As summer draws to its beautiful and bittersweet close in the Livermore Valley of California, we enter one of my favorite times of the year: harvest. This time of the year begins with crisp mornings and is full of warming fall colors. We bid adieu to long warm summer days and begin to relish the more constant crisp breezes that blow in from the coast.  Each vintage, I look forward to the creative process that is harvest for 5 months, both at home in Livermore and in the starkly beautiful Arroyo Seco region in Monterey, working with the grapevines and wines to shape the vintage. As I spend a good amount of time traveling for numerous business ventures, the harvest months give me the opportunity to reestablish myself in my work and my home.

Going into each harvest, any winemaker would say it is important to outline a set of goals that one wishes to achieve during the season.  For me, these goals remain constant, to use every ounce of my being to make the best decisions that result in the best possible wine. I do this by making a concerted effort to stay in the present, control what I can and to surrender to what is out of my hands. Granted, these goals do not come without their fair share of obstacles and at times can push the limits of my patience, but I put forth my best effort to minimize these distractions and produce the best wine possible.

Each harvest acts as a personal learning experience for me and helps to continue my development as a winemaker. After every vintage, I get an improved grasp on who I am in that role and what I aim to achieve with the production of every bottle of wine. I truly believe that the subtle adjustments one makes during the winemaking process allow for an improved and higher quality wine. Continuous improvement and self-awareness are key for a winemaker. I hope that you will be able to sit down on a lazy August night, drink a glass of wine and enjoy the fruits of every winemaker’s labor.

Since my last post, quite a few significant events have occurred. Wine Enthusiast Magazine named Wente Vineyards American Winery of the Year! Three generations of my family flew to New York to accept the award including my grandmother Jean, who was most proud. I also recently was in Austin, Texas, to enjoy a week of music and wine at SXSW, an event we’ve supported over the years as part of our emerging new artists campaign now called The Front Porch Series. We are also celebrating a couple anniversaries. The Livermore Valley AVA is celebrating their 30th anniversary as a California wine appellation. In addition, and perhaps most significantly it’s the 100th anniversary of my family bringing Chardonnay cuttings from Montpellier, France to California. Today, the Wente clone is one of the most widely planted clones in California.

To top it all off, we just released our newest wine brand, Double Decker, which is all about providing great, fun and food friendly wines at a nice value. We will be releasing a Pinot Grigio, Zinfandel and a Red Blend.

Its great to be back! We’ve got some exciting posts along the way!

Cheers,
Karl

The last 10 years of my life have been largely focused on farming grapes on our nearly 2,800 acres of estate-grown vineyards and turning these grapes into the best wine possible in the most sustainable way possible. Every step along the way, I get the pleasure of working with my aunt Carolyn, uncle Phil, father Eric, and sister Christine. I’d like to thank everyone that has supported our family over the years. Without you, this award wouldn’t have been possible. THANK YOU.

What makes my family’s approach so unique is that we’ve been around for 128 years, five generations of continuity in the wine business. Because of our long history, we’ve fused the gap between generations many times. Though there’s certainly a sense of brand loyalty among people in my generation, many of us are also open to experimentation and discovery. First and foremost, what we’ve aimed to accomplish with Wente Vineyards is simply a) to make great wine at a fair price and b) stay true to our message of Estate grown, family owned and operated as well as sustainably farmed. This strong and simple tenet allows us to pass along our philosophy through the generations and gives me to the opportunity to explore and experiment as well.

One way we bridge the gap between generations is through the “Discover the Wine, Discover the Music” http://www.wentevineyards.com/discover/ program. When we launched the program five years ago, we wanted to highlight the connection between the structures of music and wine as well as bring music lovers to wine and vice versa. I think the connection between the two is something the millennial generation can definitely relate to. It’s easy to judge a wine or an album by its cover, but if you take a minute to find out what’s behind the label, your world can open to a whole new realm of beautiful possibilities.

Check out this video of me in the “war room.”

Every year I pair six emerging independent music artists’ singles with six different wines with the program we like to call Discover the Wine, Discover the Music. This is the 5^th annual release, dubbed Vintage 5. I always look forward to this time of year when harvest is in the air and I get to listen to these songs for nuances that musically remind me of different characteristics in my wines. It’s such a fun task to uncover the synergies that exist between wine and music, such as the bass, tempo, acid, mouthfeel, etc. Check out my pairings and download some cool new music for free at www.wentevineyards.com/discover

Vintage 5 was released on September 1^st and includes a retail component where users can learn about the Discover artists on wine bottle neckers.  Just a heads up too, we’re giving away a trip for two to Livermore wine country. All you have to do is sign up on the site to be entered(in states where legal). Come hang with me for a couple of days and check out a concert at Wente Vineyards in 2012. Just to give you a taste of what I’ve come up with for this year’s pairings, here are a couple:

Phantogram’s “When I’m Small” paired with the Small Lot GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre). The Syrah is like funky guitar/primal surf, Mourvedre is an exotic, untamed, old school, low-fi, earthy funk, and Grenache is the dreamy, sugary quality of the vocals.

Birds and Batteries’ “Stranger Kind of Mirror” paired with the Nth Degree Cabernet Sauvignon. Dark and rich, bittersweet with a halo of reverb.

The Head and the Heart’s “Lost in my Mind” paired with the Riva Ranch Chardonnay – unapologetically American, rich and delicate at the same time. 

What are some of your favorite wine and music pairings?

This is going to be a true music festival- we’ll have three stages including one where SF-based DJ Laura will be spinning beats. I’ll be playing with my band, The Front Porch as well and am so excited to share the stage with some of these very talented bands. If you live in the Bay Area you may already know some of these guys- the headliners include: the Givers, The Holdup, Dirty Vegas, A B & The Sea, Birds and Batteries and White Arrows to name just a few. Tickets are a real steal- $20 to see 25 bands! Doors open at 11:30 AM and you can buy tickets here: www.wentevineyards.com/bottlerockit. I’ll be out there all day and hope to meet you!

In a broader sense, mixing things up or executing projects in a way one isn’t accustomed to can also be refreshing. In my everyday life, this means I tend not to order the same thing in a restaurant; I love traveling to new places as often as I can; and I love the constant challenge of farming grapes and making wine. Each vintage is a new and different—it is critical that we continue to explore ways to make better and more interesting wines. And it is critical to remain in the moment and be willing to shake things up.

The next time you feel the urge to mix up your routine, incorporating inversions- yoga or not- can be a helpful way to rejuvenate a tired body and mind in a healthy way.

My family’s held concerts at our historic property every summer for the past 25 years. I have a ton of great memories hanging out with world-class musicians and friends enjoying good food, wine and music. Five years ago, as I was developing my own musical skills later in life playing the guitar, I was inspired by the great plethora of independent music we have in this country and began a program that was called Discover the Wine, Discover the Music. Every harvest, we have profiled up and coming artists from all genres of the indie music scene, and have paired their musical style with one of the 32 grape varieties that I grow for Wente Vineyards. Recently, we kicked off what is called the Homegrown Series on the Estate Lawn at Wente Vineyards to showcase emerging local Bay Area talent as well as the connectivity between music, wine and family.

This Friday, August 12th is the third show in the series and I’m pleased to introduce to you two brilliant local bands: A B & The Sea and The Soft White Sixties. I’ll be opening with my band, The Front Porch. I hope you’ll be able to join us for a summer evening of sound. If you can’t make this event, on September 10th, we will feature 20 bands for $20 with our BottleRockIt festival at the Wente Vineyards Estate, which is sure to be a killer show.