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winemaking Technical spoTlighT 76 Wines&Vines January 2015 would perform, but after the 2014 harvest he has no complaints. Panella added that the company also threw in a free CAD plan for the catwalk to access the tanks. The design was dismissed by a cou- ple of other suppliers he was negotiating with, but ultimately it proved to be the best. "The one they came up with in the beginning, that was the right one, and it was for free," he said. The main fermentation room is connected to the winery's barrel room via a covered cause- way that provides room for barrel work. When Wines & Vines visited the winery, Randy "Ziggy" Ziegler, the winery's other full-time winemak- ing staffer, was busy filling barrels with wines from the 2014 vintage. Joseph writes the work orders that are car- ried out by Ziegler and Panella when he has the time. Panella said he grew up doing farm work on his family's properties, and he defi- nitely prefers working on the winemaking side. "I'd rather be doing punch downs than driving a tractor," he said. Panella said he and Joseph are still develop- ing their oak program, but so far they really like the options from Tonnellerie Radoux and TW Boswell. "Barbera is our flagship kind of wine, and we've done that for several years. French oak really supports the spicy notes of the Barbera," he said. For Zinfandel, Panella said American oak has worked well to provide the sweeter flavors of chocolate, cocoa and some notes of vanilla. A few of the barrels at the winery had heads with the logo of a different Lodi winery, and when asked about it, Panella said it wasn't custom crush but the large 2014 harvest that overwhelmed the new winery's existing coo- perage stock. "So we scrambled and called up some friends down the road and said: 'Hey you got any barrels by chance?'" Custom crush is not something that the winery offers or that Panella wants to do in the future. "That is not part of the business plan in any shape or form," he said. "It's a lot of work and not a lot of money." Joseph said the long-term plan is to eventu- ally expand the production space to support Oak Farm's own brands, so it doesn't make sense to sell space in tanks that will eventually be filled with estate wine. "The hope is to out- grow our capacity, so it doesn't make sense from a business standpoint to be fostering those relationships," he said. Adjacent to the fermentation and barrel rooms is a large stone courtyard with several seating areas surrounding a large fireplace. The space provides a view into the production areas, which was part of the design so visitors could see barrels being filled or emptied and other winery work. C M Y CM MY CY CMY K AACPW&VAdDelivery28V201401press.pdf 1 12/5/14 1:51 PM