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BERKELEY, Calif. — In late March, if anyone doubts the staggering impact of climate change on the California wine industry, Donkey and Goat Outdoor tasting area in this neighborhood of motorcycle repair shops and urban wineries.
At picnic tables in front of a graffitied cinder block wall, visitors sample Donkey & Goat’s newly released natural wines; this was a group that even the most ardent fans of the producer would not recognize.
Instead of the usual bottles that highlight the over-specific terroir characteristics of single vineyards stretching from Mendocino and Sonoma in northern California east to El Dorado and the Sierra Foothills, the 2021 Donkey & Goat wines you can taste are labeled either with the generic “California” name. or came from vineyards that were not part of his usual order.
Wine lovers, who value bottles for a sense of place, seek authenticity in naming, hoping that the wines will reflect the qualities of a region or vineyard. This has always been Donkey & Goat’s strength. In the past, any of their “California”-labeled wines were made from inexpensive grapes and carried a modest price tag.
This year, however, some of its most expensive grapes are making their way into those “California” wines. Crops from multiple titles were combined to address deficiencies that emerged after the 2021 fires in Northern California.
catastrophic fires The last few growing seasons on the West Coast have transformed the once relatively routine, joyous if adrenaline-fueled annual ritual of harvesting and winemaking into a period of fear and anxiety. Growers and winemakers must now consider whether the fires will come again and what to do about it.
Along with smoke and ash, fire damage is devastating to any bond and grower. Wineries owned by billionaires or large corporations have the resources to endure declining harvests, or even a year or two without any wine at all. But small businesses like Donkey & Goat now face existential threats each year and wonder if they can make enough wine to cover the costs.
As a matter of survival, West Coast wineries had to innovate by turning grapes that might have been intended for one type of wine into an entirely different wine.
Tracey Rogers Brandt, managing director and winemaker of Donkey & Goat, hopes that the extraordinary wines she has to make in 2021 won’t be humiliated for being different or unexpected. He hopes what he calls “creative climate-driven wines” will be recognized and valued accordingly as creative responses to catastrophic events.
Made from grenache gris grown annually on Gibson Farm in Mendocino County’s McDowell Valley, Isabel’s Cuvée is a staple wine for Donkey & Goat.
Miss Rogers Brandt had plenty of grapes to produce a normal quantity of Isabel’s in 2021. However Caldor Fire Shabby vineyards in El Dorado, where Donkey & Goat harvests about 55 percent of the grapes for its annual red wine production.
Donkey & Goat was able to save about 40 percent of their red grapes, mostly syrah, grenache, and mourvèdre. But when smoke and ash settle on red grapes, the grape skins that provide color and structure to the wine should be discarded. Red wine cannot be produced without subjecting the wine to the kind of technological manipulations that Donkey and Goat hate.
In such cases, many wineries would use the grapes to make a simple rose. Miss Rogers Brandt could make a harmless rose to sell next to Isabel’s Cuvée. But that wouldn’t be aesthetically pleasing and she would lose money on the wine, she said.
Instead, he decided to combine the rosé made from these grapes with the rosé made for Isabel’s Cuvée. Feeling that the wine was still missing something, she added a bit of pinot gray from the 2020 vintage, done in a ramato style, where juice and rinds are combined, adding texture and color. Federal rules allow up to 15 percent of a blend from a different vintage from the year specified.
The result, labeled Gris Gris, is lively, tangy, refreshing, and bone-dry with flavors of fruit and herbs, delightful. It includes grapes from McDowell Valley, Anderson Valley, and El Dorado, hence the California appeal. Miss Rogers Brandt sells the wine for $32 a bottle, which, despite its name, is roughly equivalent to Isabel’s Cuvée.
“I wouldn’t survive if I had the climate influence and had to call the wines ‘California’ and sell it for a song,” he said. “People say, ‘It’s not a sign of bond, it should be cheaper. No, I have to be paid more because my expenses are much higher.”
Like many small wineries without their own vineyards, Donkey and Goat must develop partnerships with growers to ensure a stable supply of fruit. Working primarily with organic and biodynamic vineyards, this is Ms. For manufacturers like Rogers Brandt, it’s doubly important.
This requires building sympathetic, long-term relationships. Ms. Rogers Brandt remembered some good advice she received from a former mentor. Eric Texier, excellent Rhône producer: “Spend time and money finding the right growers. It’s like finding a partner in life.”
The idea of buying grapes for good or bad is difficult in difficult years. The first vintage to be affected by fires in 2008, grapes from the vineyards where he worked in Mendocino were stained with smoke. He bought them anyway, but had to subject the wines to reverse osmosis, a technological process that can reduce staining. The wines were sold under a different label.
“The 2008 vintage almost killed us,” he said. “But we were able to maintain relationships with breeders.”
Faced with fires in both 2020 and 2021, many winemakers bail growers or buy only a fraction of their allowances. It’s a difficult situation for everyone involved, but Ms. Rogers Brandt said it’s very important to support breeders.
“You can’t just buy grapes in good years,” he said. “This is not going to work for breeders. You have to keep it up to protect vineyards and farming.”
Wines like Gris Gris allowed it to progress through the harvest, even if the result was different from the original vision.
“It allowed me to collect unused or unpicked grapes,” he said. “We can do fun things, but we have to reevaluate value.”
Ms. Rogers Brandt faced a slightly different situation in the 2020 fires. That year, she picked the grapes she hoped would be good. She only discovered that they were affected by smoke during the winemaking process. She did her best even though the results broke her heart.
“I am so devastated,” he said. “I didn’t know I was going to have the problems I had. It was just reactive – there was no ingenuity in making something different but delicious.”
He swore never to be caught off guard again. In early 2021, he tasted several natural wines seeking inspiration for what he termed Plan B Wines if faced with fires once again.
“I wanted to look forward to the promise of the new vintage and the satisfaction with the creation of new wines,” he said. “This may not be what I expected, but instead of being so disappointed, I wanted to have the freedom to play and finally feel fulfilled.”
Other impromptu 2021s, all bearing the California name, include Cannonball, an offbeat blend of Carignan and grüner veltliner, and an extraordinary mix of chardonnay, grenache blanc, and verintino from Mendocino, Monterey, and El Dorado. tannin yarn for $36; for $40 a light and pleasant petili natural made of Monterey grüner veltliner and Anderson Valley chardonnay; and the Skinny Dip for $36, which needs some explanation.
After Miss Rogers Brandt made Isabel’s Cuvée, which went into the Gris Gris, she took the pomace (the pulp, husk, stem, and seed remains from the winemaking process) and put it in a clay vat. She then filled it with a rose grenache noir from El Dorado and let them sit together for 12 days. The result was a dark rose that was delicious, bright and vibrant.
“It was so good that I will make it again,” he said. “I thought I would lose my job during the harvest. I didn’t know if I could pay my men. And I love these wines.”
It’s not just that Donkey & Goat mixes between titles. Through the community that Miss Rogers Brandt has developed over the years, she has made some single vineyard reds from grapes, including a brilliant pinot meunier from the Russian River Valley and an extraordinary, deliciously spiced wine from an almost unknown variety. , cabernet pfefferIt was bred at Siletto Family Vineyards in San Benito County.
He said the 2021 experience gave him the confidence to face any distortions that climate change will certainly bring in the future.
“Look, this isn’t going anywhere,” he said. “We all have an existential crisis. We have to find a way to enjoy making wine and to find a way to create.”
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