Farming:

Emilio spends approximately 5 hours a day 5 days a week managing his own vineyard, including pruning, spraying and weed control:  he hires help only at harvest.  Considering the most frustrating aspects of growing grapes to be weed management (hand hoeing and weed whacking—he does not use weed killers of any kind), he finds the most fulfilling aspect of farming being the “constant renewal of nature and its efficiency.”  With frost loss, diseases, drought, bird and deer loss his greatest challenges, his toughest years were frost damage in 2008 and the travails of 2010!

Key Learnings:

Emilio learned much about farming at SRJC, but believes his greatest experiential learning is to allow the vines to adapt to their environment and to interfere as little as possible. Having learned patience is critical for a grape grower, his advice to someone getting started would be to “Plant something that fits your climate as well as something you like to drink, and to make enough to fit a full size barrel.  Once your vineyard is established, turn off all irrigation.”  Sound familiar?

Pruning:

Emilio believes in pruning as late as practical, with a timing clue that the vine bleeds when cuts are made, thus keeping diseases out. This also retards bud break and is good for both frost protection as well as delaying ripening overall.  For trellised vines, he cane prunes as opposed to spur pruning because the latter increases the amount of old wood and susceptibility to diseases. Emilio believes pruning, along with harvest timing, to be the most important activity for crop quality.  Advice?  “Do it yourself and/or train somebody you really trust.”

Not seeking organic certification, Emilio’s philosophy of grape growing is “inspired by the ‘do nothing’ method of the Japanese farmer and philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka: “We do not till nor cultivate, and no additional fertilizers are used. Vineyard clippings from mowing and pruning as well as the organic bi-products of harvest are all returned to the soil as mulch.”

Wine Making:

The Castelli winemaking story is largely a one-man show, with help from Laura and friends at harvest, bottling and labeling. Varietals made include Nebbiolo, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese and a Rose’ blend, with the best wine he ever made being a 2005 Nebbiolo.  Last year they made 800 gallons, with the greatest quantity in any one year being 1200 gallons in 2009.  Wow!

Believing the key to making better wine is to pick at a low ph, Emilio is concerned more with flavors and pH than brix when deciding when to pick.  He has picked with brix ranging from a low of 22 (Nebbiolo 2010), to a high of 25 (Pinot 2007). Pinot harvest has averaged from the 28^th of August through the 24^th of September, with Nebbiolo ranging from 9/26 to as late as 11/5.   A typical picking/crushing day is to pick early, pick cool, and to be guided by being done by noon if it’s a hot day. What is the most fun about it? “Watching Laura do physical labor…”

Emilio’s winemaking process begins by picking cool fruit, and storing it inside the barn where it averages about 60 degrees in the summer.  He does not add any yeast, so there is usually a lag time of 2-3 days before fermentation starts:  he does not artificially alter the natural onset of fermentation.

Emilio does primary fermentation in macro bins and then usually presses straight to the barrel at 0 or negative brix. He takes the wine to the barrel “dirty” and racks and returns to the barrel 2 weeks to a month later.  Most of his barrels are three years old or more, are Francois Freres French oak, and were obtained from Wes Mar winery. Thus, they are essentially neutral. To Emilio, oak “alternatives” are “the devil!”

Emilio takes wine off the oak when he believes it is structurally ready, knowing with neutral barrels there is minimal risk of the wine being flavored overtime if he waits longer.  Typically, he leaves Pinot in oak for 18-24 months, and Nebbiolo and Sangiovese 24-36. On one occasion, he bottled halves of his ‘07 Nebbiolo six months apart and saw an impressive difference. He uses mostly standard 60 gallon barrels but also has a good-sized collection of halves and small barrels down to 5 gallons. Hoping to some day get a larger barrel around 200 gallons, he believes the result would be better wine despite taking longer to develop. 

Questions:

Number of bottles in the Castelli cellar:  900, not considering Castelli wine.  The Castellis make and store their own wine in a straw bale barn, built to the roof in one day during a barn-raising party at their home.

Greatest number of wines made in any year:  2009--2 Pinot, 2 Nebbiolo, one Sangiovese, a Rose’, and either a Bordeaux blend or a red blend.

Best resources to learn from/ask questions:  UC Davis, books and field guides. Emilio’s favorite book is “Knowing and making wine” by Emile Peynaud, and he has also read books by Chauvet and Javier.  He learned a very pragmatic approach from Pat Henderson who taught enology classes at the JC, and frequently refers to his notes from his classes for answers to practical specific problems.

Deals/practices on equipment:  St. Patrick’s of Texas on Internet, plus supports local businesses.  Trilogy is a good source for bottles.

Equipment the Catelli’s'' own:  Crusher stemmer, two bladder presses and blending tanks, picking bins, etc. The Castellis share with others, but find the crusher stemmer the most helpful piece of equipment to own because of the critical time-factor and difficulty of sharing at harvest compared to pressing.  Emilio also owns lab equipment such as a pH meter and hydrometers, as well as a titration set he no longer uses.

Most fun at crush:  Daughter Giulia and some of her friends foot stomping in the macro bin.  “They sure made a mess but had fun doing it.”

Biggest “problem” he’s had to overcome:  Very high VA with his first batch from Santa Inez Valley.  Emilio used more sulfite than normally but the problem ultimately resolved itself.

Late harvest: Has not made a late harvest but would like to try. 

Malolactate:  Allows it to start naturally in the barrel—usually occurs in the spring.

Blending:  Emilio sometimes blends, including having made field blends that are usually with grapes that did not make the cut at sorting.  All of his rose’ is a blend.  Examples of blends include Sangiovese with the addition of up to 10% cab, cab with up to 10% Sangiovese, as well as Pinot blends from different vineyards.  Typically Nebbiolo and Pinot are not blended. 

Process of Blending:  Tough, and requires a reason to do so, such as lack of structure, balance, color, etc. He suggests making small quantity samples to come up with an approximate combination. Once he decides what he wants, he prepares three bottles of slightly different combinations and they taste them at dinner…and, advice any Diva would admire…”Then Laura tells me what to do and I obey.”

Fining or filtering:  Does not fine or filter reds but will possibly fine his rose’ this spring.

Thoughts about closures:  Artificial corks are fine if the wine is going to be consumed within 2-3 years:  otherwise, natural corks of good quality are the way to go.  Emilio has liked Ganau corks, and he bottles all magnums with natural untreated corks that are pricey!  As for screw tops, he does not think the industry has it down yet for  aging, and is fairly sure he won’t get to quantities that would be feasible for screw tops anyway.

The Label: Designed by good friend, Kathy Oetinger, the flowers on the Castelli label are commonly called “Naked Ladies.”  It’s a beautiful flower that (once planted), comes up on his own, without any intervention, as a warning that harvest approaching. 

Best way for a person to educate their palate:  Stop drinking soda!

We were captivated by Emilio’s story of how his winemaking philosophy evolved.  When considering wine as a career in the mid-2000’s, he immersed himself in SRJC classes. He assessed that the primary focus of his classes was on the commercial aspect, including making a “brand” which could be replicated with consistency in taste and style rather than showing a “sense of place.”  In contrast to Europe where the focus is on making wine that is unique, “like a live performance,” and having it develop with age, many American wines are “sterile” and will not develop with time.  Although it may be less viable commercially Emilio says,  “That’s not the point of wine…I like wine that tastes like something…” He volunteered that making wine commercially is a “crazy business that is capitol intensive and makes no business-sense-- one does it for the passion of it and is lucky if he can cover his expenses!

Of his personal best wine, Emilio loves how his 2005 Nebbiolo is developing but has a sweet spot in his heart for his 2003 Nebbiolo which he made without destemming nor sulfur additions, even at bottling.  He does not believe in competitions, but has received some nice reviews on his wines from judges of the SF Chronicle competition, as well as some winemakers and sommeliers.

…and, of many great lines Emilio shared with us,  when asked which year and varietal he is most proud of, Emilio said “I’m proud of all my children…because they’re my children.” Clearly Emilio and Laura’s lovely daughters must be proud to be surrounded by such a family, and to be part of such an enchanting family legacy!

John and Carol

 Article III - April 7, 2011