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Terra d'Oro Winery
Chris Leamy, winemaker
We interviewed head winemaker Chris Leamy on Terra d’Oro Winery’s “reopening” day—January 10, 2009. Prior to this, the winery was “Montevina,” a world-class winery operating in the county for 35 years.
Ownership of the winery didn’t change, just the name. Matter of fact, Montevina had been selling a Terra d’Oro label for years, alongside their Montevina label. But the winery’s owners—the Trinchero family, who also own Napa’s legendary Sutter Home Family Vineyards—wanted to honor Amador County and it’s “land of gold” (Spanish translation: terra d’oro). To learn more about the Trincheros and how they changed the wine industry by way of a simple Amador County Zinfandel grape, read their winery’s listing.
The place was packed for the relaunch event; their 64,000-square-foot winery was buzzing with happy guests, exquisite gourmet food, and generous glasses of Terra d’Oro wine. After the official unveiling of the winery’s new sign—by none other than Leamy himself and his boss and former winemaker Jeff Myers—the party went into full swing. It was then that we were able to steal Leamy away for a few minutes for our interview.
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How
long have you been winemaking?
I’ve been here since 2000. I came in as we finished
construction on this building. [We] began construction in ‘98 and
finished in 2000. We expanded from 5000 square feet to 64,000 square
feet. Jeff Myers was the winemaker at the time. He decided to get an
assistant winemaker to come in, and that was me. Then in 2004, Jeff was
promoted to vice president of the company and I was promoted to
winemaker. I have the real luxury of having the guy who had my job for
20 years in the office next door to me. That’s very nice.
And
your background—where did you go to school?
I went to school at UC Davis, the best enology
school in the world, but I did not take a single winemaking class the
whole time I was there.
Really? What did you major in?
I had a degree in biological science; my emphasis was in microbiology. When I got out of school, I got a job as a microbiologist. I tested food, milk, and water for five years, making sure things were safe and edible and wouldn’t make you sick. After five years it was time to look for another job. I really enjoyed it and I was actually looking for another micro job. Sebastiani Vineyards was looking for a wine microbiologist to work in the lab. I said, “I can do that.” I got that job, and five or six days in, I was hooked. Why didn’t anyone ever tell me I could work in the wine industry? Wow, you can make a living doing this?
When
was that?
That was ‘97. When I started, I worked in the lab for a year and then there was an opening in the winemaking department, so I got a job there. I worked there for a couple of years, then came up here.
What
was the first wine you made on your own?
You never really make anything all on your very
own. For us here, everything is a team effort, from what the guys grow
out in the vineyard to the people who crush it, the ones who move it
around. . .I really don’t have an answer for that.
Is
there a wine where
you did all the blending?
For the final blending. . .my work is setting the
wines in the right place and having the guys making the right decisions
along the wine’s life. And then at the end, [my work is] tasting all of
the various lots of Zinfandel and putting together what that final wine
is going to be.
Do
you enjoy that part?
Oh, I love it. Right now I’ve got 25 different lots of Zinfandel floating around from ‘07, pared down from about 50. As the wines age and become similar, you can put them together, but some stay separate the whole time. Now’s the time I’m looking at these ‘07 Zins we’re looking to bottle in March, April, May of this year; which ones fit and how much, and what is this final wine actually going to be. I’ve got ideas of what it will be, but will putting these wines together get to the wine I want it to be? And that’s really fun because everything in tasting is about flavor thresholds. There are lots of chemicals our brains can’t handle, that they don’t interpret until they reach a certain threshold, then you taste them. So you can have two wines that have a flavor below threshold and when you put them together they add up and now all of a sudden there’s a whole new character. That new character can be good or it can be bad. Usually with experience you have a pretty good idea. You put these two together and they are probably going to taste like this. But it is a natural product and you get curve balls and all of a sudden, “That’s spectacular” or “Let’s not do that.”
You
certainly don’t want thousands of gallons of something bad.
Everything is done in small batches. It’s amazing.
You take those two pieces and put them into other wines and they can
make them better.
What
was the curve ball that surprised you the most?
I think the wine that always is surprising and just
takes a lot of work is Sangiovese. It’s such an intense wine, it’s got
so much flavor, keeping the flavor in balance with the tannins, in
balance with the aroma, it always takes a little more work. It’s one of
those that may have amazing aroma, but the color isn’t right. You have a
piece that has gorgeous color but you wish it had a little more
structure to it. Then you have another piece that by itself is a nice
wine, but not a wine you are too excited about, it’s not the, “Yes, this
is it!” Then you put bits of
those two together and, “Okay, that’s it! That’s the wine we want to go
out with the Terra d’Oro name on it.” It’s fun. It’s the most fun part
of my job.
When
do you add the alcohol? I ask that because we had a winemaker tell us
that a woman actually asked him that question. What kind of strange
questions have you heard?
I get a lot of, “So, there really are strawberries in there?” No. That’s one of the discouraging things about wine because we’re so into it we start talking about ripe but not too ripe strawberries, wet river rocks but not mossy river rocks, these really crazy descriptors that make sense to us because that’s the way we break wines down. So a lot of people ask, one, where did that come from and, two, did you actually put that in? No, you have to remind people that these are just chemicals that remind your brain of a flavor that evokes memories and evokes sensations. You are never wrong when you taste wine. If you say you taste strawberry in Barbera or in Pinot Grigio, which I don’t think have any strawberry flavor, I can’t tell you that you are wrong. It’s your tongue talking to your brain. If you taste strawberries, then there are strawberries there. I can guide you into what I taste, but what you taste is all yours. That’s what’s fun about wines; everyone’s interpretation is different. That’s why we make so many different wines.
How
many different varieties?
Originally, Zinfandel, Barbera, Syrah, Sangiovese, Cab, Chard, Merlot, Nebbiolo . . .
Well
over a dozen?
Yes.
After
a hard day of blending wines, when you get home and put your feet up,
what do you drink?
Never wine! I have Lagunitas IPA, wonderful brewery, makes beautiful IPA
with so much hops it’s absolutely painful—it’s wonderful. After a day of
drinking wine, there’s nothing like a beer. A good malt “pop” will
cleanse your palate very, very well.
Do
you have a hobby or special interest?
I have a Donald Duck collection that I’ve slowed down on in recent years. Actually, since I started working in the wine business, I’ve slowed down.
Why
Donald Duck?
I have no idea. I started doing that when I was 13 or 14, so who knows what’s going through your head when you’re 13 or 14.
Do
you do anything else that’s different?
Really, it’s a running joke, but trying to find anything that I enjoy as much as this. A lot of my free time if it’s not here, it’s doing something connected with this. If there’s a charity event on a Saturday night and if I go, it’s not costing us any money to send an employee. It’ll just cost us the wine and I’ll bring a case or two and pour at the event. Those kinds of things I really enjoy. I like going and talking with people and seeing how they respond to the wine. A lot of time if people don’t know who I am, that’s even better. It’s fun to guide people to wines they will enjoy, because sometimes their friends like one so they think they have to enjoy it, and they don’t. There’s a wine out there for you and sometimes it’s not mine, it’s the person’s two tables down. That’s fine; as long as you’re drinking wine, I’m happy.