Want to be a winemaker? It sounds like a lot of fun, and of course, it can be. And to hear the rags to riches (well, not quite rags) story of how Joel Peterson, founding winemaker of Ravenswood, created an internationally famous brand is mesmerizing.
Joel was born in 1947 the son of a highly credentialed scientist parents. When Joel was four years old, his mother discovered food writer Elizabeth David, who wrote about the importance of drinking French wine with food (note the emphasis on the word French). From that point on, the Peterson family sent abroad for French wine, and by the age of ten, Joel was a member of the San Francisco Wine Sampling Club (organized and operated by his father).
After graduating from Oregon State University, Joel became a wine writer and consultant, then learned the skills of traditional winemaking from the late Joseph Swan, an outstanding craftsman of old California Zinfandel.
So if I tell you that Joel started Ravenswood with $4,000 – would you believe me? At the time, he had very little expectations of becoming famous or wealthy from his winery. He simply wanted to make a good wine from California’s “signature” varietal, Zinfandel. And to this day (his mother would approve) he prides himself on how European it is, compared to other American wines. By European I assume Joel to mean that the wine is elegant, well balanced, and no element (i.e. acid, tannin, alcohol) overwhelms any other.
Yet by its very definition, Zinfandel is a high alcohol wine. “Do you use reverse osmosis to lower the alcohol?” I ask, since this is a new common practice to lower the high alcohol of California wines. Joel is adamant against doing this, as to his mind, it destroys the integrity of the wine’s nature. And even though the alcohol is between 14 and 15 percent, it is in balance with the ripe fruit, acidity, and tannins.
Today in New York, I had the good fortune to taste through his wines, with grapes grown on many vineyards. Joel explains he likes to buy grapes rather than grow them because this is what the growers do best (and they also own the best land). First on the list was 2007 Dickerson Zinfandel, on the west side of the Napa Valley. This was one of Joel’s first vineyard contracts, and the fact they are doing business twenty years later says a great deal about Joe’s ethics. A very classic Zinfandel. Next is 2007 Big River Zinfandel, located between the Alexander and Russian River valleys. This Zinfandel is ripe and jammy with cassis, black olives, and raspberry. 2007 Belloni Zinfandel follows, and is a favorite with judges at the Orange County wine festival.
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