Madera Tribune article (September 4, 2007): A winemaker's tribute to growers
Wine Enthusiast - September 2007 issue
Dear Ray,
The editors at Wine Enthusiast have rated and reviewed the following wines. All ratings and reviews of wines evaluated will appear live on our website as of September 1.
A selection of ratings and reviews will appear in the buying guide of the magazine in the September 2007 issue.
90 - Editors Choice - Westbrook Wine Farm - 2006 - Uber Rhenish - Dry Riesling - Madera - $17
Read the review
From authors, Catherine Fallis, MS, and Robert M. Cohen
Great Boutique Wines You Can Buy Online.
Among the thousands of wines available on line from California wineries, Westbrook Wine Farm was selected to be one of the 250 (or so)recommended in this well researched guide. You may wish to order yours, soon?
http://www.greatboutiquewines.com/index.html
Reviews by
Catherine Fallis, Master Sommelier 12/12/06
Fall 2006
Ponderosa "On The Wire" Newsletter - Download
October 18, 2005
O'Neals, California
For Ray Krause, Life is Fait Accompli
Yosemite Sierra Visitors Bureau
Ray is one of those guys whose winemaking passion drives his life. It has been so for over forty years. Calling what he does “a career” would be wrong. A career is what people do when they aren’t living their normal lives. Ray is wine; wine is Ray. It’s that simple.
That’s probably why Fait Accompli, the wine he and wife Tammy make, is 75% sold out before it’s even bottled.
In the brief span of time since discovering the O’Neals area was classified a solid Region 3 wine-growing climate, Westbrook Wine Farm has produced a wine with a cult following. The Bunch Selection Committee as they are called, are lovers of the Krause’s Fait Accompli, who willingly congregate each fall to lovingly pick and hand manicure each bunch. Even the caterer and musicians hired to play the harvest pick grapes.
From that harvest comes 100 cases of wine, most of which is spoken for in the way of Wine Futures and by Westbrook’s 500 repeat clients.
The Westbrook Wine Farm (WestbrookWineFarm.com) is one of nine wineries on the Madera Wine Trail. For more, turn to page ## or visit MaderaVintners.com And if you can get your hands on a bottle of Fait Accompli, by all means, enjoy!
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December 3, 2003
O'Neals, California
Crack the Wax
At a time when several prominent
wineries have endeavored to make their product more user friendly (and
controversial?) through the partial or complete use of tin "screw-off"
bottle lids, one small vintner in California's Sierra foothills just
doesn't seem to get it. Or do they ?
Westbrook Wine Farm is located at 1800 feet of elevation in the central
Sierra Nevada near the hamlet of O'Neals and the southern entrance of
Yosemite national Park.
Proprietors, Ray and Tammy Krause have marked their fifth vintage this
year by continuing their practice of making it somewhat difficult to
open their wines. Each bottle of Fait Accompli, a co-fermented
field blend of six red Bordeaux grape varieties, is hand dipped in 400
degree red sealing wax to preserve its valuable contents.
"Not only does it look good", says Tammy Krause, "but
the cork and bottle neck are thoroughly sterilized". For those
wishing to cellar these wines, the wax and premium two inch
natural corks provide an air tight seal for extended aging potential.
Westbrook Wine Farm wines, which sell in the "luxury" price
range are mostly sold as "Futures" to a loyal list of enthusiastic
consumers throughout California.
By the looks of things at Westbrook Wine Farm, you might say there are
still a number of wine lovers out there whom would rather Crack
the Wax! than "screw-off".
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The Fresno Bee
Sunday, April 13, 2003
By Dennis Pollock
Wineries take root
Vintners set up shop in the Sierra foothills, hoping to create a
tourism draw that will support their dreams.
In the Sierra
foothills above Fresno, a tiny building that best resembles a miner's
shack is serving as a beacon for what could become a string of small
wineries along one of the major highways into Yosemite National Park.
It's the little
winery that could. Actually, make that the little the winery that
already has.
It has won a medal
at a prestigious competition and praise from knowledgeable wine-industry
leaders for premium wine produced on a vineyard that's not much bigger
than the amount of space it takes a Valley farmer to turn a tractor
at the end of two dozen rows of grapevines.
In time, the 120-square-foot
winery will be replaced by a larger one. For now, it's the first of
what owners Ray and Tammy Krause envision will become "the Yosemite
wine trail." Efforts to put another two wineries along that trail
are well under way.
Meanwhile, the
Krauses are enjoying what they see as a dream lifestyle -- and more
than occasionally dabbing at some sweat -- while producing premium
wine that fetches as much as $50 a bottle at their Westbrook Wine
Farm in the Sierra foothills near O'Neals.
The Krauses are
do-it-yourself pioneers who are drawing on his wine-industry background
to do something that has been a major success farther up the hill in
mother lode counties that include Calaveras, El Dorado and Amador.
The foothills across
the San Joaquin River from Fresno are an "untapped viticultural
heaven," said Ken Fugelsang, wine master at California State University,
Fresno, where Ray Krause was a student in the enology program in the
1960s. "I've seen Ray's vineyards, and the fruit that comes off
of them is absolutely magnificent."
Fugelsang adds
a cautionary note for those thinking of growing grapes in the foothills.
If they plant grapes, he said, it's best to consider putting in a
winery to assure a home for their grapes.
The state has
been awash in wine-grape vines, many of them planted on speculation
and without a contract with wineries to process them. Scores of thousands
of acres of vines have been pulled out statewide in the past two years.
The Krauses and
others with designs on foothill vineyards are looking at higher profits
from selling directly to shoppers, many of them bound for Yosemite.
"If you don't have a passion for it, don't do it," said
Ray Krause, 58, noting that his endeavors have meant a lot of work,
study and cost.
Others who share
that passion include:
Wallace McCoy, a 72-year-old retired eye surgeon who lives in Rancho
Santa Fe in San Diego County. With his wife, Connie, he was given
the go-ahead this month from the Madera County Planning Commission
to build a 10,000-square-foot winery, complete with a tasting room
and picnic area, on a hillside overlooking 20 acres of vines.
The McCoys' Blue
Granite Vineyard and Winery will be just south of Coarsegold and north
of Yosemite Lakes Park. It could open as early as 2004.
Mark and Lynda
Whelchel, a 40-something couple who have bought property at Highway
41 and Road 208, across from the 22 Mile House, where they expect
to plant 5 acres of vines as early as next spring and eventually expand
to 20 to 25 acres. The earliest their winery could open is 2007.
The property includes
a 2,500-square-foot shop that has tilt-up concrete walls, which the
Whelchels will convert to a winery. A mechanical engineer who investigated
vehicle accidents, Mark Whelchel will take a course in enology this
fall at Fresno State. His wife will study viticulture there.
The Whelchel and
McCoy sites are within view of Highway 41. Westbrook Wine Farm is
about eight miles from the highway.
Carolyn Peck,
president of the Sumner Peck Ranch near Mendota, had considered putting
a winery farther south on 41 just north of Avenue 12. That project
has been put on hold because of restrictions that govern its proposed
site in Rio Mesa, a setting for an urban community on the Madera County
side of the San Joaquin River that could become home to 100,000 people.
"We wanted
it in close conjunction with a small farmers market so that [visitors]
could see and understand all that California can produce," Peck
said. She said a major highway leading to Yosemite could be a natural
showcase for "the best farming in the world."
Madera County
planning director Dave Herb said Peck has withdrawn her application
for the winery-market project as well as a golf course. His staff
is looking at an amendment that might allow the project under agricultural
zoning, he said, if it doesn't interfere with plans for the infrastructure
of the Rio Mesa development.
Several agencies
have suggested the amendment would require an environmental-impact
report, he said.
The prospect of
additional showcase wineries is generally seen as a welcome move in
a county that already has an active organization, the Madera Vintners
Association, that started staging wine-tasting tours in June.
"We welcome
people interested in promoting the area of Madera and making premium
wines," said Michele Lasgoity, president of the association.
"Our wine trail weekends have grown in popularity each time we've
had them. The first one drew 800 people to five wineries in June.
In November, we had seven wineries and 1,200 people. In February,
it was 2,000 people and eight wineries."
Traveling south
on Highway 41 just minutes past the Whelchel property, motorists see
a sign at Highway 145: "Turn right to wineries." It promotes
visits to members of the Madera Vintners Association.
Lasgoity said
the "growing momentum" in Madera County means it can become
a destination for wine tasting: "If a tourist has at least five
wineries that they can visit, they will come."
That can mean
an extra night's stay in the region, money spent for lodging and at
area restaurants.
"The goal
is to have things that capture people for one more day, people who
may visit Yosemite and look for things to do for another day or two,"
said Dan Carter, executive director of the Yosemite Sierra Visitors
Bureau.
The small wineries
such as Krause's are more appealing, Carter said, because "visitors
are talking to the person who has had his or her hands in it from
beginning to end, not to a tour guide hired on for a summer job."
Carter said additional
wineries along Highway 41 can enhance marketing from a regional perspective,
with the area touting its recreation, rich history and accommodations.
Bobby Kahn, executive
director of the Madera County Economic Development Commission, said
smaller wineries are "a natural for this area with its huge agricultural
base." He also pointed to The Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino
just up Highway 41 from McCoy's land that will include a 192-room
hotel when it opens this summer.
"Madera County
had overlooked the potential of this as a tourism area," Kahn
said, pointing to the successes of boutique wineries in places like
Paso Robles. "We're catching up with them. This could lead to
jobs as it grows and expands and have a positive ripple effect on
the county."
The opening of
microwineries is not expected to make much of a dent in the surplus
of wine grapes on the Valley floor, said Nat DiBuduo, president of
Allied Grape Growers in Fresno. Though the small wineries may take
some Valley grapes, most of what they will process will be grown at
the winery sites.
"Any time
there are wineries that can showcase quality wines from this region,
that's a positive thing," DiBuduo said. "There are very
good wines being made on the Valley floor as well. But we need to
get better at what we are doing."
Tony Correia, a farmland appraiser in Fresno, pointed to quality wines
already coming out of the foothills farther north in places like Murphys
in Calaveras County. He also noted Mariposa vintners including Butterfly
Creek and Radanovich wineries.
"Wine grapes
thrive on tension, the changes in temperature," said Correia,
"the heat in the afternoon and the cooling in the evening."
The foothills
along Highway 41 offer the warm-and-cool pattern as well as granitic
soils that some tout as beneficial.
But Fresno State's
Fugelsang said there are lessons to be learned from the mother lode
winery experience: "When the wineries first started in the gold
country, everything was roses. Then there was a second influx, people
coming out of other professions, and the quality really slipped. But
for the past 20 years, the area has continued to make world-class
wines."
Fugelsang recommends
startup winery operators work closely with universities that include
Fresno State and the University of California at Davis to take a close
look at the microclimate of their location, the soils, the geology
and the varieties most suitable for planting.
Along Highway
41, Mark and Lynda Whelchel said they will open their property to
Fresno State research.
Ray and Tammy
Krause have already forged strong ties to the university. Aside from
his studies there, the grapes from their 3-acre vineyard were processed
the first three years at the Fresno State winery. A planned 3-acre
expansion of the vineyard will include the planting of six "heritage
clones" of Cabernet Sauvignon from the UC Davis Foundation Plant
Materials Service.
Ray Krause said
would-be grower-vintners "need to have a distinct idea of what
they want to be."
"If you don't
know, it will be tremendously expensive to learn by doing. A wise
man profits by his mistakes; a wiser man profits by the mistakes of
others."
Krause estimates
the cost of establishing his winery and vineyard at $200,000. That
doesn't include surrounding acreage.
By not farming
a large vineyard -- Krause calls his approach "minimalist"
-- he is able to maintain a do-it-yourself approach that keeps his
costs down. He even manages to enlist other wine enthusiasts -- including
the McCoys and Whelchels -- as members of a selection
committee that takes part in painstaking hand-harvesting of grapes.
Westbrook Wine
Farm uses what is termed a field blend common
to Old World grape growing in which multiple varieties are planted
together, harvested at the same time and co-fermented.
His Bordeaux varieties include Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc,
Carmenere, Merlot, Malbec and Petite Verdot. Those are turned into
Fait Accompli, a wine that sells for $50 a bottle.
In addition, the
Krauses also buy some white grapes from Simpson Meadow Vineyard to
produce a Viognier-Valdiguie that sells for $20 a bottle. Their Fait
Accompli took home a silver medal in an Orange County Fair competition.
The Wallaces have
planted Rhone River Valley varieties that include Syrah, Mourvedre
and Grenache Noir as well as whites that include Viogner, Marsanne
and Rousanne.
The Whelchels
have not decided which varieties they will plant.
At Westbrook,
the Krauses are planning to use another Old World technique in their
next planting, training vines in "a goblet style," free
of wires and posts and closer to the ground. "I'm curious about
how the ancients made such legendary wines," Krause said.
His other vines
are trained on wires with an emphasis on vertical growth. That opens
them to more sunlight, he said, "and makes it easier to pick
them -- and easier for the birds to reach."
Plastic bags in
his vineyard hold bird netting that will be placed over the vines
later in the season. Foothill grape growing is not without some special
challenges from wildlife, which helps account for an 8-foot-high deer
fence around his vines.
"We see this
as a harmonious blending of ag, nature and economics," said Ray
Krause, as a gentle and welcome rain fell on his vines.
If his fellow
wine enthusiasts have their way, that's a blend that will be seen
at other stops in those hills not far from his little winery.
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February 23, 2003
O'Neals, California
Wine Society and Educators to visit Westbrook
Wine Farm
Thirty-five delegates from the prestigious
Orange County Wine Society, a southern California wine appreciation
group, will accompany educators from Cal State Fresno in a March 22nd
visit to Westbrook Wine Farm in O'Neals
The Orange County Wine Society is a non-profit
educational corporation whose purpose is to promote the knowledge
and understanding of wine, wine making and viticulture. The society
is the co-sponsor and main support group of the annual Orange County
Fair Commercial Wine Competition to be held May 31 and June 1 this
year. Full details may be found at www.ocws.org
"We are pleased and flattered to be selected for part of this important tour," relate Ray and Tammy Krause,
proprietors of Westbrook Wine Farm. "We will view and discuss our state of the art and retro vineyard styles, co-fermentation, field blending, and our bunch selection process. A comprehensive barrel and pre-release tasting of our FAIT ACCOMPLI and Valdiguie/Viognier wines will also be offered."
Westbrook Wine Farm is located on a mountainous
40-acre site at 1800 feet of elevation in the central Sierra Nevada
of eastern Madera County. We are near the hamlet of O'Neals, Oakhurst
and the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park. We estate grow
Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot and
Carmenere. Occasionally, we select fruit from other vineyards of quality
and interest.
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January 25, 2003
O'Neals, California
Vintners buck trend
At a time when tens of thousands of acres
of California vineyards are being bulldozed one small Madera County
producer is enthusiastically planting more.
"Great wines are grown not made‚"
contend Ray and Tammy Krause, who practice sustainable wine growing
and minimalist wine making at their forty-acre Westbrook Wine Farm
in the foothills of eastern Madera County near O'Neals. To that end
the couple is preparing to double their vineyard size this spring.
"Our wine has been very well received
and we find ourselves in need of more mountain grown fruit," say the
Krauses, who cultivate six different red Bordeaux grape varieties.
The new vines will be planted in the
"Retro" - own rooted, head trained, spur pruned - method to add another
layer of wine complexity. The expansion will feature six unique clones
of Cabernet Sauvignon including three certified "Heritage Clones"
from the U.C Davis Foundation Plant Materials Service.
"We are looking forward to having the
flexibility of incorporating the historic Niebaum-Coppola, Disney-Silverado
and Mondavi clones into Fait Accompli, our Claret style co-fermented
field blend‚" said Tammy Krause‚ "We are very positive about
this particular area for premium wine growing."
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(reprinted
from American Vineyard, May, 1998)
