I made my first 2014 Viognier from Dry Creek grapes. The grapes were sourced from a gentleman who grows professionally and had excess that year after filling contracts with local wineries. He was one of the few to sell to home winemakers, and for that I am grateful.
Once I got my haul home I went to work with the help of my wife and a friend. Crush went fairly fast and we set for maceration for a little over an hour. We then pressed off the juice and made a nice big cake of spent grape skins. Before adding yeast I let the debris settle overnight and then racked to get nearly clear juice. I then pitched QA23 yeast. I knew that with white wine the process was different if you could cool ferment at or below 50 degrees. I decided to cool ferment and had to use the basic equipment of a chilled water bath. So I put my tub inside a larger container and cycled frozen water bottles into the water bath about every 6 hours for the next two weeks. Not as long as some cool fermentations, but it got the job done.
After three rackings and clarifying, I bottled it in the spring of 2015. I set it aside and did not touch it for two months. I sought out a friend to design a label dedicated to my Grandma, who had passed away two years prior. My dream was not only to make wine, but to also make wines I felt were good enough to stand up to competition.
I entered the Sonoma County Harvest Fair Amateur Wine Competition in August, with the results coming out in September. I would be happy just to place at all at this point, knowing it was my first venture. I was extremely shocked when my friend called me and told me that I had won Gold. I was in a heady daze for days.
After the Harvest Fair concluded I had to go pick up my bottles. Well, this is where it gets funny. When I went there were probably 5 other people milling around the amateur gallery waiting to pick up their wines. One man leaves with his bottles and just looks at me like "holy shit". I am not what a few people expect to see at a wine competition. I look around and find my winning bottle. Then I walk up to claim my certificate, judging notes and gold medal stickers. When I told the counter person my name, what wine and which place I took I could hear audible surprise behind me and you could feel the tension in the room. Anyhow, I take my belongings and leave. Even on my way to my car I got a look of surprise, not fitting the picture you normally see around wine and wine events.
Yes, I do stand out. I am a Black man who drinks wine, now makes it, and apparently is fairly good at making it. I've spent a lot of time in and around wineries the last 3 years and I know I am unique in this environment. Let that be an encouragement to other people of color. It may make people look at you funny initially, but wine is fun, wine-making is hard work and fun, and you are every bit as entitled to enjoy any facet of wine your heart desires. You just may be the next big thing.
Cheers!
