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| First Person |
Vintner with a Mission
Ted W. Hall
06/01/2004
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During the late 1970s, vintners were pushing
the envelope by using California mountain fruit and American oak barrels to
pursue “monster” wines. The wines were tannic blockbusters, with highly
extracted fruit and dark color. But the wines were often high in alcohol—at the
extreme they reached 17 percent. I, too, experimented by producing many bottles
in this intense style. When the wines aged a bit and the fruitiness of the young
wine dissipated, I ended up with cough syrup and toothpicks. However, what I
learned was that mountain conditions could enable fruit to attractively ripen
without necessarily developing high sugar levels.
Growing above the morning
cloud layer rolling off the Pacific Ocean, the vines enjoy at least 45 minutes
more sunshine every day than in other coastal locations. This permits the fruit
to ripen beautifully. The cooler air at this higher elevation allows the vines
to maintain a proper equilibrium between sugar and acid. These mountain
conditions also create the opportunity to make an elegant, balanced wine with
moderate alcohol levels—a wine that is an authentic complement to food.
Organic Iconoclast
In 1989, we set out to apply this hard-won experience
and create a world-class wine using mountain fruit. We wanted a wine that could
compete with the best in the world—and one produced with sustainable, organic
farming methods. At the time, people thought I was really loopy. Making truly
world-class wines had never been accomplished using organic methods. Moreover,
successfully employing organic methods in the “wild” mountains was completely
unproven. Even today many people still think I’m loopy. However, I am not some
guy in a tie-dye T-shirt pursuing an alternative philosophy. We have a mission
to demonstrate that sustainable, organic farming creates a socially responsible
work environment, and that our methods create products with higher quality, at
lower cost, with actual consumer benefit. We are not engaged in philanthropy for
foodies. We are proving that our techniques are an economically viable approach
with high-quality results for our customers, our employees, our neighbors and
our land.
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