Wines & Vines

Technical spoTlighT winemaking March 2015 Wines&Vines 31 Noir a few years later. When the Chandlers took over, they maintained the winery's rustic vibe and limited production before selling the property in 2008 to Don and Rhonda Carano, the owners and founders of Ferrari-Carano Vineyards & Winery, which is based in nearby Sonoma County. Today, the old wooden winery still stands, but Ackerman manages a modern winery equipped for the production of small-lot, pre- mium Pinot Noir wines bottled under both the Ferrari-Carano and Lazy Creek labels. The new facility is shaped like an "L" and wraps around the original winery, with the long part of the "L" housing the fermentation cellar, wine lab and offices; the short part contains a warehouse, bottling area and tasting room. Construction on the winery lasted through 2012, and during that year's harvest the Lazy Creek wines were made at Ferrari-Carano's red wine-focused Mountain Winery near Gey- serville, Calif. The first vintage for the new winery came in 2013, and Ackerman said everything has run smooth since the start. "It was amazing," she said, "2013 and 2014 have worked out perfectly." Ackerman helped design the winery. She said she and the Caranos went through several plans and had to make the pivotal decision about a tasting room. "I think ultimately what led us to this (design) was cost, and we were also debating whether to build a tasting room," she said. "When that was decided yes, we were going to, this whole thing—this L-shaped build- ing—made sense." From ranch to vineyard The Koblers purchased the property from the Pinoli family, who homesteaded the site and grew plums and other orchard crops on the small ranch that now includes a 41-acre vine- yard. Several of the original buildings including the Pinoli family home had been incorporated into use for the winery when it was owned by the Koblers and Chandlers, but all operations are now conducted within the new building and cave. Ackerman said she sometimes stays in the farmhouse during the hectic days of harvest, and the old winery is used as a shop and for some equipment storage. Before selling the winery, the Chandlers had built a stone and timber structure for a new fermentation area and had started on the entrance of a barrel cave. The Caranos opted to use that structure to house a few stainless steel tanks for storage and blending, and placed the cave entrance opposite the crush pad, which is located behind the new winery. A sturdy awning supported by steel girders stretches from the new building to the cave entrance to provide shade and protection from The Challenge After purchasing Lazy Creek Vineyards estate in Anderson Valley, owners Don and Rhonda Carano sought to build a new winery to produce premium Pinot Noir. The new winery required the equipment and infrastructure to support quality winemaking in a relatively remote location while also meeting the planned budget. Winemaker Christy Ackerman said the improved grape-processing technology is the biggest change to the winemaking style at Lazy Creek. The whole-berry fermentations yield a more expressive, fruity Pinot that is still held in balance by the grapes' abundant tannins.

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