Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/438260
10 p r a c t i c a l w i n e r y & v i n e ya r d J a n U a r y 2 0 1 5 Ro dn ey StRo ng C O V E R S T O R Y W i n e e S t a t e S Crush pad with receiving hopper, berry separator/sorter and tank press to use as a basket press. A new Sonoma County red wine brand is in production at Rodney Strong Wine Estates, outside Healdsburg, Calif. The first harvest in 2013 was 350 tons from 200 acres of third- and fourth-leaf vines planted in 36 blocks over a 4,000-acre ranch. The ranch is part of a 19,000-acre ag set-aside under the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District. Located 18 miles northwest of Healdsburg, the vineyard ranges from 735 feet to 2,035 feet in elevation. "The 2014 harvest yielded an average of 3.5 to 4.8 tons per acre from fourth and fifth-leaf vines that are spaced 4 feet x 8 feet," says Doug McIlroy, director of vine- yard operations. There is a vertical shoot positioned trellis, and the vines are head- trained and cane-pruned. The predominant rootstock is 101-14 with a small amount of 1103P planted. The 2013 free-run wine will be blended from Cabernet Sauvignon (six clones) planted on 139 acres, in addition to 39 acres of Malbec (two clones), 7.4 acres of Petit Verdot (one clone), 3.5 acres of Cabernet Franc (one clone), and 2.9 acres of Merlot (one clone). There is also one clone of Zinfandel on 5.6 acres. The 2014 harvest took 30 days to deliver between 20 and 80 tons per day to the winery. Crush pad improvements To handle the increased tonnage and ensure the wine quality that winemaker Justin Seidenfeld wanted, he and his team designed many upgrades to the existing crush pad. "P&L Specialties was approached in 2013 to help find a creative and functional solu- tion to the crush pad layout by adding both destemming capability and white grape receiving in an existing crush pad footprint," says Ed Barr of P&L Specialties. After examining many options, a creative and simple solution of converting an existing grape-receiving hopper into a bi-directional receiving hopper was chosen. The bi- directionality allows processing of red grapes on one end of the hopper and receiving and transfer of white grapes on the other end of the hopper. In order for the existing hopper to undergo the drastic modifications, it was New vineyards yield grapes for red wine blend Don Neel, Editor BY removed and sent back to P&L for modi- fication. A new bi-directional 18-inch diameter variable pitch screw was fabri- cated and installed along with complete redesign and fabrication of the mechani- cal drive system. The new crush pad includes the reuse of an existing cleated, incline belt berry- separator/feed-conveyor supplied years earlier on the "red" end of the receiving hopper, and addition of a new 30-inch- wide cleated incline belt conveyor on the opposite end to feed a new Bucher tank press. A new 20-inch stainless-steel in-