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Technical spoTlighT winemaking January 2015 Wines&Vines 73 to the public in late October 2014, represents the next stage in Lodi's development as a wine region. "I think it's an example of long-time families in this area investing in the future—and it's happening, the movement is happening in Lodi," he said. "The grapes are good, the public is taking notice, the wines are getting good reviews, and I think it's about time that places like this pop up in an area that really has been the grape breadbasket for California wines for over 100 years." Joseph started in winemaking at E. & J. Gallo Winery after studying botany and chem- istry at Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif. While at school, he was introduced to wine by a friend from Sonoma County, Calif. "It was a good fit for the background I had. I grew up in Visalia around table grapes, and so it just seemed logical with the chemistry and botany and a love of food and wine," Joseph said. "I like to work, and there's a lot of work in making wine, so it seemed the logical thing to get in to." streamline production, minimize labor In designing and equipping the winery, Joseph said the goal was to streamline production and also minimize labor. The outside crush pad is located beneath a large awning with plenty of space to unload trucks. General contractor Nickell Construction, based in nearby Galt, Calif., finished the pro- duction area on schedule, about two weeks before the first 2014 grapes arrived at the winery Aug. 8. That lot of Verdelho was the first Oak Farm processed onsite. The 2014 harvest for Oak Farm totaled a little more than 1,000 tons—or nearly twice what was ex- pected—meaning the facility was broken in with a bit more pressure than anticipated. "We just thought we were going to ease into it," Joseph said. All the grapes are delivered in half-ton Mac- roBins, and after being unloaded with a forklift equipped with a Cascade bin dumper, they are tipped into a hopper that empties on a shaking sorter table. St. Helena, Calif.-based Burgs- tahler Machine Works built the shaker table and several other pieces of equipment on the Oak Farm crush pad. Joseph said the table is quiet, and its motion coaxes a steady stream of grapes out of the hopper. "You don't have to physically do any- thing," he said of working the sorting post. "Just select out MOG or subpar grapes." Sorted clusters fall into a Diemme Kappa 15 destemmer and crusher that ejects pro- cessed berries into MacroBins or a Francesca F05 must pump that pushes the fruit along a 3-inch must line to the top hatches of tanks. ColloPack Solutions of Napa, Calif., provided the destemmer, must pump and membrane press. The destemmed berries don't receive an- other round of sorting because Joseph said the grapes generally arrive clean, and the overrid- ing goal was to keep labor to a minimum. "The way this is set up, three guys can do this very efficiently," he said. So far the winemaker is happy with how the 2014 reds are tasting, but based on how the wines develop, the crush pad protocol can always be tweaked. "We'll evaluate the wines, and we'll look at positive attributes and nega- tive attributes, and then we'll try to determine things we can buy or do differently," he said. "If we find stemmy, phenolic characters in the wine, then we'll talk about the berry sorting and removing jacks and removing shot berries to eliminate those as a possible source." Bins of white grapes are dumped into a separate hopper (also built by Burgstahler) that dumps into a Diemme Tecnova 40 mem- brane press. Joseph said the 40-hectoliter press will handle 3 tons of whole-cluster whites and about 10 tons of fermented red must. The area of the crush pad beneath the pro- cessing equipment slopes toward separate drains for storm water. All drains are screened to ensure no solids enter either wastewater or storm drains. "We did a lot of things to maxi- mize energy efficiency and minimize the waste- water discharge," Joseph said. KEY POINTs Oak Farm Vineyards designed the crush pad and winery to minimize labor require- ments and ensure smooth workflow. The facility is one of a few West Coast win- eries to install a set of new fermentation vessels by Italian tank supplier Albrigi. Nearly all of the winery's production is sold direct to consumer, and the owners built a tasting room equipped to help grow DtC sales. The risk of wood siding The winery's exterior siding as well as the walls of the tasting room and outside hospitality area were built with cedar. It's an attractive touch, but the wood also was used for the barrel room and production area. Managing partner Dan panella said the original designer used wood throughout the production area, and hindsight being 20/20, it probably wasn't the best choice considering the potential TCA risk. The walls near the tanks in the fermentation room are clad in plaster, but winemaker Chad Joseph said his team will remain vigilant to prevent any potential contamination. "We're aware of the potential hazards," he said, adding that he plans to keep chlo- rine out of the winery and won't be doing any major wash downs in the production or barrel room. He'll also limit cleaning materials near the wood as well as periodically send samples off to ETs Labs for analysis. " You don't have to physically do anything, just select out MOG or subpar grapes." — Chad Joseph, winemaker