Q&A With Dan

Dan was recently interviewed for SiPS Magazine out of Arizona. Since it's a local trade magazine and not everyone got to see it, we thought we'd highlight a bit of the Q&A here.

How in the world did a kid from Philly with crazy chemistry degrees make it all the way out to California to become one of California's premiere chardonnay and pinot houses?

Circuitously. I started drinking wine, along with other hedonistic pursuits (OK, I started those earlier) when I was in college in Boston (double major chemistry/philosophy). My older brother was really into Burgundy and was living in Boston. The first wines I fell in love with were the 1969 DRCs, in 1974—they were cheaper then.

I was always into outdoor play, and spent any time I could out west climbing, hiking, biking or skiing, so after college I ski bummed in Aspen, Colorado, for a year, then worked at University of Utah doing chemistry research and skiing. While I was in Utah, I received a fellowship to study chemistry at UC Berkeley and that (along with a girl) is what brought me to California. Living in Berkeley and San Francisco, I started visiting wine country and realized that it could be a(n) (almost) viable profession, so after a few years at Berkeley and then a few at UCSF doing biomedical research, I jumped ship and went back to school at Davis to get my masters in winemaking.

After stints at Mondavi and Schramsberg (for whom I worked in Portugal for a few years), I got the winemaking position at La Crema in 1990. The combination of making wine from grapes I most liked to drink, and living in West County Sonoma just struck—awesome place to grow and make Pinot and Chard, awesome place to live and play. La Crema turned out fantastic—Jess bought it 2 years after I started and I really got to learn my craft in years when Pinot was just hitting its stride in California.

Planting grapes and making wine for La Crema and Hartford Court during the formative years of local Pinot production was wonderful training, and after that whole business got to a certain size, it just felt like I should do something of my own. The Duttons were always my favorite grower in those years, so it was natural for Steve Dutton and I to put our little venture together. It's been wonderful.

I know early in your career, you worked under Robert Mondavi. How was he as a teacher and if not him, who were some of the men and women who shaped Dan Goldfield into the man he is now?

Heavy question, dude—how much time do you have?

The greatest thing that Robert Mondavi taught all of us was that the more we make an effort to learn, share information and help our neighbors, the better it is for all of us. The better our neighborhood of wine is recognized in the world, the better it is for each of us. Not everyone practices business like that anymore, but it's clearly true. Jack Davies from Schramsberg was a man of great integrity, so those are the models that mean the most to me.

On the winemaking side, I really had no particular mentor; not a lot of folks were proficient in Pinot in the days I started at La Crema, and in any case, we were descending into bankruptcy when I was first hired, so I guess indirectly I learned a lot from that owner in terms of being self sufficient. In the end, you learn from everyone. Our assistant Jeff was a great teacher by all the questions he asked, and a myriad of folks during the KJ days were great influences since with everyone around you driving so hard, it brings out your best; and sometimes your worst, which hopefully you learn from as well.

If you weren't making pinots and chardonnays from the Russian River, do you have another love as far as a grape or region in the world where you would like to make wine?

I'm still a great lover of Burgundy...how can you not love the Pinots of Comte de Vogue or Rousseau, the Chablis of Raveneau, or the Chassagnes of Sauzet. I also love Barolos, and pretty much any really steely whites, like Austrian Gruners or Alsatian Gewurtz.

I know biking is very big for you. How often do you ride, and do you actually watch the Tour de France?

I'm not big on watching sports in general—rather do it than watch. I might catch some recaps of the TDF late at night. Pretty amazing to watch the greats.

Physical activity is just my way of relaxing, and relaxing makes you more creative and friendlier, maybe even marginally sane on occasion. A lot of the kernels of things I write, or say at talks, come to me during rides. It's so pretty and enveloping in the hills here that when I just lose myself into the movement and the visuals during a ride, my love of the place really takes hold. And I think that's truly at the core of winemaking.

In Memory of Bill Adint

Every few years I have the incredible good fortune to visit The Great Land and my wonderful friends of Alaska. The ostensible reason for the trip is to play in the mountains with my son Jamie, but time with our community of friends in Anchorage is always an equal pleasure. Folks often comment how sharing the challenges and rewards of the high mountains is a great model for a teenager. Certainly; and so is being part of a community of folks who are unfailingly generous, warm and hospitable, and always come together to help and support one another. That precious community of characters seems harder and harder to find these days.

Sadly, our friends had real reason to need each others' support last month. Bill Adint was a man at the center of the group, a great friend to me, and a great professional in the wine business who passed away unexpectedly at the age of 59. Bill (the middle one in the picture above) was Vice President for Wine Marketing at K&L Distributors in Anchorage and had worked with K&L for 28 years. After all those years in the business Bill never lost his love for wine, people and a great time. I never personally had an occasion where I needed Bill's assistance that he didn't come through. Bill loved to play the curmudgeon, but it was a thin veneer - his warmth, humor and intellect were always apparent to me. Bill was a hugely devoted father, and the kids were always a topic we got to when we spoke. His rightful pride in his own children, and his sincere interest in mine was a pleasure.

It was weirdly karmic that Jamie and I were already in Alaska on our climbing trip when Bill passed away. There were actually 2 cases of Dutton-Goldfield wine under his desk for a party upon our return. The party went on as Bill certainly would have wanted, and we all had to drink extra chardonnay in his absence. The occasion was sad but certainly not somber, and our great loss helped us also to feel love and appreciation for what we still have. That love and appreciation was hugely apparent between the friends who were Tamara and Don Grasse's lucky guests that night. Midnight sun over the vast Alaskan scenery, endless open bottles of fine wine, and most importantly the company of great friends, was a scene that Bill certainly loved (he would have totally ragged Grasse for the cigars though).

It always comes back to friends and family - the group that paid tribute to Bill at the Petroleum Club a few days later was the true measure of Bill as a person - his classy and thoughtful children, his devoted friends who were always there for Bill as he was for them, and colleagues who appreciated Bill for who he was more than just for what he did.

Bill will leave a real gap in the Alaska wine and food community - his personality, and his voice that evoked it, were grand and unmistakable. Whether it was just harassing people at the bar at The Petroleum Club or The Corsair, or lording over his legendary ski trip, he was a big presence - a presence that will be greatly missed.

In The News

We've just sent the first of our 2009 vintage wines out to the media, and are starting to get some nice news back from the press.

Being big fans of Stephen Tanzer, we were especially thrilled to get these nice reviews. The 2009 single-vineyard wines will be released this fall:

2009 Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir
"Blackberry, licorice and violet on the slightly liqueur-like nose. Silky on entry, then a bit youthfully imploded, with good juicy energy to the dark flavors of blackberry, black cherry, violet and spices. A note of sassafras gives lift to the finish. Delicious pinot...91 points."
~ Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

2009 Fox Den Vineyard Pinot Noir
"Reticent aromas of blueberry, sassafras and wild herbs, with a light resiny nuance. Supple and creamy but shapely, with nicely integrated acidity giving shape to this very young Pinot. Sappy, extract-rich flavors of raspberry, herbs and earthy spices lead to a classically dry and very savory finish. Conveys a strong impression of soil character that goes well beyond fruitiness...92 points."
~ Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

2009 McDougall Vineyard Pinot Noir
"Brooding aromas of raspberry and menthol are joined by a floral element as the wine opens in the glass. Silky, classically dry and savory, with a lovely light touch and an impression of almost salty minerality. More red and less black in fruit character than the Green Valley examples. Really dusts the palate on the long aftertaste. This opened beautifully with air...93 points."
~ Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

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And from the rest of the wine press:

2009 Morelli Lane Vineyard Zinfandel
"Shows structure and lots of personality, with bold aromas of freshly cracked pepper and anise that leads to complex yet sleek flavors of boysenberry, thyme and mineral. Tannins sneak in on the finish...91 points."
~ Wine Spectator

2009 Stoetz Ridge Vineyard Zinfandel
"Sleek and well-focused, with black raspberry and brown spice aromas and elegant, layered black cherry, toast and caramel notes that finish with big but ripe tannins. Drink now through 2016...91 points."
~ Wine Spectator

2009 Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir
"A dry, robust Pinot Noir. Starts out a little rustic, with big tannins and acidity that give the cherries a sour candy taste. But it's complex, with a meaty edge, and elegantly constructed. Gets better as it breathes in the glass. Drink now-2014...90 points."
~ Wine Enthusiast

2009 Dutton Ranch Chardonnay
"Very appealing, pale straw color, lush with medium body on the palate. Flavors of vanilla and ripe tropical fruits. The spicy touch of lemons and limes balances it out. Here’s a wine that’s not over heavy with alcohol or oak but has a creamy texture that rolls on the tongue. A delicious Chardonnay. This would go very well with rich seafood or chicken dishes. In fact, it will even complement salmon."
~ Narsai David, KCBS

2009 Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir
"Medium deep crimson color. Distinct smoky, earthy aromas of Pinot Noir touched with ripe berries. Spicy, bright herbal notes up front on the palate. Plenty of tannins, soft tannins to balance out the fruit and enough acidity to keep your mouth watering."
~ Narsai David, KCBS

2009 Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir
"Dan Goldfield's commitment to restraint is paying off as a lighter touch style of Pinot is again gaining its due attention. The Dutton Ranch is a mix of parcels from the Duttons' wide holdings; this latest is heady and exotic, with mint and curry leaf accents to fresh raspberry and cherry. Great mineral tension and subtle tannin to reward aging. The Emerald Ridge Vineyard bottling further finesses that texture."
~ San Francisco Chronicle

2009 Dutton Ranch Chardonnay
"The winemaker's hand shows here insofar as the wine's deep, well-defined fruit is matched step for step with a fair bit of sweet oak spice, and the tactile polish that it displays on the palate makes it a Chardonnay to be enjoyed in the near term. Still, it firms up at the finish in a way that suggests it will keep very well, and whether drunk now or later, it wines easy endorsement...92 points."
~ Connoisseur's Guide to California Wine

2009 Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir
"The nose explodes with dark cherry aromas mixed with cloves; and after a little air in the glass raspberries and concentrated fruit flavors emergence and dance on the palate. The middle is a symphony with a smooth, elegant finale...5 stars."
~ San Francisco Examiner.com

Vineyard Spotlight: Dutton Ranch-Mill Station Vineyard

While the Dutton's Mill Station Vineyard isn't a single-vineyard designate, it's a very important vineyard for Dutton-Goldfield, as it's the core of our Dutton Ranch Chardonnay.

The vineyard was planted in 1975, and the Duttons started farming it in 1978, making it one of the older vineyards in Green Valley. Located in Sebastopol in the southern edge of Green Valley, sitting at just 200 feet of elevation, the vineyard is in a direct path for the cold marine influence that comes in from Bodega Bay through the Petaluma Wind Gap. These days, most farmers likely wouldn't choose to plant there because of the challenges of farming such a cold spot—Mill Station Vineyard not only gets some of the hardest spring frosts, but since it's so cold and late-ripening, it also is one of the Dutton's few vineyards that frequently gets frost protected during harvest. The icicle-draped leaves and tiny clusters here are from the spring of 2008.

After farming the vineyard for two decades, Warren Dutton purchased the vineyard in the late '90s. The vines are a mix of Clone 4, 15, Wente and Hyde. At one point, the Dutton's tried planting some pinot at Mill Station, but after a few years gave in to the fact that the site was just too cold and too wet to ripen pinot noir. At 92 acres, the site is the largest single vineyard in the Dutton's array of holdings, and its fruit goes to a who's-who of wineries. In addition to Dutton-Goldfield, wineries include Patz & Hall, Schramsburg, Hartford, Davis Family, Dutton Estate, Girard, and J Winery (between 15-20 wineries altogether).

Because it's such a cold site, the fruit from Mill Station has wonderful acidity, giving us the core of lively citrus brightness we love in our Chardonnay.

Wine Terminology
From Pinot Forum materials.

Rootstock: The plant forming the root system of the grapevine to which a fruiting variety, or scion, is grafted. Specific rootstocks are chosen for special soil conditions and to overcome pests or diseases.

Russian River Valley: The Russian River Valley is an AVA that lies at the heart of Sonoma County. This is where Pinot Noir shines. The daily weather trends during the growing season (April - October) fluctuate from cool, thick fog in the morning to warm afternoons and cool evenings. The AVA comprises a total of 126,600 acres of which 15,000 are planted to vine.

Saignee: French term meaning "bled" or a winemaking technique that refers to running off or bleeding a certain percentage of juice from the tank or barrel to concentrate the phenolic compounds in the resulting wine.

Scion: The upper part of a grafted vine plant; the part that determines the plant's varietal significance.

Sediment: A deposit in wine. They usually fall into two categories: precipitated matter in a mature wine resulting from the aging process; and material thrown off by a wine after it has been exposed to extreme temperature changes.

Shoot Positioning: A vineyard technique employed in the growing season in an effort to position the individual shoots in such a way as to minimize shading of other shoots and clusters.

Sonoma County: Sonoma County is one of the largest wine grape producing regions in the country. The region encompasses 13 appellations, which reflects its diversity in soil, climate and growing conditions. The area is made up of over 1786 square miles with over 60,000 acres planted with wine grapes, of practically every variety.

Sonoma Volcanic Deposits: Soil spewed out by not so distant volcanoes.

Sucker: A non fruiting water sprout arising from an older part of the grapevine.

Sulfites: Sulfur containing compounds, created by yeasts during fermentation and added by winemakers to counteract oxidation and prevent spoilage.

Sur Lie: French for "on the lees".