Fanucchi, Zinfandel, Trousseau Gris, Old Vine Zinfandel, Russian River Valley
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Contact: E Mail: PeterFanucchi@FanucchiVineyards.com Please include "subject",
P.O. Box 290 Fulton, California 95439 Fax 707-544-6106 Phone 707-526-3219
(Fa-noo-key) FANUCCHI VINEYARDS
Answers to some of the Frequently asked questions about Fanucchi Vineyards & more.
(This is the ‘revised’ Background page in transition 7-2003)
Topics: (Click or scroll down manually)
The Beginning of Fanucchi Wines
Distribution &
how to find the wines
The
Hands-on-winegrower Peter Fanucchi
Aging
Fanucchi Vineyards Wines
Passion & Faith in the Vineyard
>A note about
the Wine making style
(Fa-noo-key) FANUCCHI VINEYARDS
Peter Fanucchi WINE GROWER “Vine Master” Email:
PeterFanucchi@FanucchiVineyards.com
P. O. Box 290 Fulton California 95439
>The two wines I grow are:
Trousseau Gris
(Tr00-so Gree) –the only block growing
In Sonoma County – we planted in 1981 & Old Vine Zinfandel –planted in 1906 but
Purchased by my parents in 1972.
> In 1992, I started the Fanucchi Vineyards brand using some of the grapes
I Grow on The Fanucchi Wood Road Vineyard on Wood Road Bench in the Russian
River Valley of Sonoma County. (In the township
of Fulton; surrounded by Santa Rosa, Windsor, & Forestville)
> Fanucchi
Vineyards
wines aim to showcase the
FRUIT
I have spent my life nurturing!
>Current
production
is about* 1000 cases in total per year.
*The 1998 & 1999 Old Vine Zinfandel Vintages, Averaging 340 cases each, combined
add up to less than 1997!
>Some of
the Other Winemakers / Wineries who have used The Fanucchi Wood Road Fruit I
Grow as designated & in Blends in recent years: Mike Sullivan, Hartford, Dan
Gold Field, Bob Cabral, Alderbrook, Gary Farrell, Rafael Brisboi, Piper Sonoma,
Carol Shelton, Windsor, Greg Lafollette, Flowers, Castle, Rick , Rodney
Strong, Farther in the past: Berienger @ Chateau Sovereign, Frei Brothers & we
started at Italian Swiss Colony.
>My expertise
comes first & foremost from
36+ wine growing seasons working with & observing, the vines
on this exact site & gathering & absorbing any & all other information from any
& all sources then applying it as appropriate. When I started in ’72 I learned,
with my Father, first from the neighbors (their families planted the Old vines
now over a Century ago) who taught us the traditional viticulture methods, &
soon we integrating some more modern ideas from the Davis Texts of the time as
well as from the University Extension Advisors. In 1981 we planted a new block
of Trousseau Gris which incorporated the latest technology of the Time & some of
our own Ideas but before it could come into full production in-fact a few weeks
before the first significant Harvest (About 25%) my father suddenly died (August
1984).
He had planned to pull out the Old Zinfandel & replant it…. With the Trousseau Gris coming into full production & the resurrection of the Zinfandel I finally moved to Wood Road & became fully involved in all the educational avenues of information available in Wine Country. In addition to absorbing every thing the only complete Viticulture Collage Program in Wine Country @ Santa Rosa J. C. (Associates In Science Degree & Viticulture Certificate 1990), I went to every seminar that came along & I not only joined the technical Sonoma County Vineyard Technical Group (has monthly seminars including the latest research from any where in the world) my ‘piers’, educated everywhere from Davis to Cornell, recruited me to the board & “President” for a couple of years. The most important factor nearly all would agree on is that all Ideas & practices, if even applicable, must be adapted to the site based on specific experience & the demands of the latest environmental & vine conditions! …I’ve been told by people who have tasted wines made from the grapes I grow, comparing both FV wines & those made by others, & with the greatest compliment acknowledging that it is the great fruit I grow that makes the wines despite differing styles that “What ever you are doing in the vineyard keep doing it & don’t change anything!” – The fact is I am always learning, changing, & adapting what I do in the vineyard!
>Distribution:
Fanucchi Vineyards has no visitor center but you can purchase
wine directly by either contacting by phone, Fax, e-mail & in January 2007
through a professionally built "Shopping Cart " on this web site. Note besides
Californians, Fanucchi Vineyards Fans in only a few other states will be able
to purchase & import Fanucchi Vineyards directly but you MAY be ably to make
other arrangements. Fanucchi Vineyards wines are primarily found in some of the best
Restaurants & Wine Specialty Shops in California, & a hand full of other
select areas. At this size it makes more sense for Fanucchi Vineyards to develop
a relationship directly with our Fans. This is why Fanucchi Vineyards is Creating an Allocation
Club which will be a 2-Way street; If you want be guaranteed a case (or x
amount), every Year when it is released, & you do buy it each year no matter the
demand, you will be able purchase that same amount upon release (If some day the vintage is short
due to nature's circumstances each allocation may need to be smaller...) but you
will be able to get some of our rare nectar every year & I won't have to play
the costly games with retailers in the world of giant mega distributors. When
all the allocation slots are taken, there will be a waiting list of those who
wish to grab any slot dropped. (or they will have to try to find some at one of
those top restaurants who will also have a limited allocation).
for Questions Contact: E Mail:
PeterFanucchi@FanucchiVineyards.com
Please include "subject", P.O. Box 290 Fulton, California 95439 Fax
707-544-6106 Phone 707-526-3219 .
...So Where in California Can I Taste Fanucchi Vineyards Wines? <Click to see...
>
Fanucchi Vineyards
doesn’t own a winemaking facility. Since 1992 I’ve moved the barrels (& As of
fall ’00 a custom Trousseau Gris tank!), brought my grapes & made the wines in Glen Ellen,
Oakville, Santa Rosa, & now, Windsor! Over the years this has given me the
opportunity to work with many different wine making personnel & a wider array of
equipment than is usually unavailable at a smaller winery.
Starting with the 1998 harvest we’ve been
fortunate to retain the expertise of Barbara Lindblom as our winemaking
consultant.
>Only
on the third weekend
of August,
for 10 years as part of RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY WINE GROWERS’ (RRVW) annual
“Grape To Glass Week-End”, I gave scheduled VINEYARD
Tours (Reservations
www.rrvw.org or Phone the RRVW @ 707-522-8726)
Other wise we have No facilities & No tasting
room yet. [I am a founding member of the
RRVW & served on the board & as Vice President.] Truly the quickest
route to the Vineyard's peak Essence is when you sip some Fanucchi Vineyards
Wine with your favorite food & friends!
PETER FANUCCHI - THE HANDS ON WINEGROWER
FOR THESE WINES.
Once
the grapes are cut from the vine all the best possible flavors of the potential
wine have been determined by how they grew in their environment, determined by
NATURE & Farmer's decisions that year & in years past. Since
wines are keen reflection of the exact place they were grown, all my farming
practices aim to protect, nourish, & enhance nature’s biologically diverse &
balanced environment. Year round
viticulture (wine grape farming) centers on efficient photosynthesis supported
by healthy topsoil.
I
prune each old Zinfandel Vine. I mow & or till each row & isle as many times as
needed…Maybe, most importantly, I have walked and monitored the
approximately 9,000 vine vineyard tens of thousands of times; in every
season in every type of weather condition… I farm
the Fanucchi Wood Road Vineyard on the Wood Road Bench in the Russian River
Valley vine by vine & row by row!
Some say I
actually have names for each vine—I do know them very well but they actually
don’t all have names!
The only thing I may need to watch for when I “monitor grape flavors” or feed them to my children is possibly any incidental natural soiling (rare)! I am not “Certified Organic” (Yet), but I do NOT use non-Organic pesticides (I don’t believe in “kill-em”). For example, instead of using herbicide under the vines, I spend more hours on the tractor with a slow under the vine mower to “control” the ‘plants’ growing under the Trousseau Gris Vines. I protect & “feed” the microorganisms & “good guys” with such things as compost & green manure (Mulch). … It’s a symbiotic relationship; a healthy environment supports a healthy vineyard! We planted the Trousseau Gris on AXR#1 in 1981 & it is still Phyloxera free!
A note about
Aging:
when I started selling Fanucchi Vineyards Zinfandel, I released them early
because they can be quite drinkable young, but over the years I have discovered
that our unique balanced fruit shows far better with some serious bottle age
(long after ‘sold out’).
(That is why I held to my
resolution, starting with the 1998 Zin, of hold vintages till they were ready!)
Well cellared, the FV Zinfandels have now shown to age even beyond 8 to 10 years
(of course vintages vary). The Trousseau Gris, even if bottled early, usually
doesn’t fully open up till at least a year after harvest & well cellared, can
age a few years but certainly not as long as the Zinfandel!
The Roots of Passion & Faith
First of all it hasn’t only been a focus on special wine Grapes!
A long time ago I learned that
I enjoyed & was very good at using my talents & hands to preserve & restore
things; especially unique, somewhat rare, & often generally unappreciated &
generally dis-guarded things. ---Shortly after High School when my piers bought
sporty new cars, & were paying lots for insurance &… in 1981 I purchased an old
vehicle from my parents that had been “retired” to in vineyard use for 2 years.
Not a ’66 Mustang or Cammero, not an old Jeep, or a classic old Pick-UP; this
vehicle was from 1966 & was rare especially that it had nearly all the options
of the time but it was not ‘hip’. It didn’t have a V-8 but even before
restoration it was quite capable of sustaining 98 MPH! While I restored &
rebuilt the engine & Body & replaced many mechanical parts with the far superior
parts available in the 1980’s, I didn’t soup-up the Engine for more power, & I
didn’t re-fabricate the body in any way, but even early on in the 1980’s it
turned some heads. When I lent it back to my father he claimed he wanted to buy
it back—It ran more smoothly than it did from the factory & the 240 cid (~ 4
liter) In-Line-Six with 150 original horse power & by design poor aerodynamics;
was getting over 20 miles to the gallon! (More Hints: Like the Lincoln
Navigator of today, the passenger doors have a step that comes out when the door
opens & one of the options that was available but it doesn’t have was driver
side passenger doors which didn’t again become available on vans till it was a
“new idea” 30+ years later!) …It is a 1966 Ford passenger window van with a
complete factory interior finish, designated “Falcon” (the earliest
Econoline-Club-Wagon) in the original ‘shoebox’ Econoline body. Now, when I
fill it up with gas I get stories from people who had “one of those” in the ‘60s
or ‘70s (older families & surfers). It may not have been “cool” but I made it
efficient & practical for me (as well as for hauling the things that wouldn’t
fit in those sporty cars), & despite the popular criticism, I used it to do many
things as I said; in 1988 I drove it across the USA to Montreal Canada, for it’s
3rd time, in it’s best condition ever -the only mechanical “need” was
an oil change. When I started distributing my wine I made deliveries mostly in
Northern CA, (many times it climbed the
“Waldo-Grade” & crossed
the Golden
Gate more than 50 Cases) but Old Blue & I delivered wine as far south as Orange
County! When I was interviewed for United Airlines' Japanese U-Way Magazine in 2000 I thought
the Photographer would choose the my circa 1947 Caterpillar Twenty Two with it’s
prominent hand crank starter but instead he insisted I pose with the old van which covered a ½
page in the magazine!
The Passion & The Faith in the Vineyard
Like on the “ugly duckling” vehicle; despite the popular “wisdom”, I focused my energy on something I knew God gave me the instinct, talents, & passion to do; grow, in a healthy environment, great Old Zinfandel & Trousseau Gris capable of making fantastic wines!
My passion for learning & working with the grapes HERE started in 1972, with my father (who passed away in 1984) where we learned (learned the old techniques & some of their passion for the old vineyards) from the families who planted Wood Road. In the mid 1980’s the popular wisdom about the Old Zinfandel & Trousseau Gris was that they were not worth farming (especially since at that time grape prices were very low, there was glut of grapes, many wineries were merging &/or going bankrupt, the economy was poor & imports were cheaper). Criticisms were that my revitalization work would only “kill the vineyard faster”, “Great Zinfandel doesn’t grow in Russian River Valley”, “It probably has many grape diseases that will continue to lower production & kill vines”, “It would be best to replant”… Of the Trousseau Gris they said at it’s best it was a blending grape (at the time so was Merlot), It’s skins made it a bitter wine (I discovered that was because since it releases less juice than is common winemakers would just press it harder, much harder, which makes any wine bitter!), they said it had no character (Often because it was picked when still green as they thought the skins would be less bitter, also it must be grown in cool regions like Russian River Valley & it often wasn’t!), a friend even publicly said that it’s name was “French for gar-ba-ge”. …With the neighbors telling my family that I would kill the Zinfandel I started retraining the old very, low vines on salvaged, slightly short, & broken stakes left over (or recycled) from the Trousseau Gris. I was extremely conservative, making sure that I wasn’t over taxing any vine that I retrained (I disbudded new arms so they wouldn’t over crop), only did a section per year, & constantly revised my techniques. In the dry farmed (not irrigated) Zinfandel I implemented a strict, mostly old style, tilling regnum that preserved the moisture for the summer (“normally” we have no rain here from about mid spring to mid fall) on a row-by-row basis; often struggling through the wet spots to get to the higher areas before they dried out (most people would wait till the wet spots were easily passable). [I not only work directly in the vineyard but I have done maintenance & repair on everything from the diesel tractor to fabricating, engineering &/or improvising special tools or making old ones do new things…in farming it helps to be a "Mc Guyver" of sorts] It is common, in old vineyards, to find bushy vines of fruitless root stock in vine places that the University text books teach are most likely to have aloud vine tops to die because it had a disease that killed the scion; so “absolutely never try to re-graft!” I also knew that often the tops were broken by vineyard equipment (Tractor blight) so I saved Zinfandel wood & cleaned up a few of these St George bushes & re-grafted on to these original plants & discovered that most if not all (150+/-) were repairable! After a few years the neighbors started joining me in projects such as compost & mineral spreading in the old vineyards. Today nearly all the old Zinfandel on Wood Road has been retrained, all have employed at least some of those “crazy” things I started doing, all are getting more attention from their owners & all the Old Zinfandel on Wood Road has been in specially designated wines, are highly sought after by Wineries & Consumers, have received Highest awards & Accolades from the most well known critics & competitions. When we started properly handling the Trousseau Gris (Gentle pressing of mature fruit & cold fermentation) the Top accolades, awards (even most awarded “Other White Wine” in the top competitions of 2001), & grape requests started coming in for the Trousseau Gris too! We started selling portions of the crop to other wineries both for High-end Blending (in Viognier & even to enhance the nose of Chardonnay) & for a similar vineyard designate at Windsor by Carol Shelton, & eventually we were offered a less complicated long-term contract for the balance at Piper Sonoma so we took it! The most critical part of my farming techniques, in both blocks, is that every year I adapt the details of my farming practices to the current vine & environmental conditions – sometimes doing things that even I would previously think absurd; sometimes with thoughtful reasoning & sometimes with a gut instinct that explains out later! Perhaps the most gratifying compliment to my often eye-brow-lifting way of farming is the recognition for the wines from “challenging years; especially 1998. When “Two Big Critics” dumped on the 1998 Zinfandel vintage, and liked only two (both were from Russian River Valley!), one of the two was from the same small Old Zinfandel Vineyard block of vines of equal quality fruit we split (At the time I didn’t send in Fanucchi Vineyards wine because I wanted to release it later.) That wine, from Hartford Court also got me the Top Wine Grower Award At the Sonoma County Harvest Fair when it won the “Sweepstakes” Trophy! When I did enter the Fanucchi Vineyards 1998 Old Vine Zinfandel (up against ‘98s,’99s, & ‘00s…) it was the most awarded Zinfandel in all the top competitions TWO years running! It took 12 GOLD or Better Awards & Top Trophies of it’s own! By the California Grape Vine system the 1998 Fanucchi Vineyards Old Vine Zinfandel was the third most awarded of all red wines of all vintages entered (include Meritage/Cabernet)! (In 2003 /'04, some California wine shops can still find that ’98 for you! Ask! If they want your business they can find it!) …This recognition via multiple, independent, blind judgings, with separate & different wine making styles affirms that that not only dose the site & count, but so dose the farming! (…I must be doing o.k!)
>A note about awards:
It has been fun Year after Year collecting piles of Gold Medals, Trophies,
Placks, Ribbons...(in total several hundred), & being consistently the Most or
nearly Most awarded wine in our 2 varietal categories at the top 10 or 15
competitions. I have felt at times that entering all the time limits the chances
another deserving wine might not get some of the spotlight and
Because of the extraordinary expense & time for such a small winery, in 2003
I
started cutting back on competitions, in fact originally I intended to go
“Cold-Turkey” (enter none) but to make
some of those expecting it happy I entered a few.
We have proven our consistency at the top & what counts is that the wines
continue to compliment your
meal & lifestyle. In 2004 Fanucchi Vineyards will be closer to
“Cold-Turkey”!
>When people ask how the wines are priced, I explain how & why I price
them very reasonably! When I came out with the Trousseau Gris wineries were
coming out with similar quality Viognier, Marsanne, Rousanne,
& Pinot Gris
at 5 to 6 times my price but since there
were few to no other Trousseau Gris varietals & with our semi-modern vineyard
that could eventually make much more, I felt it was better to price it so that
consumers could try it by “by the Glass” in upscale restaurants & not be
intimidated by the shelf price for a bottle or a case to enjoy at home.
While it’s higher, the Zinfiandel is
a bargain too!
There isn’t room here to explain
meticulous details
(click here for more growing details)
of what I continue to do to restore & maintain
the dry farmed Zin planted in 1906 which my Father had planned to tear out in
1984, but though ~25%
smaller than our relatively modern Trousseau Gris block, it takes 10 times more
time (mostly mine) to maintain. The potential of this site replanted to a
“Standard” modern vineyard, which might cost a tenth of my time to maintain,
could likely be 3 to 4 times as productive
even
here in Russian River Valley. Today It is still a personal hands on
struggle to maintain a healthy & quality balanced crop on this 100+ year Old block;
Dry Farmed (No Irrigation) in a shallow sandy loam.
Not factoring values for preserving such a
heritage (which other parts of the world easily give hundreds of $ for) & the
irreplaceable qualities of the antiquated vineyard,
based solely on equivalent economics of
this USA site this simple example based on the lower production would
conservatively justify at least $56 to $80+ / bottle &
if we were in Europe or Australia or another good area with a long marketed
history $150 or more!
In
times of lower shelf prices, & with the basic expenses of such “tiny”
US American
Heritage vineyards remain high or continue climb
{for example, high cash investment / equity ratios, skilled help
-even if limited to @ harvest, companies want to work in the modern, more
productive vineyards & supplies (rarely in quantities for a discount & even in
times when wine & grape prices decline supplies continue to cost even more!)}.
In current times more of our US American Heritage,
truly old vine Zinfandel will disappear at an increasing rate because growers
will have a harder time securing fair
compensation & should they sell or pass
on, the next owners will either replant
(In 2001 a Wood Road
neighbor bulldozed their Old Vine Zin to plant a modern
vineyard!) or worse; kill the environment with asphalt (The true
environmental disaster of today is when the farmers who spent a life time
preserving the living land are forced to sell out to high density developers.)
>>A note about the Wine making style:
As you might have surmised, my passion is rooted in growing the best possible fruit. To that end it would be contradictory to ruin that fruit with excesses that overpower it! In the Trousseau Gris the Fanucchi Vineyards recipe is for an extended super cold fermentation to retain beautiful the fruit flavors & nose. To show case this fresh clean fruit, the wine is protected from Malo-lactic-fermentation & Oak (It’s too good ruin with butter & vanilla!) In the Zinfandel, Balance is also the Goal. The 100+ year old vines, dry farmed, in the shallow sandy loam also on the Fanucchi Wood Road Vineyard in the Cool Russian River Valley meticulously tended… produces intense fruit with deep flavor & color. While I do compliment it with High-end Tight-Grained French Oak; the aim is to be no more than 33% new & while I do wait till about mid October to harvest it, I avoid the over ripe ‘style’ that tends to produce the extreme high alcoholic wines that often must be consumed early. Balanced with the refreshing characteristic Russian River Valley acids, Fanucchi Vineyards style tends to age! Young it takes a while to open up in the glass or decanter, often a well stored open bottle even improves over a few days to a week! The Zinfandel's first tendency is to be raspberry fruit forward & to easily be able to age about 8 to 12 years. Since the style of both wines, focused on fresh fruit first, balanced with the fresh acidity from growing in the cool Russian River Valley, they make a natural choice to pair with almost any food! I suppose you can say the style is in keeping with my Tuscan roots, the wines are grown & handled to compliment or more traditionally to be part of the food on the table!
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Contact: E Mail: PeterFanucchi@FanucchiVineyards.com Please include "subject",
P.O. Box 290 Fulton, California 95439 Fax 707-544-6106 Phone 707-526-3219
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Fanucchi Vineyards Back Ground Trousseau Gris Back Ground Winegrowing details2003 Wine Competition Update! 2002 Trousseau Gris "product sheet"2001 Trousseau Gris "product sheet"2001 Trousseau Gris Wins 4 Star Gold!2000 Trousseau Gris "product sheet"2000 Trousseau Gris #1 Most Awarded Other White! 1999 Old Vine Zinfandel Product sheet1998 Old Vine Zinfandel "product sheet"1998 Old Vine Zinfandel Wins 12 GOLD+/GOLD & 98 Points!>The #1 Zinfandel 2 Years running!1997 Old Vine Zinfandel "product sheet" 1997 Old Vine Zinfandel Quotes & Medals August 2002: 4 Star Gold Presentation & Grape To Glass 'Hay Ride' Winegrowing details; the back ground & the seasons Home