Pisoni cultivates Old World flavors with own-rooted vines

Wines & Vines, March, 2005 by Tina Caputo

The Pisoni Vineyard, located at the southern end of the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA in Monterey County, wasn't originally intended as a site for growing winegrapes. Longtime farmers Eddie and Jane Pisoni originally bought the 280-acre property in 1979 as a cattle and horse ranch. But their son, Gary Pisoni, had other ideas. He looked at the mountainous site and saw prime land for growing Pinot Noir--never mind the fact that it had no water source.

Not one to let small details stand in his way, Pisoni went ahead and planted Pinot Noir on the property in 1982. In an effort that inspired both disbelief and respect from neighboring vintners, he drove a water truck up from the valley floor to irrigate the original vines. He drilled five dry wells between 1986 and 1989, before finally hitting water in 1991.

Though Pisoni's grapes were of excellent quality, he dreamed of taking them a step further. An admitted Burgundy fanatic, he was determined to grow Pinot Noir grapes in the Old World style, even if it meant doing the unthinkable: planting blocks of own-rooted vines, rather than grafting on phylloxera-resistant rootstock.

"I used to read books about Pinot Noir and studied Burgundy," Pisoni says, "and all the old-timers would say, 'Sonny, you should have tried the wines before the phylloxera came in. Old World flavors!' I'd see that and I'd be salivating like a Pavlovian dog, wondering what these Old World flavors tasted like."

To satisfy his curiosity, Pisoni planted a 4.5-acre parcel--the Elias block--to own-rooted Pinot Noir vines in 1994, and harvested the first vintage in 1998. (All of Pisoni's vines originated from cuttings he brought back from Burgundy, now known as the Pisoni clone.) Encouraged by the success of the Elias vines, Pisoni planted own-rooted Pinot Noir in two additional blocks, the 3-acre Mommy's block and the 2.5-acre Camper block.

"I've always wondered if (own-rooted Pinot Noir) would have special flavors, and I think it does," Pisoni says. "It has an added dimension--the wine comes out almost leathery."

Local vintners seemed to regard his planting experiment with curiosity, Pisoni says, though winemakers from other regions questioned his sanity.

"It was more the people from Napa, the winemakers," Pisoni recalls. "They came and saw it and said, 'You're crazy, you're going to get phylloxera!' And I said, 'I'm not afraid of that bug like you Napa guys.' Even though I am afraid of it."

Despite his concerns, Pisoni has faith that the vines will be protected. "I believe (the block) is going to last a long time," he says. "The vineyard is all virgin ground, and there are no vineyards around me. So I figure there's no reason why it (would) get phylloxera. I planted some Cabernet on its own roots in 1982, and it's still fine. I planted two cuttings in each hole, and they almost all came up."

To protect against the vineyard pest, Pisoni uses only his own tillage equipment, and outside vehicles are generally kept away from the vineyard. "There's another 35 acres of the ranch that are on rootstock; that way we're protected there if we do get (phylloxera)," he says.

The vineyard's 1,300-foot elevation adds an extra measure of insurance, Pisoni says, since it's more likely that phylloxera bugs will be carried by the wind down toward the valley floor, rather than uphill.

Pisoni farms the own-rooted blocks in much the same way as the rest of his vineyards, which are trellised in vertical-shoot positioning. "There's no special treatment for the vines, except maybe a little less irrigation. The own-roots, I believe, go a little deeper than some of the others on 5C rootstock, which need more water."

The Elias block's location also makes it special, Pisoni says. "Elias happens to be facing southeast, which is perfect, and I love that it's on a perfect little slope. It's on really poor, decomposed granite, so the canopy knows just when to stop. Some vineyards I've seen have a little too much vigor, but (Elias) quits just right, when it hits about the top wire or a little bit more."

True to his adventurous nature, Pisoni's experiments extend beyond the own-rooted wines to other aspects of viticulture.

"I've experimented with all different types of rootstocks, and I've put some Pinot Noir on the quadrilateral cordon," he says. "The Davis professors said you can't grow good Pinot Noir on the quadrilateral, and I said, 'I can't wait to try it.'"

Though Pisoni reserves nearly all of the Elias block fruit for his Pisoni Estate Pinot Noir, he sells much of the remaining Pisoni Vineyard grapes to California's top Pinot Noir producers.

Wines made from Pisoni Vineyard grapes frequently earn high scores from wine critics like Robert Parker, Jr. and Wine Spectator. In Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, Sixth Edition, Parker writes, "I have consistently admired most of the Pinot Noirs that emerge from Pisoni Vineyard in Monterey's Santa Lucia Highlands." Indeed, he rated Patz & Hall's 1999 and 1997 Pisoni Pinots as 90-plus and 90, respectively. Siduri's highest-scoring Pinot Noir wines--all rated 90 and above--are made from Pisoni fruit, including the 1997, 1998 and 1999.