Where to Begin

2020 has been a year packed with ups and downs and the past three months have been no exception here at Tira Nanza. Sitting here writing this and reminiscing on all that has happened since mid-June, it is truly impossible to believe that it has only been three months since we officially embarked on this journey. Our intent is to share an unfiltered window into as much of this experience as we can with all of you and we hope that these newsletters serve as one way of doing that. Most importantly, we want to thank all of you for joining us on this adventure and we can’t even express to you how excited we are for the road ahead.

June was a balancing act of spending time in the vineyard to ensure the quality of this year’s harvest, cleaning up the ranch, and a bunch of projects on the ranch house. In the vineyard that meant putting up new wires and training the vines to produce a healthy canopy. In the ranch house that meant painting, and lots of it. After some fresh paint and some foundation work (our house is no longer just sitting on the ground!) we moved out to the ranch full time by the end of the month. Once we were moved into the house, we were able to fully devote ourselves to vineyard work, the day to day operation of the winery and working to ensure that this ranch matches the beauty of the natural world around us. From early morning walks around the fields with our puppy Winston, to breathtaking starry nights with no light pollution every day we have fallen more and more in love with this place.

July brought ideal growing conditions, with low mildew pressure and steady temps, giving us great hopes for the 2020 harvest. In the vineyard we did some leaf-pulling to ensure even ripening on both sides of the vine as well as using a between-the-vines weeder that enables us remove weeds under the vines without the use of chemicals. Heading into August, our focus shifted to netting our white grapes and early ripening reds to protect them from bird damage and preserve what looked to be a phenomenal crop.

August brought the anticipation of harvest even more to the forefront as the grapes began to really start ripening. Unfortunately in these times, August and September in California also bring a lingering dread that the wrong weather could ignite one of the devastating wildfires that the West has become all too familiar with. The weekend of August 15th brought 110 degree temperatures and the night sky was lit up by the most violent lightning storm any of us had ever seen. On August 16th wildfires started to rage in the nearby Salinas Valley and Santa Cruz mountains. We spent the 16th and 17th working in smoke too thick to see across the valley.

On the 18th, our worst fears became a reality. A plume of smoke appeared on the ridge line just west of our property. Within a few hours the flames had reached our ranch and we were forced to evacuate. Over the next two weeks we watched as the Carmel Fire destroyed over 50 homes in our area. To make matters worse, our beloved vineyard dog, Winston, passed away from Parvovirus two days after the fires started. When we finally were able to return to the ranch we were simultaneously heartbroken to see the destruction the fire had caused all around us and awestruck to see that all of our buildings save for one small cabin had been saved even as the fire burned right up to them. We will forever be indebted to the incredible firefighters who risk their lives to save others. As dark as these times were, we were incredibly blessed to have fantastic people in our lives to lean on and a home to return to.

(In order as they appear: 1) fire coming down the ridge on our property 2) melted water tank that has since been replaced 3) remnants of the small cabin 4) view of our upper vineyard through the burned landscape) 

As a general rule, healthy vineyards are really hard to burn. Even as the Carmel Fire was concentrated around our upper vineyard on all sides, hot enough to melt the nets on the vines, the vineyard remained largely unburnt save for a small corner where the leaves were burned. Even though we did not lose any vines to the fire, we have lost this year’s entire crop. When grapes are smothered in smoke at this point in their development, they pick up compounds that will show in the wine as ashy off-flavors. White wines and Rosé typically show these characters less but due to our vines being surrounded by flames and smoke for days they were too affected for us to feel comfortable making those wines. As a result we will not harvest any grapes in 2020 and are sad to inform you there will be no 2020 Tira Nanza Wines.

We are disappointed not to have a harvest but now our focus shifts to improving vineyard infrastructure for the future, mitigating post-fire erosion and cleaning up the 600+ acres of our property that were burned. Additionally, we are working to determine how to best help our neighbors and all those affected by the wildfires locally. We will be doing some fundraising and will happily put anyone looking to help or donate in touch with the people we know. In the near future we will be selling Tira Nanza branded merchandise and donating 100% of the profits to fire relief efforts. Thank you all for your notes and positivity, they have been a great comfort in the least comfortable of times. We know there’s a long road ahead, but thanks to the love and support from the people around us we know we aren’t walking it alone.
 
Tira Nanza,
Greg & Sydney