(L to R) Lew Price, Peter Silva, Nicole Boutilier and Geraldine Seltzer.

JPV Retail Staff Forms Amateur Winemaking Team

JPV customers who have visited the winery may recognize some of our retail staff in the pictures above and on page 6. In an innovative project to increase awareness of winegrowing and winemaking procedures and techniques, the hospitality staff are making their own wine under the guidance of Phelps’ production team and Stephen Pavy, JPV’s new retail sales and wine education manager. Participating in the project are wine educators Lew Price, Peter Silva, Nicole Boutilier, Geraldine Seltzer, Naomi Hartstein, Jim Pickett, Deven Lockwood and Brian Phifer.

Harvesting Spring Valley Cabernet Sauvignon in the rain.

On November 2nd at 7:00 a.m. the group began picking Cabernet Sauvignon in the rain. After a long day, they ended up with approximately 500 pounds of grapes which will translate into one barrel of wine. “Our goal is to increase awareness of what our vineyard and production team actually does,” explains Stephen. “It’s one thing for our retail staff to describe the winemaking process as a result of book learning—it’s quite another to experience it firsthand.”

Top: (L to R) Nicole and Peter prepare to destem by hand. Middle: Close-up of destemming procedure. Bottom: Naomi Hartstein punching down the cap.

This was brought home to everyone when it was revealed that 500 pounds of grapes were too small an amount to run through the stemmer-crusher, and that the crew would have to destem by hand—a long, tedious job. This was followed by crushing, fermenting in two 30-gallon buckets and, as of this writing, punching down the cap of the fermenting juice twice a day in order to extract color, flavor and tannins.

Still to come will be watching the wine develop in barrel, tasting and evaluating it, and making any possible blending decisions. There will also be a marketing component to the exercise as the staff names the wine, determines its price and identifies its niche in the marketplace.

“This project is already giving the retail staff more enthusiasm, credibility and accuracy when speaking with customers,” Stephen remarks. “It’s also been a great team-building exercise as everyone works together to make decisions that will directly influence the quality of the finished wine.”