 |
|
 |
Dobra Zemlja Winery
Milan Matulich , winemaker
Milan is an interesting person, from his Croatian
heritage and accent to his toothy grin hidden under his signature white
bushy mustache. His outlook on life is contagious, and his eye for
perfection and beauty in everything is evident in his land and his wine.
We’ve known Milan and many of the Dobra Zemlja crew for years, and it is
because of this relationship the
Wine-Oh! Guide book series came to be: during one visit, Dahlynn
made the comment we should write off the mileage (a perk for fulltime
travel writers) by penning an article on Dobra for a Bay Area newspaper
we were freelancing for at the time. From there, the idea snowballed
into the series.
On the day of our interview, Ken met Milan in Dobra Zemlja’s storage facility across the parking lot from the tasting room. Surrounding the two of them were oak barrels and stainless steel tanks, all filled with wine. Several hundred newly filled wine bottles were awaiting labels. During the talk, Milan drank wine from a small Mason jar, offering Ken the same (not a sip, but his own jar). Even though it was a young Zin straight out of a stainless steel aging vat, is was already excellent. The interview begins when Ken asks Milan about a small hand-labeling machine located on a table in the warehouse…
Milan at this hand labeling machine.
You still hand label each bottle
individually?
(Walking over to the table, Milan picked up a bottle and demonstrated how to attach the label to it as he talked). If I get one of those automatic labeling machines then I need to hire a mechanic, too, just to keep it running. Rather than laying people off, I can keep them working during the slow season [by doing it by hand].
Photo: Milan and Dahlynn viewing Wine-Oh! Guide
How did you get started in this
winemaking business?
We started raising grapes and I was always making
wine at home for home use. One thing led to another and here we are. We
started the winery in 1995.
I’ve talked to other winery
owners who got into the business because they were doing it at home and
thought it would be fun…then it turned into a 24-hour a day, seven day a
week job.
Oh, yeah, when my wife and I started, we were here 24 hours a day. Just the two of us; I was making the wine and she was working the tasting room. You have to keep at it. Like right now (early November) it’s slack, there isn’t a lot to do. But when there are things to do, you have to hustle.
Where did you learn winemaking?
Just making and drinking, making and drinking…and drinking and drinking and drinking.
Did you ever take courses like
those offered at U.C. Davis?
No, I never did that. I talked with winemakers, picked people’s brains. The stuff makes itself. Like I keep saying to people, the winemaker is a custodian; we’re the housekeepers, we do the clean-up and stuff like that. The grapes make the wine. It’s kind of an extended home winemaking operation.
You do a little more than that,
such as blending…
We make blends; you have to keep after it. You have to be sure the grapes are happy.
Kind of like happy cows make
better cheese?
Exactly, our job is to keep the grapes happy. With a little bit of luck, like I say in our No Alibi Pledge: When asked what was needed to make great wine, Baron Philippe Rothschild said, “The grape, the climate, the earth, the winemaker and God.”
We’ve got the perfect climate here, the good terroir and we don’t make excuses for God! That sums it up. You’ve got luck, you got the weather, sometimes you can get hit by frost and it wipes out your crop. And sometimes it will wipe out half of your crop and the other half will be marvelous. It’s not a miraculous thing that you do, but it is a miraculous thing that happens, but we don’t do anything.
I’ve heard some criticism for
those who maybe because of the way they were taught to make wine, insist
on precision measurements and repeatable steps in everything they do.
Obviously, there is chemistry involved, but doesn’t winemaking have to
be more than chemistry?
Yes, you have to check the sugar, check the acid.
(U.C) Davis is making all kinds of studies about how to perfect this
thing, and they get it analyzed to the Nth component and still some of
these winemakers don’t come up with something that’s very good. I think
the winemaker should minimally intrude on Mother Nature. That’s my way
and so far, enough people like it
You talk to someone like [Darrell] Corti (wine expert and retailer) down in Sacramento and he says the Amador wines are too big, too much alcohol; he likes the French wines; he likes those punier wines. Sometimes the French pick gapes when there is snow on the ground because they have a shorter season, a much shorter season. Tuscany, hell, it’s the same parallel as Washington. We’re in the 38th and they are in the 44th, I think.
Now there are winemakers making Cab up here, a little higher because they figure it’s cooler up higher. They figure they can make Cab because Napa has a cooler, coastal climate. But here their Cabs come out different that they do down in the Bay Area.
Milan and Norina Johnson outside the tasting room. (It's
Halloween!)
Even up here, wines like your
Sangiovese—I love your Sangiovese—is different from different wineries
and different years. You’ve got microclimates here that can change
everything.
We’re about 1,750 feet here. You go down a hundred, two hundred feet, I see the fog come to the gate. When I was in Amador City at the 1,000 foot elevation, we got socked in. It would be sunny like this until about one o’clock until the fog came in from Sacramento.
I was in New Zealand, and I’d say their Sauvignon Blanc and Gewürztraminer were outstanding. Just delightful. In fact I’d like to raise Gewürztraminer, but it may be too hot here.
How many acres of grapes are you
growing now?
About 18 acres now. Zinfandel and Syrah, the standards, the first thing we planted. Sangiovese, Syrah, Viognier, we have a little bit of Grenache, a bit of Marsanne. We opened the winery with Zin and Syrah.
When did you first plant those?
In the ‘80s.
So they aren’t quite “old vine”
yet?
(laughs) No, no.
What’s your favorite wine?
People always ask me that question (hesitates).
The one you’re drinking, right?
That’s pretty much it. No, usually my standard answer to that is whatever bottle is almost empty—or whichever one is too full, I try to even them out (laughs again). In reality, when I get serious about it, I tell them it’s like food; how can you say I like peaches better than apricots or cherries? Completely different. Then some years you get an outstanding Syrah or an outstanding Sangiovese. The Barbera, we just bottled the darn thing, you know, aged in the bottle four days and people are buying the stuff like crazy and loving it. I’m beginning to love it and I haven’t been a fan of Barbera.
I’ve always liked Barbera.
A lot of people do, but I never was a fan of Barbera. But I’m beginning to like it; probably I’m acquiring the taste because I’m making it (laughs).
Because you’re “testing it”
regularly?
Yeah, (laughs again). That was another thing I used to tell people when I was pouring wine.
What about your white wines?
Sauvignon Blanc would be a good white to grow up here. We’re making—in fact I didn’t make it, Jeff (assistant at the winery) made it—some Sauvignon Blanc. It’ll be crisp and much lighter than the Viognier. Probably we should plant some Sauvignon Blanc. I wasn’t even going to make any white until Sobon (nearby winery) came around with a bottle of Viognier. He said, “Are you going to make Viognier?” because I was growing Viognier. I said no, I wasn’t going to make white because you have to keep it cool. He said, “Oh, hell, you don’t have to do all that. Just barrel ferment it.” And that’s what I did. I barrel fermented it and I can’t keep enough of it now.
Explain to me, how did this tutu
thing come about? (Milan is featured wearing a tutu on some of his wine
labels)
Ah, well, my wife’s an artist, and she designed all the labels and the new sign (carved wood sign at the entrance). She did a marvelous job on it.
Back to the tutu… did you
actually wear that thing?
I only wore it once. I only wore a tutu to a Halloween party once (laughs more).
That will teach you. Now your
tutu-wearing days are immortalized on a wine label.
The fact of the matter is, other guys have come in here who have worn tutus to parties, so we’re starting a tutu support group and rehab program. When we first decided to do the jugs (great wine in “moonshine jugs”), she did that Gollum thing [from Lord of the Rings]. Why? Who knows! She’s an artist and she’s left handed. How can I tell you how her mind works? I’ve been trying to figure it out for years (laughs).
Do you have a hobby?
I devour books. I’m a slow reader and getting slower. I can’t live without books. You wonder, there are so many people who have never read a novel. Younger people they go on the Internet and it’s mostly imagery.
The world is changing…
It’s the same thing with time. A few months ago I called time (the telephone company number for getting the correct time of day). They said they don’t do it anymore. And it’s because everyone has a cell phone. And like the wire phones, Norina (Dobra’s tasting room manager) doesn’t even have a wired phone. They all have cell phones.
Do you have a favorite wine myth?
Probably do (thinking). It’s a myth, although not really a myth: I was behind the bar and a guy came in and said he tasted pimento in our wine. He said, “I know there’s pimento in there. Do you guys put pimento in there? I’m going to buy several bottles and have it tested to see if you people put pimento in your wine.” He swore up and down there was pimento in the wine.
[Another time], a lady came in and said she tasted green olives. I think it was Zin. So I poured myself some wine and my God, I tasted green olives at that moment. Never again after that did I taste green olives. The power of suggestion can definitely influence what you taste.
After a long hard day’s work you
get home and relax, what do you drink?
Wine!
A lot of the younger winemakers
answer beer.
Oh, when you’re in the middle of it, when you’re out there crushing and it’s hot, Scott Harvey used to say that wineries run on beer. It’s beer, boy, there’s nothing like a cold beer when you’re sticky with grape juice. It’s a crazy world, you know that.