The Palos Verdes Peninsula Produces the First Californian Grape Harvest of the Season By Deborah Paul
The Palos Verdes Peninsula Produces the First Californian Grape Harvest of the Season
By Deborah Paul
Palos Verdes Peninsula resident, real estate developer and award winning viticulturist Jim York inadvertently beat out most of California’s wine growing community with an early Pinot harvest on Aug. 10.
To the educated eye, picking and crating up tons of perfectly formed, voluptuous, burgundy-colored grapes by mid August is a bonafide accomplishment. And a superlative yield is even more of a novelty to those aficionados who produce grapes or wine outside the peninsula borders.
Viticulturist Jim York and his team discovered Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes love the Palos Verdes Peninsula’s climate, soil and topography.
But grape growing isn’t a contest. When the desired sugar level hits, it’s time to pick.
“These are the best grapes we ever had thanks to my farm manager Nick Zetts,” said York who held up a dark, perfectly formed cluster and placed them gently in a shipping crate. “Many times you have to sort them, but these are perfect.”
The Palos Verdes Peninsula grapes grown by Catalina View Gardens are producing award winning table wines.
Catalina View Gardens owner Jim York considers his 2021 first harvest of Pinot Noir grapes the best he’s ever grown.
But first-harvest-day attracts a lot visitors like connoisseurs, members of the press and friends who like to help haul the five gallon grape buckets to the crates for the pickers.
Catalina View Gardens on the Palos Verdes Peninsula is starting to interest news outlets all across the Southland.
Farm manager Nick Zetts and volunteer Jim Paul carry double pails of grapes from the pickers to the crates.
Christen Shubert, a French wine scholar, sommelier and journalist visiting the vineyard on first harvest day said York’s first crop is interesting to her because his grapes, grown on a south-facing Palos Verdes Peninsula slope, have matured about two or three weeks before grapes in Napa, Sonoma or Paso Robles areas.
“One of the concepts in Bordeaux (French wine region) is about being in harmony with nature,” said Shubert, a self-professed wine geek who lives in Chatsworth and grows grapes of her own. “I’m also interested in Jim’s soil conditions and other ecological growing methods. Elements such as having beehives on the property is such a good thing to do. It keeps the cycle of life going.”
Beehives are an important part of the ecosystem of the vineyard.
Farming methods at the Catalina View Gardens includes the use of bees to help cross pollinate the many fruits and vegetables grown on the premises.
Part of the Catalina View vineyard’s watering system.
One of the vineyard’s farming methods to keep away invasive species of insects.
Arriving at 6 a.m. at Catalina View Gardens was nine-year-long employee Alfredo Ochoa and Zetts wearing a whimsical T-shirt emblazoned with: “Way too many wines.”
The duo started going down the rows, moving aside the five miles of netting affixed to the vines so pickers and volunteers could get to the grapes. The netting is there to keep birds and other critters away.
Ochoa said he started working for York about nine years ago, a year before the vineyard planting began.
“We didn’t know anything about grapes,” Ochoa said, “But little by little we learned, and now we are experts.”
Long time employee Alfredo Ochoa started his day at 6:30 a.m. during first Pinot Noir grape harvest of the season.
As the early arrivers traveled along the rows inspecting the vines, they also thinned out leaves to encourage air flow and keep the plants from getting mildew.
“Last year we harvested 10 tons of grapes,” Zetts said, as he dumped the first bucket of deep purples into the shipping crate. “Over five tons of Pinot produced 650 cases. That’s one ton more Pinot than Chardonnay.”
Farm Manager Nick Zetts gingerly pours the grapes into the shipping container to be loaded on refrigerated trucks.
From the vineyards the harvested grapes will travel to Ken Brown’s Winery in Buellton, CA for de-stemming and fermentation processes.
The freshly picked grapes will be rushed to the Ken Brown Wineries in Buellton, CA. for de-stemming and the fermentation processing.
There are 10 active vineyards on the peninsula with various estates growing from 100 to about 6,000 vines, but York’s is the largest producer yielding about 5-1/4 tons of Pinot, and 5-to-6 tons of Chardonnay. Strained pink juices from the de-stemmed pinot grapes are poured into stainless steel containers for fermentation to become the Rose of Pinot Noir, York said.
One of Catalina View vineyard’s newest addition is the Rose of Pinot Noir.
Additionally, one of the most exciting events to happen to York and fellow Peninsula wine growers this year is the approval by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) of the Palos Verdes Peninsula AVA, or, American Viticultural Areas designation.
Approximately 16,000 acres on the Peninsula became the third AVA behind two Malibu vineyards. The designation allows the Palos Verdes Peninsula the notoriety to hold its own with prestigious vintors in Napa Vally, Sonoma Coast and Paso Robles.
The AVA process took about three years. According to the original petition spearheaded by York, the area’s distinguishing characteristics -- a hilly topography, loamy clay-like, sandy soils and the Mediterranean climate with mild winters and warm dry summers played an intregal part in gaining the designation.
Jim York displays his latest Pinot Noir label, created by Katrina Vanderlip, with the Palos Verdes Peninsula AVA designation.
And reputation is king in the wine industry.
An AVA cognomen is a very big deal for wine growers all over the country, since there are only about 255 nationwide and 142 in California.
“For instance, the Catalina View 2018 Pinot Noir’s label designates California as the location of the vineyard, York said. “Now with the AVA designation we can indicate the vineyard is located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula right on the wine label.”
Local artist Katrina Vanderlip created two stunning watercolor paintings for the Chardonnay and Rose labels with the Palos Verdes Peninsula AVA nomenclature on the bottle.
Viticulturist Jim York shows off labels created by local artist Katrina Vanderbilt.
Zetts said if this is the first time locals have heard about the Catalina View label he has some jovial advice to Peninsula’s mature, bedroom community.
“Drink more wine, you old fogeys,” Zetts said with a chuckle about the award winning pinots and chardonnays. “We make exceptional wines.”
York also credits Zetts -- who lives on the property -- with the high quality of all his produce grown on the 94-acre site. Other produce includes, honey, a Haas avocado grove, Meyer Lemon trees and a variety of vegetables.
Still, along with the award winning vineyard and fruits and vegetables grown on the property comes the curious population of the Peninsula’s hungry wildlife.
But York had a generous attitude about sharing with the animals. The coyotes don’t bother the grapes, but they do keep down the populations of rabbits, squirrels and raccoons, he said.
An owl decoy and shelter stands sentry over the 6,000 vines as day breaks for the first Pinot Noir harvest of the growing season.
“We have so much produce here, there’s enough even with all the animals,” York said. “The squirrels will attack some of the 48,000 avocados. When this happens, they get so fat they can’t climb up the trees.”
Growing vineyards on the Palos Verdes Peninsula seems to be a win-win situation for all God’s creatures.
Wine bottle prices range from $30 to $45 per bottle or $300 to $432 per case, plus tax.
Catalina View Pinot, Chardonnay or Rose of Pinot Noir can be purchased from these local enterprises:
Terranea Resort -- Ranch Palos Verdes
Malaga Cove Ranch Market -- Palos Verdes Estates
The Wine Shoppe -- Torrance
Baran’s 2239 -- Hermosa Beach
Rolling Hills Country Club -- Rolling Hills Estates
The Depot Restaurant -- Torrance
HopSaint Brewing Company -- Torrance
Friends of the Vine -- Redondo Beach
Great American International Seafood Market -- Golden Cove, Rancho Palos Verdes
For more information, visit: catalinaviewgardens.com.
Deborah Paul has played with ink since she was able to read and write. At 19, after two years of college, she left St. Louis to fly for American Airlines, and later enjoyed a long career with Flying Tiger Lines in many capacities, including flying military and their dependents all over the world as a flight attendant. Paul returned to university in the 1990s earning a journalism degree from Cal State University Dominguez Hills and was eventually hired as a newspaper reporter for the South Bay Weekly section of the Los Angeles Times. A decade later she worked for Orange Coast Magazine as their Charitable Events editor. She also taught journalism and was advisor to the campus newspaper at CSUDH and still contributes as a regular stringer for Peninsula News on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Currently, she has self-published four-of-five children's books in her ballad series. Her poetic fictional stories are inspired by real people who have left an indelible mark on the quiet display of simple human kindness. She resides in Rancho Palos Verdes married to Jim, her husband of many adventures.
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