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WINEMAKING TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT 42 WINES&VINES June 2015 making, he joined Cade (PlumpJack's second Napa Valley winery) as a cellar worker and was promoted to enologist and then assistant winemaker. When PlumpJack purchased the Steltzner property, Owens was promoted to winemaker and tasked with getting the new winery up and running. The name Odette appears in several pieces of literature as well as the ballet "Swan Lake." According to the winery, it "encapsulates our inspiration for this property—femininity, strength and power." Odette also happens to be the first name of the longtime editor of Revue de Vin de France, the late Odette Kahn, who at- tended the 1976 Paris tasting and was so aghast at the success of the California wines—including a Stags Leap District wine—that she demanded Steven Spurrier return her scorecards. A modern and green winery Walking through the vineyards from the tasting room to the winery, Owens points out where a 280,000-gallon underground cistern is bur- ied. The estate wells fill the cistern, which acts as a large storage tank to provide irrigation water when needed. "Now we don't have to tax the wells," Owens said. "We just feed the cistern slowly through the year, and if we get a heat wave coming through, we know we can irrigate if we want to." The crush pad is located behind those large, wave-shaped doors that really serve as screens for sun protection. The production facility is kept cool through an open design that provides ventilation and the living roof. "If it's blistering hot outside it will be a lot cooler in here, and if you get the fan going on top of that it makes a big difference," Owens said. The one area with air conditioning is the lab, which is set up for all basic wine analysis, as well as offices for Owens and enologist Adrien Halpin and a technical tasting room. All of the offices and lab are housed in a cluster of reconditioned shipping containers. While the containers now feature sliding glass doors and comfortable well-lit interiors, they still appear as if they could have just been unloaded from a container ship at the Port of Oakland. During harvest, Owens said no grape sort- ing happens on the crush pad. "You know I've Orion is an artisan cooperage in partnership with Bayard Fox, Franck Monteau and Christophe Garcia, producing exceptional French oak barrels from the finest wood provenances, with full traceability. BAYARD FOX SELECTIONS 707.812.4554 • bayard@bayardfoxselections.com • www.tonnellerieorion.com O R I O N : T H E N E W H O R I Z O N The spacious fermentation area is equipped with stainless steel and concrete fermentors.