There is indeed a Valerie, and she, along with four other family members, works in “her” pinot noir vineyard in Carneros.

Contrary to common perception, Northern California winemaking isn’t the sole province of mega-producers that put out hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of cases each year. While there certainly is a lot of that, as a drive down Highway 29 in Napa Valley suggests, there is actually a great deal of small-scale winemaking taking place, too. Valerie’s Vineyard falls squarely within the very-small category of small-scale.

The one-acre estate vineyard was planted in 2002 by five family members. The vineyard is part of a collection of buildings, pens and stables where Michael and Valerie Coats have lived for 15 years. The other partners are Valerie’s mother and father, Jerry and Chuck Hanson (he is involved with Hi-Time Cellars, a wine-selling institution in Costa Mesa), and Valerie’s sister Vicki Brown. This gang of five all pitch in around the vineyard throughout the year, though it stands to reason that Micheal and Valerie are there most often.

Michael Coats armed with two pruning shears.

This part of Carneros has long been ranch land, and their property was part of a much larger tract that had hundreds of acres of plum trees on it (a fact that might account for the plummy character of the finished wine). Vines had never been planted where they decided to grow their own grapes. According to Michael, whose “real” job is in the PR field, “We like pinot so that’s why we planted it. We’re pretty impulsive so we just did it.”

“You won’t find a vineyard with as many beer cans,” Michael says, noting the adage that it takes a lot of beer to make good wine.

The first vintage was the 2003 and, not surprisingly given the youth of the vines, yielded only 20 cases, all of which were consumed by the partners. Being in the vineyard constantly as opposed to having hired hands going up and down the rows provides a deep sense of understanding of the needs of the vines and the soil. And it takes an extraordinary amount of time.

A view of nearly the entire one-acre Valerie’s Vineyard from the early 20th-century windmill, which was used to generate power long before this remote part of Carneros was wired.

The name of the vineyard was bestowed on it, not by any of the partners, by the vineyard guy they asked to help put down their vines. His response was that he’d love to plant Valerie’s vineyard. They took it as a sign, though there must be confusion from time to time as to which Valerie is being spoken about at home!

The decision to plant pinot noir was an easy one for the partners. “We like pinot,” says Michael Coats, who adds during a walk through the vineyard in late August, “This is perfect pinot weather.”

Their house dates to 1918, and while it has been updated (including the kind of kitchen that could be used in a Food Network show—Valerie is a caterer), it shows none of the trappings of wine country ostentation that might be found in nearby Napa. Valerie’s Vineyard isn’t a vanity project, after all. “We don’t farm for pretty,” Michael says. A close look at the vineyard bears this out. Dry, loamy clay puffs dust clouds during a walk through it. The soil reminds me of the Har-Tru clay I grew up playing tennis on: a fine greenish-gray surface that somehow managed to get all over your clothes after spending a few hours running around on it.

“Pretty” is perhaps not a descriptor that applies to Valerie’s Vineyard; instead, the “gang of five” involved in the project put their time and effort into raising grapes from healthy vines grown in healthy soil.

The philosophy in the vineyard is one of taking responsibility for what is being brought to the land. “We wanted to go organic from the beginning. We use solar; we use our own water on the vines. We have chickens for fertilizer, cover crops, lady bugs and bees,” Michael says, pointing out that these bugs are always a sign of a vineyard’s health. And a healthy vineyard it is. “You can almost watch the vines grow. It’s been a fertile year,” Valerie says. That kind of vigor requires lots of trips through the vineyard to drop fruit, trim extra shoots and clear leaves that take the energy of the vines away from the grape clusters. 

The sentiment on the old windmill sums up the philosophy of the growers: Do no harm when making this wine.

Harvest is usually about September 10th each year, a bit of seasonal consistency that is the envy of the Old World where the commencement of the picking can change by weeks from year to year. But according to Michael, the pinot will be picked probably “5 or 6 days later” this year. That might not sound like much of a difference, but, he says, “That’s big additional hang time,” something that will perhaps give the 2009 Valerie’s Vineyard Pinot more plushness than the 2006, 2007 and 2008. As of late August, the grapes were coming along nicely. “A good cluster will feel like a hand grenade,” Michael explains.

As of late August, the clusters were on schedule to become grenade-like in size—the target for pinot noir—in mid-September.

They’re not obsessed with numbers, though they aim for picking at about 25 brix. “Valerie is a caterer, so she’s sensitive to balance and acidity, which are more important,” Michael says, while checking the sugar levels on August 25th. The reading came in at 20, further confirmation that things are progressing nicely. The real measure, however, is far less scientific. “If the seeds are turning brown and the birds are eating the grapes, it’s time to pick,” he explains.

While the aim is to pick around 25 brix—the number on August 25th was 20—the true test, according to Michael Coats, is when “the birds are eating the grapes.”

Work has begun on the 2009 starting with the three to fours hours it took the partners to harvest the vineyard on September 14th. Like its predecessors, the ‘09 will spend about 17 months in a mix of new and aged French oak. And like those Valerie’s Vineyard Pinots subsequent to that first one in 2003, there will be about 125 cases made. The 2006 is in New York now, but won’t be for long because only 20 cases made it out of California. The 2007 will be in New York late this year or early in 2010. The 2008 will follow next summer. The wines are also available through the Valerie’s Vineyard website: www.valeriesvineyard.com.