A former director of the Aspen Art Museum, she was also deeply engaged in the policy side of sustainability–she is vice chair of the board of the change-making Presidio Graduate School–which grants green MBAs–before turning her attention to a hands on transformation of a giant field of thistle and milkweed which is now, after seven years, a respectable biodynamic vineyard (certified organic). Helping her are consultants Philippe Coderey and Nathalie Winkler.

Farver too, is an art collector and displays her collection in her surroundings. She currently sells grapes to a number of wineries. 

Suzanne Farver of Panther Ridge in Petaluma Gap

Driving south towards the town of Sonoma, I passed by Green String Farms, purveyors of amazing produce. They, of course, are Alice Waters' and Chez Panisse's secret weapon, supplying a lot of the beautiful veggies that go into Chez Panisse's meals. You have to love a place where cage free chickens means the chickens roam around the produce store. Quel charmant. 

Next stop: downtown Sonoma, which was teaming with tourists–HURRAY–where I visited Bedrock's Hooker House down an alley off the town square. Bedrock's move to have a tasting room here was inspired by the connection between the Hooker House and their Glen Ellen vineyard, which was also owned by this historic figure in the 1850s onward. 

Bedrock is one of Sonoma's true treasures. In a town where there are so many mediocre wineries that drown out the best (the same goes for Napa, too), I am always amazed by the incredible quality and beauty of certain wineries, including Bedrock, and the mysterious magic that helps people find the wineries like Bedrock. 

Tasting at Bedrock

While I usually stick to tasting their reds, which they are better known for, this year, I finally branched out into their incredible whites. Don't miss these. (Note: these are "sustainably" farmed, not organically. Wines for Slow Wine Guide do not have to be organically grown but may not be grown with herbicide). This wine was a great discovery. (And it's very affordable, to boot).

While Bedrock's well known for its own estate wine, a lot of the fun comes from the incredible variety offered by various vineyards it sources from. One that it now owns is Evangelho in Antioch, which was farmed for decades by Frank Evangelho. I got fired up about learning more about these vines and visited the historic Antioch vines–growing in pure sand–the following week just for fun.

The inscription says "Sand and Wind and Love" in Portuguese.

Next up was Winery Sixteen 600, which weathered the pandemic storm thanks to the hardworking Coturri family's stepped up efforts to keep the business on its feet. Their homey, downtown Sonoma Tasting House, just a few blocks off the Plaza, expanded to provide a new private tasting room–with a turntable no less. 

They launched a new canned rosé wine, which I quite liked, as it was just a tiny bit sweet which sort of goes with the canned experience somehow. This wine may also win in the underground Olympics in the category of "how low input/low intervention can you go" in the vineyard. This wine comes from the Canard Family Farm vineyard from a vineyard that is organically farmed (not certified) and is own rooted, no till, and dry farmed. 

Sam Coturri suggested I try their Syrah, which I have not written about in past years, and to my surprise and delight, this was a very big Wow. I'm also a huge fan of their collaboration with Rhone superstar winemaker Philippe Cambie, which is a label called A Deux Tetes. Their first Grenaches released this year. You will want to try these. And their rosé which I'd say is a Cru rosé. 

Beautiful new labels adorn the newly released
Grenache wines from A Deux Tetes

Then it was on to a meal. Without lunch, it was time for a real dinner, and who could resist open air, sidewalk dining at The Girl and the Fig where one can still get a steak and frites. 

Sonoma's downtown has so much to offer. I wandered across to the classic movie theater where the Anthony Bourdain movie was just opening and sat down to see the show: Roadrunner. 

After our pandemic year, it was good to get out. There is so much delight in life. Better grab it here and now.

Kamen's wine shrine

Napa is B A C K | On the Road for Slow Wine Guide 2022

With fires, floods and climate change dominating the headlines, one can lose sight of just how wonderful we have it in Northern California with beckoning wine country destinations within easy reach. I was reminded of this in recent weeks as I traveled in Sonoma and Napa, visiting wineries that will be included in Slow Wine Guide 2022. Some were wineries I had covered before, and a few were new to me, or had changed ownership and were run by fresh, new talent. 

Both Napa and Sonoma were hopping: restaurants were full, sidewalks were busy, and there was an air of delight as people celebrated the reopening of beloved places. 

On a different visit, I spent a late lunch in mid afternoon in Yountville, at Bistro Jeanty, where I met couples from Pasadena, and San Fernando Valley enjoying weekend getaways, a welcome respite from raising kids at home during confining times. The weather was glorious. And so were the wines. 

Wine country has a great big Welcome Back vibe now. 

Tasting through the current releases of Oakville Ranch with winemaker Jennifer Rue.

This site always has so much to offer. I always recommend a tour to Oakville Ranch for those who have never been. It's tucked away high above the valley and has spectacular views. Each tasting is a private one. And you get a personal vineyard tour. Hard to beat.

Jennifer's meticulous notes on each and every wine in each and every vintage are very impressive.

In Oakville, Napa Wine Co.'s new tasting room makeover feels like a natural now, showcasing the heritage of the Hoxseys and the rest of the descendants of the Pelissa family, who are on their 119th harvest this year. Their portfolio of three brands is amazing, as are their vineyards, some of which are adjacent to Opus One and To Kalon

Their Elizabeth Rose is the only value brand in Napa that I know of, and one can shop there for quality wines at affordable, everyday wine prices. Their Oakville Winery wines are also a good choice. The Ghost Block wines represent their top of the line parcels in Yountville and Oakville. 

The photos are all real people–no models here.

Yes that is a tractor tire chandelier. And it works. The winery
wanted to let its brand tell the story of the family as farmers first.
They are the largest growers of organic grapes in Napa.

It is a pleasure to visit the new vintages at Grgich Hills Estate each year. It's my fourth year? Always a delight. Although the winery sent wine samples last year–due to the pandemic, Slow Wine Guide had to ask 2021 guide participants to send wine samples instead of visiting on site, as is the usual practice–it was so much nicer to visit in person and taste them in the outdoor patio area with a helpful and well informed host.

The 2018 Paris Tasting Chardonnay, a Napa classic

Grgich's top reds are also classics. These two are sourced from very special, historic sites. The Cab comes from the special block planted in 1959 of an old BV clone; the Zin comes from a vineyard with 100 year old vines. These are the kinds of things that make Napa so special.

Then it was on to Stony Hill on Spring Mountain, an area where fire hit hard in 2020, but transformation springs anew. 

I had the pleasure of visiting Stony Hill last in 2010 when its founders, the McCrea family were still managing it. Like many, I was amazed by the incredible Spring Mountain site, the views across the valley and being hosted by Mrs. McCrea herself. The Chardonnays already enjoyed a reputation as the leading expression from Napa for the variety. Thus, I like many others, wondered what would happen next when it was sold to the McCrea's good friends, Ted and Laddie Hall, which kept it out of corporate orbits. 

The Halls, long time organic champions, installed a new winery on the site and worked with Garrett Buckland to convert the vineyards to organic certification. Stephen Vivier, who also made Chardonnay at HdV, was brought in to make the wines. 

In 2021, the estate is going through big changes. 

Additional acreage is being planted and only choice blocks of
Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer are being preserved.
New plantings include Malbec and Gamay Noir.

After the fires and the pandemic struck, the Halls decided to pull back–Ted Hall had already experienced the horrors of the Nuns Fire and its destructive path in the Mayacamas and the 2020 fire came perilously close to Stony Hill. He sold Stony Hill in December to Gaylon Lawrence Jr.'s team, again keeping the estate in good hands. Demeine has assembled a blue chip portfolio of many of Napa's classic estates, putting Stony Hill in very good company. However, the wines are no longer available for sale by the bottle unless you are on their allocation list. 

Stony Hill winemaker Jaime Motley and estate director Laurie Taboulet

Taboulet, a graduate of Kedge Wine Business school in Bordeaux, gave me a vineyard tour, showing me the extensive new plantings and replanting underway at the estate. 

She and Motley became friends when both worked in Sonoma, where Jaime had her own label, and worked as assistant winemaker to Pax Mahle. 

The hot dusty hillsides are still covered with trees but new vineyard sections have been established in and among them on lower and upper parcels. 

The new team is pivoting from its classic whites to a much more diversified portfolio, branching out from Cabernet Sauvignon (Stony Hill had about 5 acres but will now have more) and a bit of Cabernet Franc for blending and now venturing into new varieties like Malbec and Gamay to make Touraine-inspired blends in years to come.

Proprietor Mark Neal, his daughter Jessica Neal, and winemaker Jordan Stanley

The last winery of the day was Neal Family Vineyards on Howell Mountain, where Mark Neal was ebullient after his new wedding. The long time organic vineyard expert, who has converted more vines in Napa to organic than any other vineyardist, was elated to be doing more talks online, buoyed perhaps by his new wife, who does talks for women's empowerment. She's currently training for an Ironman. 

Neal's wines are always a find. 

Neal also is prepared for fire season, housing a fire truck on his Howell Mountain property. 

It was also great to meet his daughter, Jessica Neal, who is now the sales and marketing director. 

Donum Estate on Track to Becoming Sonoma County's Second Largest Organic Vineyard Owner

Donum Estate, a high end Pinot Noir producer in the Carneros, is on its way to becoming Sonoma County's second largest organic vineyard owner. Now in its second year of using only organic farming practices, the estate is anticipating organic certification with CCOF in 2022.

The winery's organic vineyards, based mainly in the Carneros, also put it on track to become the largest organic vineyard on the Sonoma side of the Carneros.  

The 190 acre estate in the Carneros is home to 121 acres of planted vines on two vineyards. 

Additionally the winery has a 16 acre vineyard in the Russian River Valley and a newly acquired and newly planted 20 acre vineyard site in Bodega, adjacent to Benziger's de Coelho vineyard near Freestone.

The county's biggest organic vineyard owner, Ridge Vineyards, has vines in the hot inland Dry Creek Valley and Geyserville AVAs. There it grows Zinfandel and Rhone varieties on its 288 acres of organic vines.

In contrast, Donum Estate is in the cool climate Pinot growing regions. 

The country's other large organic producer, Benziger, has 100 acres in various Sonoma AVAs, including Sonoma Mountain, Sonoma Valley, the Russian River Valley and the Sonoma Coast.

Increases Organic Carneros Acreage 

Other local, all organic estate wineries in the Carneros that have organic vineyards in the region include Adastra, Crazy Flower, Grgich Hills Estate, Madonna Estate, Robert Sinskey Vineyards and ZD Wines, all on the Napa side. Larson Family Winery and Nicholson Ranch on the Sonoma side make some wines from certified organic estate vines in the Carneros.

Donum: An Arty Destination

Donum is popular with visitors for its wide range of Pinot Noir wines, made in varying styles, along with its world class collection of 40 outdoor sculptures. Its most famous is Zodiac by Ai Weiwei. 

Mei and Allan Warburg

Owners Allan and Mei Warburg have collected sculptures from leading international artists over years of living in China. (See Christie's article about their collecting here).

Allan Warburg was recently a guest on a YouTube video with Jean-Charles Boisset, talking about his life and collecting art. Here's that interview:

WINEMAKER INTERVIEW: DAN FISHMAN

Why did you and the team at Donum decide to go organic?

Mostly it's a wine quality thing. But there are a lot of good reasons independent of wine quality, as well.

I'm trying to kind of reduce the number of impacts that, that I have as winemaker and trying to use as light a touch as possible.

How are the vineyards doing this year during the conversion?

I've already seen our Carneros soils–which is our biggest vineyard by far–doing better despite the drought. 

Here in the Carneros we have soils with pretty heavy clay content. Outside the vineyard, the soils are cracking. 

We never saw insects or worms in there before. Now there's tons of life and worm castings everywhere. 

The soil is holding water a lot better and holding its structure much better. 

The feeling of being in the vineyard has changed a lot, too. We're just seeing so much more life and energy in the place. We're starting to see a big improvement on that front.

What's it like implementing a composting program?

Doing our own compost is really cool, too. 

We also opened our estate winery in 2019, so now all of our must and vine cuttings goes into building our own compost. We are taking that a step further with some biological additions. 

Are you also using some biodynamic practices?

We also started working with a biodynamic consultant and we can already see in the vineyard how some of the compost teas and the biodynamic horn manure (BD 500) has really brought a lot of life back to those soils. 

How have the workers responded to the conversion project?

I think our vineyard team really does love the fact that they don't have to get into all that protective equipment to do sprays. I think they feel just safer and happier working in a healthier place.

PART 1: Boom Times for Organic and Biodynamic Certification in Napa

Organic and biodynamic wine certification is on the rise in Napa. 

In the past year, several new wineries have come on board, certifying hundreds of acres of vines, and making the region the organic and biodynamic hotspot in the US. It now has the highest number of organic acres in any fine wine region in the country. 

However, many Napa producers still rely on dangerous chemicals. No large, corporate owned wineries are certified organic, a group that includes Beringer, Constellation, Gallo, Treasury Wine Estates and others. (The single exception is Opus One which is jointly owned by the Bordeaux-based Rothschild family and New York-based Constellation Brands.)

BIODYNAMICS: 727 NEW OR IN TRANSITION ACRES

The largest organic vineyard owner, Demeine Estates, is now in the transition to certify all of its 550 acres biodynamic. Many of its brands are already 100 percent organic estate wineries: Stony Hill, Heitz Cellar, and two new brands–Brendel and Ink Grade. All of these vines are already certified organic. 

It also owns Burgess, Haynes Vineyard and Wildwood Vineyard, each of which is in the three year transition to organic and to biodynamic certification. 

The uber green producer Spottswoode (17 acres) became Demeter certified biodynamic in 2020. (It has been certified organic for decades.)

Before Spottswoode joined, there were only 170 biodynamic acres in Napa–primarily at Raymond Vineyards.

ORGANIC: 201 ORGANIC NEWLY CERTIFIED ACRES

After nearly a decade of declaring itself to be organic, but, never being certified, Quintessa (160 acres) finally crossed the threshold in August of 2020. It has also applied for biodynamic certification. The winery also has one vineyard that is in transition to organic for its Faust estate wines.

Tiny Hoopes Vineyard, with 12 acres in Yountville, also became certified organic this spring. It has an additional seven acres on the Oakville AVA that are on the verge of being certified.

Opus One (136 acres), also in Oakville, became certified in April of 2021.

Others are in the certification pipeline, a process which takes three years or organic farming to complete. 

BORDEAUX

While Napa currently has about 10 percent of its vineyards certified organic (not including in transition acreage), Bordeaux now has 11 percent. That's in a country where nationwide the figure is 14 percent. 

The Languedoc, home to lower priced wines, often exported, is 27 percent certified (or in transition) organic. 

About 300 more wineries are expected to become organic in Bordeaux this year, according to local authorities.

See the next post in this three part series.

PART 2: Napa: The Dark Side–"Green Farming" Includes Herbicides and Fungicides

NON-ORGANIC VINEYARDS: HERBICIDE AND FUNGICIDE USE

Most wineries in Napa still use glyphosate or glufosinate ammonium for weed control. 

In 2018, more than 22,000 acres–about half of the vines–were sprayed with glyphosate (the listed active ingredient in Roundup), an herbicide that is still permitted under the county's Napa Green sustainable standard. Another 6,640 were sprayed with glufosinate ammonium.

The total number of acres in vine is roughly 44,000. 

Here's where the glyphosate is used:

All data displayed is from California Dept. of Pesticide Regulation; mapped by California Dept. of Health's Agricultural Pesticide Mapping Tool.

You can generate your own maps at that link, searching for various chemicals including the other form of glyphosate-isopropylamine salt and glufosinate ammonium. The tool also lets you select chemicals by class: carcinogens, developmental and reproductive toxins, endocrine disruptors and more.

For more, visit https://trackingcalifornia.org/pesticides/pesticide-mapping-tool

Fungicides, including neonicotinoids–which are highly toxic to bees, birds and butterflies (including Monarchs)–are more widely used. 

Their use is permitted under Napa Green standards.

See the next post in this series.

PART 3: What Organic Certification Costs

ORGANIC FARMING AND CERTIFICATION COST COMPARISON

Organic vineyards use alternative methods for weed control and protection against fungal diseases and pests. There is much debate about the cost of farming organically and a lot of rumor mill lore about how "expensive" certification is.

Organic Farming Costs

Some experienced producers say it costs the same to farm organically as it does to be conventional or "sustainable." 

Some long term organic producers say it costs 20 percent less to farm organically. 

Others report costs of 10-30 percent more to farm organically. 

Terrain has a lot to do with it and costs vary widely  depending on the site, disease pressure, insect population and other factors.

Grapes as a Cost Center in Wine Production Expenses

Another variable to consider is what percentage of the cost of wine is in the farming and grape costs. Most of the cost of producing a bottle of wine is not in the grapes.

In general, the rule of thumb is that a wine costs 10x what the grape cost. 

So, for a $60 bottle of wine, the grape cost would be around $6. 

If it costs 10 percent more to be organic, the grape price would be $6.60 on a $60 bottle of wine. 

Certification Costs

Many do not realize the costs of certifying grapes is actually quite low and even lower when government rebates are factored in. (See my article from Wines & Vines on the subject). The federal government picks up 1/2 of the costs of certification fees. (CCOF is trying to get the reimbursement back up to 3/4 which is what it was before Trump.)

Take this example: a Napa farmer growing 10 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon yielding 4 tons of wine grapes has grapes valued at $6,000 per ton (for a per-acre yield of $24,000).

For $24,000 worth of grapes (in each acre), the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) certification fee works out to $435 (before government reimbursements kick in). Inspection fees are no more than $400-800, according to the CCOF website but let's use their average quoted price of $550, though it could be lower. The reimbursement can be up to $500 per company.

For four tons, with a conversion rate of 750 bottles per ton, and a wine price of $60, it would cost $435 plus $550 in annual inspection fees or about $1,000 for 3,000 bottles. Then subtract the subsidy and the cost is about $500.

The total value of the wine would be $180,000 ($60 times 3,000 bottles). So the $500 cost in certification fees would be .00005% of the cost of the wine or 3 cents per bottle.

If the farming costs added 60 cents per bottle (assuming a 10 percent increase in organic farming costs) and certification fees added 3 cents per bottle, is that too a high price for consumers to pay? Maybe it's time to ask consumers how they would vote. 

Would they like to pay 3 cents to know the grapes in the bottle were certified organic? 

Wine consumers are clamoring for more transparency in food and wine. This seems like a low price to pay to give consumers piece of mind.

Lodi Growers Meet Mondavi and the Modern Marvel That Is the Monarch Tractor

It was hot in Lodi–104 degrees, to be precise–on Thursday in Victor, just north of Lodi, when the Lodi Winegrape Commission met to see the newfangled gadget Carlo Mondavi and his electric tractor colleagues are selling.

Lodi growers Jon Wetmore and Aaron Shinn of Round Valley Ranches hosted the event which brought more than 70 growers together to witness a truly modern marvel–the first, self-driving, electric tractor.

Douglas Kolker, Head of Growth at the Livermore-based Monarch Tractor company, gave the pitch. "Thank you all for coming. I'll just talk for a couple of minutes.

"Our tractor driver Zach is recording the route and then he'll just press a button and the tractor is going to run the same rows in the same path in the same manner autonomously by itself.

"That will be the highlight of the show, and the magic," he said. "So get ready for that–get excited."

Douglas Kolker, Head of Growth, Monarch Tractor, introduced the demo

"What we have found from all the farm owners that we've been speaking with when we've been doing this, bringing the tractor to farms for almost a year now–we've done dozens and dozens–that there are several reasons why the tractor is of interest."

"There are three main things that we bring to the party," he continued. "One–that it is electric. No diesel. And the cost of diesel, the messiness of it, the fumes, what it does to your crops–so that's eliminated. That's number one.

"Number two is that it's autonomous, driver optional. So your best driver records the route, hops off and the tractor runs it from then on–for as long as you want it to run in terms of months and years. And it will improve upon the route. It's actually better. 

"Anyone ever have a tractor run over a vine? That won't happen. Whatever the tractor driver recorded, every single time the tractor makes a pass on it, the tractor improves on the route. 

"And then the third piece, which you will see when the tractor comes to rest, and you can kick the tires and look at it, is that it has 12 cameras on it, so it provides real time data collection. So you can look for pests, moisture levels, anything and everything that you need to capture will be captured automatically by the cameras. You can look at it and analyze it on your phone and on your apps whenever you want. And the data belongs to you."

An onlooker watching the tractor in action

Just like ET, the tractor will phone home, Kolker said. "Unlike an electric car,  there's no range anxiety. The tractor will always come back to the charging station," he told the crowd.

A $500 deposit would lock in the current price, he added. "A 2 x 4 is $58,000 and the 4 by 4 is $68,000."

Many wineries in other regions have already ordered the tractors, and some–including Scheid Vineyards in Monterey County–have already applied for grants to offset the purchase price through California's Air Board FARMER program. 

"You turn in your old diesel tractor for one of those grants," said Mondavi.

It was his grandfather, Robert Mondavi, who famously grew up in Lodi, when his parents, Cesare and Rosa, moved the family of four from Hibbing, Minnesota to a house here, just 6 miles as the crow flies from Round Valley Ranches.

Cesare (standing) and Rosa (seated) with their children:
Mary,  Helen, Peter and Robert

"This is kind of a return to home for me for my family," Carlo said. "We're no longer farming here in Lodi, but we had been farming here since 1919."

Indeed, Robert Mondavi founded the nearby local powerhouse producer, Woodbridge in Acampo. (The winery is owned today by Constellation Brands.) Mondavi's mass market wines marked the market transition from old school jug wines to the modern varietals. That, of course, was in addition to putting Napa and its wine on the global stage.

The challenges of the 21st century are different from those days.

"For me, the Monarch tractor is the solution to a challenge called the Monarch Challenge, which is an effort to raise awareness" said Carlo. "Since the introduction of chemicals in farming, the population of butterflies and bees–due to climate change, migratory path disruption, and chemicals in farming–the Monarch population of butterflies have gone from 4.4 million individuals in the state of California down to 19,110. They're on the brink of extinction."

Carlo Mondavi (in black hat), Chief Farming Officer, Monarch Tractor, in Lodi

"So I started a challenge called the Monarch Challenge to try to create awareness. Because I'm a farmer. All my friends are farmers. Farmers are the most important people on earth, next to maybe doctors.  

"I realized that we weren't going to be able to solve this problem unless we could bridge the economic divide. There's a massive economic divide between multiple passes and fewer passes. That's just common sense. It's also a carbon footprint divide. 

"So if you can drive a Tesla or some of these autonomous vehicles, why can't you do that with a tractor? And so I partnered with a brilliant team and we formed Monarch Tractor."

"The crazy thing about this is it solves not just the carbon footprint issue that we deal with in farming, but it also solves the economic divide."

That footprint has big bottom line implications, he said.

"We're swapping in–in just one family's operations–about 150 tractors over the next five years. We're going to be saving them over $3 million per year. The carbon footprint savings is about 8,000 metric tons. 

"There's big big savings when you look at this from a financial standpoint, and that's what we need, as families, to continue farming and doing what we love."

Looking back on his own experience growing up as the son of Robert's son Tim Mondavi, Carlo said he was a mechanic's assistant from the age of seven until he was about 16, and he got some sage advice from the mechanic.

"He said, 'Carlo, you need to realize the most dangerous place on this farm is in a tractor seat.'" 

The Monarch solves that safety issue, he said.

"By being able to have your skilled operators get out of the tractor seat, and manage a fleet of tractors–versus being in a dangerous place, which is dirty and dangerous job–you're protecting your farm. You're also increasing your profitability. 

"And so that's one of the reasons why we know that this technology is needed–not just for all the challenges that we face on a planetary basis, but also on an economic basis."

The company says that the first tractors will ship in the fourth quarter of 2021, but most customers will get delivery for orders placed now in 2022 and 2023.

During the Q and A, growers asked about the right to repair, labor laws, charge times, horsepower and a variety of other questions.

Stephanie Bolton, the research and education director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission, 
got a chance to sit in the tractor

One questioned whether the company let farmers have the right to repair. 

"We are 'farmers first,'" said Mondavi. "You have the right to repair. The whole team is committed to 'farmer first.'"

Data is stored in the cloud and the farmer owns the rights to their data, the team said.

The discussion touched on labor laws and cost savings. "With the Monarch, there's no overtime," said one speaker."

"And no ten minute coffee breaks and no lunch breaks," an audience member chimed in.

The battery life depends on the amount of energy needed to do various tasks. "For mowing, the battery lasts about 10 to 12 hours," one speaker said. "Higher draw tasks take more energy so the time is less."

Apps are in development that will identify insect pests or count missing vines, and other tasks, the team said. 

At the end of the session, my phone shut down from excessive heat. But could a Monarch tractor keep going when a regular farmworker driver would faint from the heat? Probably it could.

Congrats to Opus One - Now Certified Organic - And Happy Fourth of July to French-American Unions

April 12, 2021 was the magic date that one of Napa's most prestigious wineries, Opus One, had its 136 acres of estate vineyards certified organic. It's sort of the wine equivalent of putting a ring on it, isn't it?

Founded by Baron Philippe de Rothschild S. A. and Robert Mondavi, the winery is now owned by Rothschild and Constellation Brands. It is Constellation's only organic property.

Bravo - well done. 

So far, Napa and Bordeaux are neck and neck in the competition to see who will have a higher percentage of organic vines. Both are at about 11 percent this year.

Opus One might be the proper wine to drink on 4th of July and on Bastille Day, representing as it does that the U.S. was founded on French Enlightenment ideals that are embodied in the US Constitution. 

Viva La France, Viva Les Etats-Unis d'Amerique. Et viva Opus One.