BEHIND THE BOTTLE

BEHIND THE BOTTLE PARTNERS in Wine

The future is in good hands with three young winemakers who learned the craft from their fathers and mentors

BY LAURA NESS PHOTOGRPAHY BY GENEVA RICO

Some guys make great fathers. Some also make great wine. Thankfully, some are blessed to make great mentors. Often, they are also quite good at utilizing the “free” labor that comes with offspring, or somebody else’s offspring, if you’re lucky.

In the case of Denis Hoey of Odonata Wines on River Road and Chad Silacci of Rustiqué Wines just three miles away, it was a case of Silacci’s father seeing the possibility of his son having a career in wine, and knowing he would need a mentor. “Chad’s Dad came to me in 2014, right after I bought the property, and said, ‘Hey, I’d like you to take my son under your wing, to shadow you and learn what you do,’ Hoey recalls. “I asked, ‘How old is he?’” He pauses for the eyeroll. “19?!” This could have been more work than reward, but as Hoey says, “Chad came and never left! It’s kind of like me and Jeff (Jeff Emery, Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, Santa Cruz, where Hoey apprenticed and was assistant winemaker before going full time with his own label). Start ’em young, and start ’em slow.” It didn’t hurt that the young trainee, even though he was going through his “beach bum” phase, knew how to operate backhoes and graders.

After a year at Monterey Peninsula College, Silacci enrolled at Washington State University, returning to work harvests 2015 and ’16 with Hoey. Then came the magic moment. “In July of 2015, I was racking petite sirah and something clicked. I suddenly saw winemaking as a true craft,” says Silacci. “Between Denis and my parents’ dream for a family winery (Rustiqué is named for his late mom Rusti), I feel very fortunate to have had this direction and opportunity.”

Chad Silacci of Rustiqué Wines (left) and his mentor Denis Hoey of Odonata.

The tasting barn at Rustiqué on River Road and (opposite page) father and son winemaking team Chris and Greg Vita.

Mentor and mentee have learned much together. “You have to strip the ego out of wine,” says Hoey. Silacci, now a confident and crushpad-seasoned 27, has taken the reins, acknowledging Hoey’s influence. “You can’t ever slack off; there’s a million little things. Wine requires energy and intention.”

Silacci clearly admires this man, with whom he’s worked harvests abundant with grapes, as well as those fraught with heartbreak. “He’s my mentor as a winemaker, a businessman and with how he balances work and family life. He’s motivating, patient, pushes you to be the best you can be and keeps you accountable.” And they clearly have fun together, while realizing that winemaking is not just about making clean wines that are also compelling, but also about making a living. “Denis has taught me that there’s a balance between making unique wines that you’re inspired by, and making wine that people will buy. So learning the business side is almost as imperative as learning the winemaking, if not more.”

“It’s like surfing,” adds Hoey. “You’re always looking for the perfect wave. It fills you up and then you’re back looking for the next best wave.”

TWO WAY STREET

When Greg Vita of Vita Winery Consulting in Carmel was a kid, he made wine with his grandfather in his basement near Mount Shasta and noticed how good it smelled. “I took a little sip and thought it was the greatest thing ever. They were grapes off a railroad car.”

At UC Davis, he thought he’d be an engineer like his brother, but fell in love with plants and botany instead. He began his winemaking career in Napa and then moved to the Central Coast, where he’s been working with Jack Galante for years, and now counts Caraccioli, Dawn’s Dream, Holman Ranch and Pelio among his clients. By his side for most of it has been his son Chris. “Wine is a big thing with us. We are both UC Davis grads, but when I went, there were only 10 kids in the enology and viticulture program. When Chris graduated, there were 120,” says Greg.

Chris says one of his earliest memories is burning sulfur wicks in barrels. “I remember thinking it was pretty cool to light something

on fire and shove it into a barrel!” His first professional gig was at age 10, when he shoveled stems at Galante until dark. “On the long drive home from the winery, my dad gave me a $10 bill and told me the winery owner, Jack, had given me another $10 to match. I was ecstatic—a whole $20 for just one day of work. Thankfully I get paid a little more now, although I’m not sure I’ll ever work quite as hard as that first day shoveling stems.”

Winemaking mentorship is a two-way street: you learn from each other. Says Chris, “We make a good team and we’ve both adopted some of each other’s tendencies. I will fully admit that new French oak can really enhance certain wines and Dad now likes to use just a touch of whole-cluster on certain ferments. We oftentimes have different ideas, but we almost always meet in the middle. I think this makes the best wine.”

While father and son have a scientific approach to winemaking, their personal styles are unique. “We certainly differ in our approach to planning our work days,” says Chris. My dad likes to take the days as they come; I’m a bit of the opposite. I really like to have a plan. I am constantly asking, ‘What’s next? Do we have time for that?’ And Dad’s standard answer is, ‘We’ll see how the day goes.’ It’s become a running joke. Everybody in the cellar is used to it by now.” Chris teases his dad but praises his unflappability, no matter the situation. “My dad’s work ethic is unbelievable. He’s 66 and into what I believe is his 42nd or 43rd vintage and still works as hard as if it were his first.”

DIVISION OF LABOR

Richard and Ryan Alfaro of Alfaro Family Vineyards in Corralitos are another father and son team with different styles. Says Richard of his son, “This guy is totally on it. Everything is planned out. He leaves no job unfinished. I tell him, ‘Hey, it’s 5pm, why don’t you knock off? Leave those barrels to clean until tomorrow morning. Let’s go have some dinner.’ But Ryan just keeps cleaning and cleaning until he’s done. It’s just the way he is. He is 10 times better at sanitation than I am. He’s using less chemicals and more elbow grease.”

Ryan, who makes wine both for his family’s namesake, Alfaro Family Vineyards, and his own brand, Farm Cottage, knew from early childhood that wine would be his life’s path, even though there was never any drinking among minors in the Alfaro household. He started pruning his dad’s vineyard as part of the crew at age 15, but found it tough being in the sun. Although he likes living in the vineyard now, in what the family has always called “The Farm Cottage,” he’s definitely more cut out for the cellar than the field.

Ryan is filled with admiration for his dad’s work ethic, acknowledging that being on a tractor all day in the heat is not something he’d sign up to do. Their complete swap in the division of labor that has happened over the years suits them perfectly. Richard loves being in the vines; he’s a farmer at heart and will always be.

When Ryan decided to go to UC Davis, Richard was thrilled, but made it clear his son would have to work someplace else before coming back home to Alfaro. After a semester abroad in Burgundy that really impressed upon him a sense of place, tradition and terroir, Ryan went to New Zealand, where everyone was using screwcaps. He made the mistake of asking a local winemaker why he didn’t use corks. “Corks are SHIT!” was the immediate response. Talk about a pivotal moment.

“Ryan’s really keen on screwcaps now,” says Richard, “And I’m really appreciating them for whites—in fact, we are probably going to screwcaps for all the chardonnays—but I still like corks for reds. He’s convinced me to go to all bamboo corks, though.”

Ryan took over most winemaking duties from his dad in 2020, and was totally in charge by the following year. He runs a very tight ship.

Richard and Ryan Alfaro in the cellar at Alfaro Family Wines in Corralitos. Richard tends the vineyards and Ryan is now the winemaker.

“If you leave a light on, or a door open somewhere in the winery that’s supposed to be left closed, you suddenly hear, ‘DOOR!!!’ bellowing from inside,” says Richard. Adds Ryan, “It makes me livid when he leaves a door open.”

Richard says safety is a big deal for Ryan. Barrels went from being stacked 12 feet high to just 4 feet.

Ryan is also cutting way back on oak influence. “Richard was heavy on oak, but we are buying half the barrels now. We are going to puncheons only. The 2020 whites are phenomenal. Being less aggressive with oak makes the entry level wines better and more vineyard focused. My dad is being very open-minded about it all.”

And while Dad is not involved in the winemaking any longer, he is always keeping an eye on his son. “He gets ‘hangry’ when he doesn’t eat, so I need to feed him.”

Richard recalls an occasion that was eye-opening for preUC Davis Ryan. “I took him with me to a restaurant account in Hollywood, and they rolled out the red carpet with all kinds of food and drink. Ryan said to me, ‘Wow, they are treating us like rockstars.’ And I said to him, ‘No, they are treating us like winery partners.’”

Partners. A fitting word to describe the strong bonds and great respect these guys have all developed over the years of working with one another. As Hoey says, “Winemaking is hard ass work and you have to really want it.”

Having someone you can depend on to share the load, and share your goals, is what makes these one-of-a-kind relationships as compelling as the wines they have to show for it.

Laura Ness is a longtime wine journalist who contributes regularly to Edible Monterey Bay, Spirited, Los Gatos Magazine and the Wine Industry Network, sharing stories of the intriguing characters who inhabit the world of wine and food.