In the beginning, we didn’t know we were destined to become grapegrowers. In the beginning, Kanzler Vineyards was a decrepit apple orchard, 20 acres of broken, diseased trees, dotted with huge blackberry brambles and crisscrossed with crumbling, Depression-era drainage culverts. It wasn’t what we were looking for… at all. It wasn’t our dream. It wasn’t even a thought.
It didn’t even start in Sonoma County. It started in 1987, when we left Berkeley, Calif. for the Northwest so I could work for Microsoft. That worked out well, but Lynda and I missed California, so in 1992 we came back. We loved Berkeley, but after years of living in an urban environment, we were looking for a more laid-back lifestyle in a great community to raise Melissa and Alex. Sebastopol ticked all the boxes: good schools, small town, rural setting, but only 75 minutes away from San Franciso so we could get our big city hit when we wanted to. The fact that we had moved close to wine country hardly registered on our radar, even though we enjoyed wine.
We loved Sebastopol, but not the Sebastopol housing market. We were unable to find what we wanted, so we decided to build a house. We looked at dozens of lots and locations. But we kept on coming back to that old apple orchard. There was something about it, the view, the ocean breezes, the sun’s warmth. So, in 1993 we bought the land and broke ground. In 1994 we moved in.
However, land has its own lessons to teach. We quickly learned that being a landowner comes with responsibilities and expenses. We couldn’t find anyone to farm the orchard. Those old trees simply didn’t yield enough good fruit to make it worthwhile to pick them. But an orchard still needs to be mowed and tilled to reduce fire danger. Drainage still needs to be maintained to prevent flooding and erosion. You still need to pay taxes on those acres, whether they produce anything or not.
So, out of necessity, we became farmers. Initially we weren’t very good at it. Our first attempt was raspberries. It’s truly amazing to go out and pick berries fresh from the vine for your morning cereal. But we learned that raspberries are water-intensive, labor-intensive and have a shelf-life of what seemed like nanoseconds. That experiment lasted two years and cost a lot more than it produced.
What to do? Ask a real farmer. We were very fortunate that one of Sonoma County’s most famous and successful farming families was, and still is, our next-door neighbor. The Kozlowski family has been growing apples, berries and other fruits for generations. When I asked family patriarch Perry Kozlowski what he would do, he said, “Steve, you can grow apples in 48 states. You can grow premium wine grapes in about three places in the world. You are living in one of them. If I was you, I’d plant grapes.” Pretty compelling (and prescient) advice from a man who had a 20-acre apple orchard right next door and hundreds of acres of other orchards and berry fields in production in western Sonoma County. (Perry proceeded conservatively, but in the 27 years since, almost all of Kozlowski Farms has converted to grapegrowing, including his home property next to Kanzler Vineyards.)
That conversation sparked a crash course in learning everything I could about grapegrowing. I enrolled in the viticultural program at Santa Rosa Junior College. I took classes and attended seminars through UC Davis. I sought advice from successful grapegrowers and winemakers in Sonoma County. I was amazed at their willingness to share their knowledge and time with someone as green as I was. Steve Dutton, Tom Dehlinger and Dan Goldfield all gave good advice.
David Graves of Saintsbury Winery was incredibly gracious and generous of his time and expertise. He didn’t know me from Adam when I cold-called him to ask him about growing Pinot Noir. He invited me to the winery in Napa, walked me through their vineyards, advised me on what rootstock liked what soils, and which clones and rootstocks were good combos and which ones were not. He then took me into their cellar and lab and gave me a case of unblended clonal selections so I could taste and learn the differences for myself. David had a huge influence on what we eventually planted.
Another crucial influence was Rhonda Smith, viticultural advisor at the UC Davis extension office for 33 years. In many ways, she is the patron saint of West County wine growers. Rhonda believed cool and breezy western Sonoma County was perfect for growing Burgundian varietals, when most people thought it was too cold here. It was at one of her seminars that I met Eric Neil in 1995. Eric was one of the few vineyard managers adventurous enough to grow grapes in western Sonoma County at the time. It was the beginning of a beautiful and very fruitful relationship. Eric planted Kanzler in the spring of 1996, and 26 years later he is still our vineyard manager.
And, I discovered I had a farming gene. Really I just learned how to listen to the vines. They will tell you what they need.
STEPHEN KANZLER
Co-founder
