NASCAR's Kurt Busch Takes Martin Estate into the Winner's Circle

When Kurt Busch invited the Martin Estate team to join him in the pit during the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway on Sunday, it not only included true front row exposure to the NASCAR action, but also the sweet taste of victory inside the Winner’s Circle, where Busch and his girlfriend Patricia Driscoll raised a Jeroboam of Martin Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon to celebrate his first place triumph.

Petra, Greta and Greg Martin greeted Busch with a three liter bottle of Martin Estate Reserve at Sonoma’s Infineon Raceway as a thank you for the amazing day ahead of them, and for sending a helicopter to pick them up. It was an action packed and thrilling day on the race course, as Busch walked Greg Martin through the pre-race check list and confided his plan of only making two pit stops in the 219 mile race. Later, during the race, the Martins watched the crew in awe as they changed the tires and refueled the car in less than 30 seconds. “We just knew that Kurt was going to win this year”, Petra Martin said, “ but we did not want to say anything in order not to jinx it. But when he took the lead in the beginning of the race, we had no doubt and kept our eyes glued to the leader board. We believe in excellence, and Kurt is a master of the race course.”

It's been a thrilling summer for Martin Estate off the race track, too. The Martin Estate team toasted a decade of growing and making wine on June 18, with a poolside release party. Petra and Greg pulled out all the stops for Martin Estate's 10th anniversary celebration. Renowned New York designer Erin Fetherston and bespoke Italian leather shoe designer Michael Toschi joined the Martins for the occasion, along with a host of the winery's friends and family and one of San Francisco's favorite food trucks, RoliRoti. The porchetta was mouthwatering, especially with a glass of 2009 Martin Estate Rose of Cabernet.

Au Natural: Going Wild at Martin Estate Vineyard

At first glance, Martin Estate's eight acre Puerta Dorada Vineyard appears to be lacking good house keeping this summer. The truth is, while we’ve taken our weed eaters to the perimeter of our 12-acre property, the vineyard itself still has a wild and unruly cover crop of what only looks like weeds growing vigorously between every other row. What appears to be neglect, however, is our natural approach to managing the unseasonably late rainfall this year. These grasses and grains are working hard to wick excess moisture out of the ground.

“This semi-permanent cover crop also creates competition with the vines, which reduces the vigor, keeping our quantity down but our quality high,” Martin Estate Winemaker Frederic Delivert says.

“Once we feel the soil has dried out to just the perfect point,” Martin Estate Proprietor Petra Martin says, “our Carraro tractor will finally make its way through the rows to make everything look tickety-boo.”

In the meantime, we welcome the weeds as a working cog in the Martin Estate Vineyard Management Team.

Meet the Winemaker: A Q&A with Martin Estate's Frederic Delivert

Martin Estate's eight acre Rutherford vineyard and the winery nestled among the vines have never looked better, and large amounts of credit are due to Martin Estate Winemaker Frederic Delivert (pictured at right, with Meadowood Resort's Master Sommelier Gilles de Chambure). The French born and trained enologist with a Masters in agricultural sciences has been slowly transforming the property since his arrival several years ago. It always amazes us that Frederic managed to improve upon wines that were already excellent to begin with. Of course, he credits Petra and Greg Martin with much of that success, saying "they have spared no expense in order to give me the tools to achieve such prestigious levels."

Frederic took some time away from the vines - where he and vineyard manager Josh Clark have been t-budding a few blocks with new Cabernet clones along with some Petit Verdot - in order to answer a few questions about his winemaking genesis and what makes the vineyard at Martin Estate so extraordinary. We invite you to pull up a chair, pour yourself a glass of wine, and get comfortable.

1. First, tell us about your winemaking background, both here and abroad.

I took extensive courses on winemaking and viticulture during my college years while completing my Masters in Agricultural Sciences. Each school year included an internship requirement, and I used them to immerse myself in the wine industry. I worked my first harvest in 1991; this year will be my 18^th. In France, I worked predominantly in the southwest regions and the Languedoc. When I relocated to Northern California, I knew that when it came to the best soils, climate and what we Frenchmen call terroir, the Napa Valley was the preeminent AVA (American Viticultural Area). Over the last two decades, I have worked for five different wineries in this valley.

2. Were you raised in a winemaking family? What was the genesis for your love of wine, and when did you decide to enter into the winemaking profession, which is not as luxurious as it is often portrayed.

I was not raised in a winegrowing or winemaking family. I grew up mostly in the countryside, where wine was always a part of our culture. My friends were from farming families; their parents had a block of vines from which they made their own wine. It is essential to realize that wine is an everyday drink in France. It is always around. Don’t ask me what is the legal age to drink over there…

Growing up surrounded by farmers, I fell in love with agriculture. And, the more I studied the wine industry, the more I realized it mixed a variety of intriguing aspects – farming, science, marketing, art; even the barrel programs and elements of packaging from the corks to the labels and glass. Of course, I always enjoyed drinking the final result, too.

3. How did you meet the Martin family? What drew you to them and to Martin Estate? Why did you decide to leave a more corporate winery atmosphere for a small estate winery?

I met the Martins through a common friend. A small estate affords you the opportunity to concentrate on the entire process, from vineyard to bottle. It was important for me to be able to put my feet back into the vineyard. The roots of a good wine are good grapes. In fact, 75% of winemaking happens in the vineyard, yet so many positions offered to me did not include any real vineyard work. In order to make world-class wine, the vineyard needs to be spectacular, and the perfect example is Martin Estate.

Managing a small single vineyard estate allows us to have complete control of our fruit. Because the vineyard is literally steps from the winery, we can intensely observe all facets of the growing season. We don’t have to rely upon someone else’s farming standards, which means we are never surprised by the condition of our fruit. The viticultural practices we perform – when and how we prune our vines, our irrigation methods, the decision to green harvest each year – in order to raise the quality of the grapes are crucial to the end result. Martin Estate’s size is ideal for this intensive style of winemaking; in many ways it is an extended garden. I can go from vineyard to winery in a couple of minutes.

Last but not least, Petra and Greg Martin are as committed as I am to making the highest quality wine, and have spared no expense in order to give me the tools to achieve such prestigious levels.

4. What is it that makes the Martin Estate vineyard so special?

First: the fact that we have only the first generation of vines on the property. I know of no other Napa Valley property that can make that claim. Second: the size, which makes it a true boutique winery. Third: the rich history of the property, that inspires me every day I drive through the gate. How many people can say they work in a 19^th century chateau where Georges de Latour made his first wine, on grounds that in the 1850s belonged to Captain George Yount.

5. What are the greatest joys in working for a small, family winery?

Human size, flexibility, tight relationships. The peace that comes with knowing I have everything under control.

6. What are the greatest challenges?

When something unexpected happens, things can get hectic very fast; we are a small team. That is when the tightly knit relationships and flexibility prove invaluable, as everyone is committed to staying after hours and helping each other, even if it is not in his or her official “field.”

7. What is your winemaking philosophy?

Getting the healthiest grapes to perfect maturity, and then using the tools that have proven their value to get the best expression possible from these grapes.

8. The French word “terroir” is so difficult for the layman wine drinker to define. How would you best explain “terroir?”

Let’s keep it simple and say that I consider it to be the combination of your site and its unique soils with the weather you get – but I would also like to add myself, as the human factor, to the package. Without the winemaker, terroir is just terroir. But what you taste in a Martin Estate wine is the terroir I bottled. Am I making sense or have I left you confused?

9. Just a little but I see your point. Since your arrival four years ago, Martin Estate has made some major changes in the way wine is produced – barrel fermentation, concrete tanks, state of the art sorting equipment for harvest. Can you tell us how these new pieces have affected the winemaking process?

While it is true that the only thing you really need to make a great wine is great fruit, I believe certain pieces of equipment and techniques can further enhance its quality. My main thought behind any change on the production end is that it has to benefit the wine’s quality. I also take into consideration the fact that we are a small company, so if it makes some tasks more efficient, that is a definite plus. Finally, the pieces have to be visually appealing, as preserving the aesthetic of this 19^th century property has always been essential to the Martin family.

Let’s look at some changes I made and how they affected the winemaking :

- We now use clippers for our hand harvest, instead of the usual picking knife. We pick the grapes into small bins (30 lbs each versus half a ton in the past). This means the grapes don’t get damaged by hasty pickers, or crushed by being piled on top of each other. They arrive on the crush pad in pristine shape, and we don’t have oxidation problems or juice running off and getting lost.

- The advantage of our new state-of-the-art sorting system is tha it allows us to only put berries in the fermentation vats; any piece of leaf, stem or raisin has been thoroughly removed. The table allows us to process the fruit faster, too, so we don’t have grapes sitting in the sun for hours. Because our equipment doesn’t require light to properly sort the fruit, we are able to start picking our grapes at night, so the grapes come into the winery cool and fresh.

- We custom designed French concrete tanks, and the insulation and micro-oxygenation they provide, gives us a softer and fruitier wine. Because they were custom made in France to my specifications, it gives me the tool I need to accomplish my goal of making Martin Estate the best new world wine, using old world techniques.

And these are just a few examples. Since my arrival, we have improved our barrel program, which is now 100% French oak, as well as the wine chilling capacity, which allows us to perform cold soaks. But you better stop me right here, before I become too technical. May I suggest we have a glass or our wine, and let it speak for itself?

Wine, Guns & The Mythbusters Converge at Martin Estate

This Spring, Mythbusters’ Grant Imahara, Kari Byron and Tory Belleci joined renowned antique arms expert Greg Martin to see how centuries old firearms fared against the crew’s replication of ancient Chinese paper armor. We turned the winery lawn into a battlefield, cracked open a few bottles of Martin Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, and let the sword-wielding robot "take a whack" at the replication armor. Despite pouring rain, it was a fascinating day…and, we anticipate, an equally enthralling episode featuring wine and guns.

“Earliest references to paper armor date back to the Tang Dynasty, about 600 years BCE,” Martin says. Made from the bark of a mulberry tree, this paper, he adds, provided several tactical advantages to metal armors, including a resistance to rust and increased mobility. “In addition, it was extremely flexible as well as cheap to produce.”

But could a fragile material like paper be as effective as steel against spears, arrows and guns? According to Martin, the armor’s flexible, layered lamellar construction actually gave paper armor a leg up on the competition. “Armor with a single sheet of material is compromised by a single crack. But with layers and pieces, any damage on one layer doesn’t compromise the other. Plus, the softer materials yield and neutralize much of the impact energy before they damage.” According to Martin, armor of this type would not be pierced by arrows or spear thrusts and could withstand a musket shot from 100 yards away.

The Discovery Channel team decided to test these claims. After constructing their own armor by cutting paper into strips and folding them back and forth into multiple layers to create protective scales, Imahara, Byron and Belleci packed up their new suit and traveled to Martin’s Napa Valley winery, which also houses extensive antique arms and medieval armor.

Martin pulled some of his ancient flintlock firearms from their cases, and the Mythbusters team went into town to arm themselves with bow and arrow. Then, the quartet set up the “battlefield” outside on the estate lawn. Two dummies, one outfitted with a steel suit and the second with the Mythbusters’ paper armor, served as sacrificial lambs.

Just how well did the armor fare against the arrow deluge and ancient Chinese firearms, not to mention the robot swordsman? Stay tuned for the episode air date to find out.

For more information, please contact Brooke Gadke, brooke@MartinEstate.com or 479.414.3951.

2010 Vintage Exceeds Expectations for Martin Estate

The photos above show Martin Estate’s full-time winemaker, Frederic Delivert, hammering out the top of the last new French oak fermentation barrel here at the estate.

Yes, Harvest season is in full swing at Martin Estate and as Frederic observes the small bins of grapes being walked into the cellar every morning, he gets more and more excited about the quality of his 2010 vintage.

“I’m truly thrilled with the actions we took this season,” Frederic says.

This is great news for a Napa Valley growing season that proposed challenges for some vineyards. What did Martin Estate do differently to take its 2010 vintage to the next level?

In January, Frederic made the decision to prune his vines ahead of the normal schedule to encourage an earlier budbreak, flowering and veraison. While early pruning risks exposure to frost, as Frederic says, “we have all the state-of-the-art tools here at Martin Estate – a wind machine that acts like a custom overhead heat fan and extensive sprinkler systems – to protect our vines from low temperatures.”

Two other key decisions took place during the growing season. First, because the 2010 season experienced abundant rain until almost June, Frederic allowed the natural grasses growing between the rows to flourish. These grasses soaked up extra moisture in the soils, which ensured the grapes still struggled early in the season to find deeper, natural water sources.

And, when the early summer in the Napa Valley remained wet and cool, ripening and veraison occurred slowly – but was right on target at Martin Estate due to this pro-active approach. Some vintners decided to open their leaf canopies early to allow extra sunshine to speed their veraisons. Frederic, however, was content with the long, slow and even ripening process and his second key decision was to allow the Martin Estate vine leaves to remain thick and heavy. When several heat waves struck the Napa Valley late in the season, Martin Estate’s plump, healthy grape bunches remained protected from sunburn by the cool shade of their canopies. “I knew you could always remove the leaves,” Frederic says, “but once removed, you wouldn’t be able to put them back on.”

As with every Martin Estate vintage, Frederic worked with vineyard manager Josh Clark to green harvest the vineyard just as veraison, the period where the sugars really develop and the grapes go from green to purple, occurred. This ensured that the grapes were perfectly, uniformly ripe. Frederic and the vineyard crew have started arriving before daybreak and are hand-picking every block into small 30-pound bins, which are carried into the winery for hand-sorting.

Now, as a mild, 70 to 80-degree semi-Indian Summer sets in on the valley, Frederic sighs with delight. Soon all the grapes will be fermenting in individual lots in French oak casks, small, brand new French oak barrels and custom-designed concrete tanks. Then each lot, which is fermented separately, will go into 100% French oak barrels, where the wines will refine and age for up to two years before bottling. Frederic will continue to hover over every barrel, sampling each lot throughout the year to monitor the wines’ progress. But with such great fruit, he anticipates nothing short of a stellar vintage for 2010.

Fresh off the Vine: Harvest News from Martin Estate Winemaker Frederic Delivert

Although he's waist deep in harvest preparations, Winemaker Frederic Delivert took a few early AM moments to go over the “state of the vineyard” at the Rutherford, Napa Valley property.

“I did my first grape sampling of the year last week,” Frederic said, “and we are only two weeks behind last year, which is a good place to be considering the cool weather we’ve had so far. Like 1998, 2010 will be one of the two coolest years to hit the Napa Valley in the past two decades.”

Because Frederic made some early viticultural decisions and took precautionary steps as early in the year as January, veraison has finished throughout the 7.5-acre vineyard, with the exception of a couple of Cabernet Sauvignon Clone 6 blocks (which consistently finish last every year). “We pruned very early in order to achieve an early bud break. We trimmed late, and even though it looks like hell not to have a nicely disked vineyard, our decision not to destroy the cover crop helped us remove extra moisture from the soil,” Frederic says.

“In fact, with the temperature rising into the 100s today,” Frederic continues, “we are doing the very first irrigation of the year. That speaks volumes about how much water was in our soil due to the late spring rains.”

Frederic hopes that this will be one of very few heat waves warming the Napa Valley. He would much prefer to continue the long stretch of mild days all the way into October, rather than have a succession of temperature spikes combined with early rain. But, he has a game plan for either outcome, and he’s exceptionally confident with the quality he sees right now in his Puerta Dorada Vineyard. After all, the r eal adventures in winemaking come from rising to the challenges nature throws before you.

In the winery, things c o ntinue to move slowly. Harvest preparations continue – equipment is being cleaned an d sanitized, and new French oak barrels are coming in. “My goal,” Frederic says, “is to be ready for September 10th. Then, if we have extra time, we’ll jump onto extra aesthetical projects like staining our new Taransaud barrels.”

Martin Estate Summer 2010: Healthy Evolution in the Vineyard

While there are those who express concern about the mild summer conditions and late rains of Napa Valley’s 2010 growing season, Martin Estate Winemaker Frederic Delivert is very excited about the Puerta Dorada Vineyard’s balanced berry set and healthy leaf canopies. We briefly visited with Frederic and Martin Estate’s talented Vineyard Manager Josh Clark to talk about the upcoming 2010 harvest and the evolution of the estate’s Rutherford vineyard.

The biggest changes this year, according to Clark, have been the trellis improvements made to several portions of the vineyard, which involved replacing the shorter wood line stakes with a metal line stake that allows the canopy to grow taller while still supporting the leafy growth and holding the vines and canopy in place.

While the extra rains and cooler than normal spring increased the risk for shatter, all signs indicate that Martin Estate made it through the high risk period in stunning fashion, with the berries setting evenly and naturally. “The soil now is drying down nicely and the berries should not get too big as a result,” Clark says. Clark will do a green harvest at veraison to further ensure that the grapes that make it to harvest are as uniformly ripe as they can be. The vineyard crew will once again hand harvest fruit into individual 30-pound lug boxes (by comparison, most commercial wineries harvest into one and two TON bins). The crew will arrive in the wee morning hours before daybreak. Picking will finish by mid-morning to ensure that they are cool and perfect for processing at the winery.

If the nice summer weather continues, we should be harvesting by early October!

Martin Estate Harvest 2009: Quality Trumps Quantity

It was a long, late harvest in the Napa Valley this year, thanks to back to back bouts of early autumn storms that took many growers in the valley by surprise. While we anticipated the first round of rain that hit in early October, the quarter inch expected from round two quickly accelerated to several inches in some spots, although only an inch fell here at our Rutherford estate.

Martin Estate has many factors working in its favor when challenges like these arise. We have long been advocates of hand harvesting, and our commitment to this delicate, intimate style of farming served us well this year. When dirt softens into mud, human feet are much more adept at maneuvering between the vines than machines, and at Martin Estate, the rainy days didn’t cause harvest to come to a halt. We were able to patiently wait for the acids and sugars in our grapes to come into balance before we began to pick – in both rain and sunshine.

In addition, we use small 30-pound picking bins throughout the harvest. Because this method allow us to assert quality control right there in the vineyard, the micro-bins are essential to maintaining the premium standards for which we have become known.

Before the second rain drenched the Napa Valley, vineyard manager Josh Clark dropped all of Martin Estate’s fruit that looked compromised, including a few bunches in our sunnier southern exposure that had started to shrivel – as full-time winemaker Frederic Delivert says, “We are growing grapes not raisins!” When picking finally commenced, we started with the most delicate varieties – Merlot and Petite Verdot – and finished with the thicker skinned Cabernet Sauvignon.

Only the very best berries went into the bins, which were literally walked to the winery, where they were hand sorted and destemmed in yet one more step to remove any inferior material. The Cabernet was brought in last, and thanks to our new, state-of-the-art crush equipment, Frederic was able to process the remaining fruit in less than two days. In other words, the risk for this year’s crop was minimal – but any risk keeps the blood pumping and energies high.

We are finally in the last stage of harvest, with separate whole berry fermentations in 500-litre French barriques focusing the specific characters of each lot before being pressed in a small basket press. Frederic monitors the process without interruption, allowing him to make press cuts at exactly the right moment.

This harvest is one of the lowest yielding in Martin Estate’s history. Clone 6, which is the foundation for the Martin Estate Reserve Cabernet, came in at less than one ton per acre, justifying its reputation as a winemaker’s dream and a grower’s nightmare!

Frederic, however, observes the small lots in his winery with a smile, because while the yields may be low, the fruit is high caliber. Small but spectacular! Quality trumps quantity every day in Fred’s book. And that makes the last few weeks’ early mornings and late nights filled with punch downs, hose hauling, draining, and pressing more than worth it.

We’re daredevils at Martin Estate!

Why would we decide to install beautiful custom made concrete tanks and a new chiller just weeks before harvest? Because we’re daredevils here at Martin Estate!

Or, we’re just completely mad.

Happily, the winery has not erupted into utter chaos. Instead, we seem to be breezing through the installations. And, while we’re hauling and sweating indoors, the Cabernet Sauvignon on our eight-acre Puerta Dorada Vineyard is just buoyant with great juice. The heat spike some folks were worried about have (at present) turned into beautiful, consistently warm days with pleasantly chilly mornings, and the moderate temperatures should lead to seamlessly integrated sugars, acids and tannins in our fruit at harvest time. When our full-time winemaker Frederic Delivert walked the vineyard this morning - something he’s taken to doing on a daily basis now – he was beyond pleased with the healthy canopy and small but concentrated yield.

The fruits of our labor are tasting mighty good this year!

Brooke Cheshire
Martin Estate