It’s another winemaker video – this time featuring Nicole Pope, winemaker for Stolo Family Vineyards, where she works with her husband, Lucas Pope, who is the vineyard consultant for the company, located in Cambria, California. Our conversation with Ms. Pope kind of went all over the place, but we had a grand time and hope you do, too.
We’re including the transcription from the video because we totally get that not everyone can or wants to sit through a video.
I’m Nicole Pope, with Stolo Family Vineyards
Q- How long have you been there?
Three years now?
Q- How long have you been making wine?
Almost 10 years?
Q- How prominent were women in the industry when you started?
There were some women who had started in the ‘80s, as like… There were not very many women. When I came along, I went to Cal Poly and I studied biology. The viticulture program was just starting out. I actually ended up working, the first winery that I worked for was run by a woman. She was the head winemaker and the CEO
Q (Turns out that was not just any woman…) You worked with Eileen Crane at Domaine Carneros?
She’s a very powerful woman. And she really took… She started the winery there. So it was really interesting to learn from her. She knows everything about sparkling wine. And just to see how she runs the place. I never felt like “I’m a girl, I can’t, I don’t do something. We were all… It didn’t matter.
Q- You say you like working with Pinot Noir. Everybody calls it the heartbreak grape, but…
Yeah. It’s kind of what I started out working with. Cool climate grapes. I started out working in Carneros and Arroyo Grande Valley, Edna Valley, and now out in Cambria. So Pinot Noir grows best out there in the fog. Once you figure out how to work with it and you just understand oxidation and things like that and preventing it.
Q What is oxidation?
Wine can be oxidized very easily and it kind of depends on the stage. When it’s fermenting, it needs oxygen. The yeast need oxygen to grow healthily and convert sugar to alcohol. But once wine is in the aging process, once it’s in barrel, you want to keep it topped up [i.e. keeping the container full]. You don’t want a lot of head space. When you’re racking {moving the wine from one container to another to get rid of schmutz and other icky stuff], you don’t want to be mixing in a lot of air. And certain varieties can use some, but pinot noir usually can’t. So you want to prevent oxidation because it just oxidizes quicker. And you get the flavors of oxidation. It just becomes more pruney or even like bruised apple, those kind of flavors. And you ruin the freshness of the wine.