Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/100792
Winery, Odisea Wine Co., Forlorn Hope Wines, the Scholium Project, and many others. Napa-based Mark Herold, who worked with Bokisch when he was at Joseph Phelps, uses Bokisch fruit in his Acha, Flux and Collide wines, which are priced at $22$40 per bottle. ���My brands depend heavily on Markus' meticulous attention to detail in the vineyards, and I don't hesitate in saying that my wines would not be as successful without him,��� Herold said. ���His passion toward obtaining and growing Spanish grape varietals of the highest quality is exemplary.��� BALANCING ACT Farming both high-production and ultra-premium fruit ��� sometimes within the same plot of land ��� requires Bokisch to adopt a split personality in his vineyards. ���You need to look at yourself as a business person and ask, ���What is the end goal that I want for this piece of soil?��� Do you want to be a production farmer or an ultra-premium farmer? All of these things are within your power and within your choice. I think there are very few people that can do both really well.��� Training his employees to walk that line has been a challenge. ���It���s a process of having them say, ���In this field I���m going to do this, but in the other field I won���t.��� There���s a huge component of human relations and training to get people on board with the concept.��� In two adjacent vineyards, for example, one may be farmed at 4 tons to the acre and hand-harvested, while the other is farmed at 8 tons to the acre and machine-harvested. Twenty percent of Bokisch���s fruit is hand-picked, while Gregoire grape harvesters take care of the rest. Because he has a well-trained labor force that returns to his vineyards each year, Bokisch is able to cane-prune three-quarters of his 139-acre Vista Del Sol vineyard and one-quarter of the 139-acre Vista Luna vineyard. ���Cane pruning involves a lot more thinking than cordon pruning,��� Bokisch said. ���You have to be able to envision that vine a year from now in your selection of what you���re going to leave as canes. This type of pruning allows us to farm smaller-clustered varieties for production wineries, because it can more predictably get us to the tonnage range that we need to make that a viable investment.��� VINEYARD VARIATIONS Farming practices differ in Bokisch���s premium vineyards, such as Belle Colline in the Clements Hills AVA. Planted in 2003 as a varietal experimental block, the vineyard includes cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot, petite sirah, tempranillo, barbera, monastrell (mourv��dre) and syrah. ���Everything is pretty much done by hand,��� Bokisch said of Belle Colline. ���We hand-pick, and we prune to one-bud spurs. We also thin the crop down to around 4 tons to the acre ��� although we have contracts that go down to 3 tons.��� Belle Colline is planted to 6-foot by 4-foot spacing, and some of Bokisch���s ultra-premium vineyards are planted to 5-foot by 5-foot spacing. Most of the high-production vineyards have 8-foot spacing between rows. Mainly, Bokisch said, the difference comes down to the number of times his crew passes through the vineyard. ���With a more production-oriented vineyard you could be going through it to sucker the trunks, to leaf-pull and maybe do some shoot thinning, and then you machine harvest. With the ultra-premium vineyards, you���re going to easily double, if not triple, the amount of passes.��� That plays a major role in determining Bokisch���s vineyard management fees, which start with a standard per-acre charge. ���The higher the density, the more charges go up,��� he said. ���That���s because there are simply more passes through the vineyard.��� w Sam m m e d i a . Planted YARD & WINERY MANAGEMENT | Jan - Feb 2013 44 V I N Eto several different red varieties, the Belle Colline vineyard produces some of Bokisch���s highest-quality fruit. Photo: w w. v wHarnackc o m