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68 p r a c t i c a l w i n e r y & v i n e ya r d O c t O B e r 2 0 1 4 "I check random vines as I walk down a vine row and collect 100 to 200 berries in a plastic bag. I am tasting for fla- vor development, tannin ripeness, acid and seed color." He pauses and samples another berry, then spits out the seeds. "We still have the lab run the numbers, but after tasting here all of these years, I know this vineyard pretty well." Edwards first started harvesting wine from the Bosché Vineyard in 1980, when he finished his master's degree at University of California, Davis, and signed on as assistant winemaker at Freemark Abbey for two years. He left for a short time to work at Rutherford Hill but returned to Freemark Abbey in 1985 to assume the position of head winemaker. In 1992 he became a full partner in the winery, and his dedication to making Bosché Cabernet Sauvignon was amplified. "This vineyard has been an important part of my life. When many of the origi- nal partners passed, the families decided to sell Freemark Abbey to Legacy Estates in 2001. In 2006, the Jackson family purchased the winery and have made many positive changes." He pauses and looks up, appearing to be deep in thought. "Since 1980 I have worked for three sets of owners at the winery, but this vineyard and the Bosché family have been a constant in my life." Lessons of the vineyard Over the years, Edwards has seen many changes to Bosché Vineyard. "When I first started here in the 1980s, there was a lot of red leaf issue, including both leafroll and fan leaf virus. Many of the vines had to be flagged not to be picked because the fruit was only pink in color and not ripe. To make matters worse, the vines were on AXR-1 rootstock that were susceptible to the phylloxera root louse." In 1991 the vineyard was replanted on 039-16 rootstock that is resistant to fan leaf virus. Edwards participated in the decision-making process, including selection of clones 4, 7 and 8. "These clones show what Cabernet should be like. They provide good color and dark black fruit." The vineyard was also replanted with Merlot clones 181 and 314. In terms of trellising and spacing, a Y trellis system was installed with bilat- eral cordons on 10 x 7 foot or 10 x 6 foot vine spacing, depending on location in the block. "I like the Y trellis with 36 inches between the top wires," explains Edwards, "because it brings filtered sun- light to the clusters better than VSP (ver- tical shoot position). It also keeps the canopy open so the air flows through that helps to keep the grapes healthy. "I think clones and rootstock are impor- tant, but I am a big proponent of site and soil. If you do not have the right site, everything else is substandard. We are blessed to be in Rutherford, on an alluvial fan, and close to the Mayacamas." One other change Edwards has wit- nessed during the past 30 years is fruit qual- ity. "We are picking much cleaner fruit. We used to harvest 4-ton gondolas and crush and destem without sorting. There was a lot of 'Rutherford dust' in there. Now we are being more careful, harvesting smaller lots and sorting in the vineyard and winery. "The fruit is clean and pure, but perhaps we are missing some of the earthiness now. It is so clean that we do not always taste the 'dust' as much." He laughs, "I find it fascinating to taste our library wines, because they really tell the story of Bosché Vineyards over the years." Though Edwards enjoys walking Bosché Vineyard and tasting the fruit each year, his favorite part of harvest occurs in the cellar. "I love tasting the fermenting wines. It gives you goose bumps. I can taste the evolution of the vines. I can taste Bosché." w i n e G R O w i n G