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Heat Waves and Harvests: The Challenges of Arizona Winemaking Feb 24, 2020

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Discover the fascinating journey of Callaghan Vineyards, a winery in Arizona that emphasizes the importance of quality over quantity in winemaking. Host Forrest Kelly interviews Kent Callaghan, who shares insights into the challenges faced when starting the vineyard amidst extreme weather conditions in the 1990s. With over 30 years of experience, Kent discusses the critical role of pruning in achieving success and the ongoing quest to determine which grape varieties thrive best in Arizona’s unique climate. Listeners will also learn about the intriguing history of the corkscrew, a tool essential for wine lovers. Join us for an adventure through the world of winemaking, where Kent’s passion and dedication shine through, making it clear that the journey of discovery is just as important as the final product in the glass.

Our featured winery is: We venture to Arizona. Callaghan Vineyards. Dr. Gordon Dutt, doing some research for a project that he was working on, was surprised to find that there were no wineries in the state, even though the soil composition was similar to Burgundy France after some funding. The wine business was born in Elgin, Arizona. The state of Arizona has over 100 wineries, but in a particular area, we’re talking about is fifteen, including Kent, Callaghan Vineyards.

So we go back to summertime 1990, Ken’s parents decide to start the vineyards along with Kent. But Mother Nature didn’t exactly greet him with open arms.

Well, we planted in the middle of a heatwave. It was the first time, as far as I know, Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix had shut down. Think it was 122 for a couple of days. It was 105 here in Elgin.

So we lost a lot of our plantings right off the bat in Cabernet, which was about 9000 of those vines to us, probably twenty-five hundred.

It’s going to be all that hard work. Then to see those vines die because of the extreme heat, you probably wonder whose idea was this anyway?

It was my dad’s idea. He had been a real home winemaker, so they thought this parcel man asked me to come on to help them plant the starting point of entry and start a winery. I was right out of college at that point, basically.

So you graduate from college. Where did you to college? Pomona in Claremont. Okay. In Southern California. And graduated with a degree in philosophy. So from that to the current time, you’ve been doing this. What? Let’s say you do the math. You’re a little over 30 years.

Yeah, 30 years. 30 of vintage this year and then 31st first year growing.

How big is pruning into the success of a vineyard? It’s huge. In my opinion, the single most important thing that you do if I had to rank them.

Why is it so critical? Well, It sets the stage for basically everything else. If you prune correctly, you know, you’re just setting yourself up for success the vine architecture, the way the vine grows is going to give you hope what you know, he’s intending to get with less need for inputs, particularly manual input.

Without getting too philosophical, how would you describe your vineyard, your winery? We’re not looking for a huge crop. I think we’re looking for quality fruit. It’s the whole focus on what we do.

Are you one of the bigger wineries? Biggest acreage, one of the smaller wineries. Our output is not particularly large. We’re probably the third our fourth-largest, something like that out of fifteen. Yeah, well, I was the whole goal from the start was never to be a large operation, but a quality one.

It’s a winery. What are you most proud of? I mean, just enjoy it. I guess we’re best known for. We’re still experimenting. I mean, it’s been quite a long journey in trying to figure out what varieties grow best and not only in Sonoita, where we are specifically on our specific site. And that is something that’s still ongoing. It’s been fun and somewhat now. I’m consuming, obviously, but mostly rewarding. Otherwise, you’re not just our own, but for the folks that are consumers that enjoy our wine. I think it’s interesting for them to see, you know, the library historical data to see how the wines age, what’s done well, you know, and how the vintage is different are different because we definitely have vintage variation in Arizona in general and particularly in Sonoita due to the monsoon rainfall that we get, everything depends on how much rain falls when it falls. If we have a cloud cover at critical times when it rains and that kind of thing. So all of those things affect and that obviously is effects your wine, not only air quality but also the character of the vintage.

Ok. Due to time constraints, that concludes part one of our interview with Kent of Callaghan Vineyards. So that brings us up to our listener voicemail.

Hello. This is Savannah from Corona, California. I would like to know who invented the corkscrew and when. As far as historians can recall the earliest reference to a corkscrew was in the 1680s. They called the crude instruments a steel worm. We do know that Reverend Samuel Henshall received the first patent in 1795. Thank you, Savannah, for your question.

Thank you for listening. I’m Forrest Kelly. This episode of the Best 5 Minute Wine podcast was produced by IHYSM, if you like the show tell your friends and pets and subscribe. Until next time pour the wine and ponder your next adventure.

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Companies mentioned in this episode:

Callaghan Vineyards
University of Arizona

@thebestwinepod

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Exploring Alaska's Unique Fruit Wines: A Journey with Bear Creek Winery Feb 21, 2020

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Join us as we explore the fascinating world of fruit wines at Bear Creek Winery in Homer, Alaska, where the flavor profiles are refreshingly distinct from traditional grape wines. Host Forest Kelly engages with winery owner Lewis, who shares insights into the challenges and triumphs of crafting wines from local berries and fruits in a region known for its halibut fishing. Discover the innovative spirit behind their popular strawberry rhubarb wine and the exciting plans for new products, including sparkling apple wine. Lewis highlights the collaborative nature of the winemaking community in Alaska, emphasizing the unique tastes that fruit wines bring to the table. This episode promises to expand your palate and inspire your next culinary pairing adventure.

Bear Creek Winery

Welcome to The Best 5 Minute Wine Podcast. I’m your host Forrest Kelly from the seed to the glass. Wine has a past. Our aim at The Best 5 Minute Wine Podcast is to look for adventure at wineries around the globe. After all grape minds think alike. Let’s start the adventure. Our featured winery is Bear Creek Winery as we venture to Homer, Alaska. Population just over 5,000, the halibut fishing capital of the world. Home to such famous people as the singer Jewel. Mr. Motel 6 Tom Bodett. Tom Bodett: We’ll sure leave the light on for you. Forrest Kelly: Thanks Tom and Bear Creek Winery, owner-operator Louis Mauer. That is correct. So when we pull into the parking lot at Bear Creek Winery, what do we see? Beautiful set of grounds and gardens that you can see and so there’s a little aft people can walk through and we’ve highlighted some of the berries, the fruits, and berries that we use in our wines in the garden. No, the first thing people think of, you know, a winery in Alaska. How is that possible? Are there any hardships?

Well, yes. If we were trying to grow our grape, it would be extremely difficult. Which we’ve actually tried cultivating grapes and they’ll root and they do okay during the summer months, but then they’re very difficult over winter with the cold. Our most challenging thing is probably shipping items, getting stuff up here, and getting things back down the lower 48. It is always a challenge and costly.

In the early years, you were doing five-gallon batches and now you’re over what, 20,000 gallons a year? That’s correct. Right now, we ship anywhere in the US.

So your featured wine, your home run, your grand slam home run wine would be?

Our strawberry rhubarb. We have two brands, one’s a Bear Creek and the strawberry rhubarb is by far our most popular wine. We make a strawberry wine and then a rhubarb wine and blend the two together. And then for our Glacier Bear, which is our sister label that we’ve produced in order to highlight the guaranteed to be grown in Alaska fruit wines. We have a golden raspberry that we make that’s extremely popular.

Do you get any push back from traditional wineries?

No, not from wineries but within wine tasters. Everything’s interested in what we’re doing, it’s very collaborative. We get more blowback from customers coming into the tasting room and not understanding what it is that we do more so than people in the industry.

It’s the taste of a fruit wine that much different than that of a grape wine?

It’s significantly different. The wines are, you know, they’re wines are crafted well. We’ve produced award medal-winning wines, but the flavor profiles are dramatically different because they’re not done, it’s not a grape. So, you know, I don’t know who’s ever tried, like apple wine might be something they’re more familiar with. And the fun part of it is because the flavor profiles are so much different, you have a whole new set of flavors that you can pair with dishes and for different settings and occasions and things.

So is the process similar? Yes, the equipment is the same. We use tanks and pressers of holding vats and all those kinds of things from the same vendors that a grape winery would and we use all those things in the toolbox. We might do it in a different order than some other winery, but it’s all the same, still yeast and sugars and producing alcohol.

I understand you’ve got a lodge? We do. We’ve got two suites that guests can stand and then we also have an apartment, a three-bedroom apartment so people can stay on the grounds and enjoy tasting while they’re here.

A typical day for you starts at what time in the morning?

I’m usually in the office at eight and then I’m heading home around six. Our tasting room is open until six o’clock every day, all year.

This coming year, what does Bear Creek winery have in store for us?

Looking forward to 2020 here, we’ve got some new products coming out. We’re going to try doing a sparkling apple wine. We’re going to try doing some cider. So, we had a really good growing year last summer for apples and we got quite a bit more than we would have expected. So, we got some extra juice to play around with and try some new products.

What are you most proud of at the winery?

Oh man, that’s a tough one. I started out in the production side of things and making the wines and the Glacier Bear label was one of my ideas. So, I’m very excited about that and having that do well and showcasing those Alaska berries. And since then, since I’ve taken over the whole thing, I’m quite proud of our staff and what a good crew. We have treated our crew like family type of deal.

Where can we get a hold of you with a website address? Bearcreekwinery.com. You can also check out our sister label, Glacierbearwinery.com.

Something we learned today with Louis of Bear Creek Winery is the flavor profiles are so much broader with fruit wines, that it opens up the possibilities.

You have a whole new set of flavors that you can pair with dishes and for different settings and occasions and things.

All right. Thank you, Louis, for being our guest today and hopefully one day we’ll venture to Homer, Alaska, and sample some of your creations.

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it. Glad you found us.

All right, so that brings us up to our listener voicemail question.

Hi, this is Diane from Chicago. I wondered, how long does it take a grapevine to mature from seeds?

Excellent question, Diane. There are many factors involved, of course, but up to three years is what the experts say, and one of the most crucial aspects of bringing it to fruition is pruning. We’ll get into that in a different episode. Thank you for listening.

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