The Sonoma Valley, February 2007

When my daughter recently asked me how many grapes it takes to make a bottle of wine, and I did not know the answer, I decided it was time for me to brush up on my wine trivia. What better time of the year, I thought, to escape the wrath of winter plaguing western Pennsylvania where I nest, and fly west to California, where I could explore the very land where John Steinbeck found inspiration for his Pulitzer Prize winning novel "The Grapes of Wrath" while at the same time research the answer to my daughter's "grape" question?

On a grape mission, I flew westward landing in the perfect vineyard where I could do some serious grape measuring. Located about thirty five miles north of San Francisco, Sonoma, an eight mile wide and seventeen mile long appellation of vineyard, even in her wintered state, greeted me with a sleepy charm. Always imagining her rolling hills in shades of lush green velvet corduroys, dotted with fruited specks of deep purple and dancing in full production, I was crushed to find her in a "vintage" state: barren vineyards standing tall, garnished with aqua bows, innocently filtering the bright sun and protecting the soft winter blanket of golden mustard cultivating the earth below them. Yet, Sonoma, even in her most desolate state, illuminated a freshness more revitalizing than I could have ever imagined. With a missionary's sense of inspiration and excitement, I stepped out of my car and into the perfect backdrop for the culinary picture I had hoped to paint while doing my grape research. How invigorating it was weaving my way in and out of the vines, smelling the woody essences and fruity flavors aerating there and tasting the bitter tannins balanced by the sweetness in the breeze. Reveling in the pleasant "finish", intoxicated by the land, it was at that moment that I felt as if I had "arrived!" Not only in lovely Sonoma… but at the very root of my grape problem: a vineyards yield.

A "vineyard's yield" I discovered, is the amount of grapes a vineyard produces at harvest. Usually measured in tons per acre of vines, differences in yield will depend on the vineyard and the intent of the wine production. Some vineyards intentionally cut back on the amount of fruit on the vines with the intent of leaving a vineyard that produces fewer grapes, but more intense flavored wines. Production control is an economic decision, however, and as in most businesses, if you can achieve better results from your raw materials you can sell more product and generate more revenue. Thus, the balancing act between quantity and quality is constantly going on at wineries of all sizes.

A winery's production, I learned, is usually measured in cases of wine per year. Small winery production will yield a few thousand cases a year, where as a large winery can produce many millions of cases each year. Popular wines, such as in Mondavi, Gallo and Kendall-Jackson, are often made from high-yielding vineyards scattered across various wine regions in the state of California and thus produce very competitively. In most cases, larger producers will also offer finely crafted wines made from smaller appellations and single vineyards whose higher prices reflect the lower-yields per acre of vineyard.

So back to my daughter's question and my winter excuse for traveling to this majestic part of the world: "How many grapes does it take to yield a bottle of wine?" After researching the "average vineyard" like the one I had landed in, I calculated: If an average vineyard yield of 5 tons makes approximately 800 gallons of wine, which generates around 4000 bottles of wine, or around 340 cases, after doing the math, I came up with: two-an-half pounds! And that, my culinary friends, is more math than I have done in years! So now, I think I deserve some wine! Cheers…Sonoma! For you I am ever grape-full!