Churchill County's home-grown winery continues to tastefully flourish

The grapes are harvested and the first frost has come to Churchill County but the work at Churchill Vineyards continues. Now it's time for the artistic part of the grape growing and wine making business.

Colby Frey, a fifth generation Nevada farmer, punches down the skins of the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes that were recently put in micro bins to ferment. "I punch the skins down three times a day for about two weeks to squeeze out more of the color and stir up the sugars," he said. "I'll do this for about two weeks or until the skins no longer rise to the surface."

"The fermentation process creates heat that must be countered with cooling or the fermentation process will precede too fast or even cease if the temperature rises above the ideal range for the yeast," Colby said. "If the fermentation process is too fast the wine will have a more 'alcoholic' flavor."

After the fermentation process is complete the wine will be placed in oak barrows to age. Not only do the grape and yeast varieties affect wine flavor but also the source of the oak used to make the barrows in which the wine is aged. " The grapes Colby is punching down today were purchased from a vineyard in Alexander, CA in the Sonoma Valley "but our goal is to eventually produce most of the wines from Nevada grown grapes," said Charlie Frey, Colby's father. "Right now we are producing about half the grapes we process into wine."

"Currently there are four licensed wineries in Nevada," Charlie said. "We are the only ones raising our own grapes. However, we are not the only grape growers. The other growers only have small acreages and produce only a few hundred pounds of grapes that are mostly sold to hobbyists that make their own wine."

The grape varieties that Churchill Vineyards successfully raised are White Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Nior, Semillon, and Merlot. Of these varieties only the Merlot and Pinot Nior will be used to make red wine.

"Right now the grapes we make red wine from are still coming from California because we haven't had enough production from our Pinot Nior or Merlot. It takes longer for Pinot Nior and Merlot to produce fruit than the other grape varieties we raise which ultimately go into white wines," Charlie said. "It takes about three to five years before a planting of grapes will bare enough fruit to make wine."

Churchill Vineyards was created by the Frey family on March 14, 2001 and only in the last few years has it produced enough grapes for some of its own wines and all of that has gone into white wine.

Once the grapes are harvested it can take between six months to two years before the wine is ready to sell depending on the type of wine.

"White wines take less time and can be ready in six months but most of the red wines must be aged in oak barrows for between one and two years," said Colby. "Even some of the white wines like the Chardonay must be aged for at least a year in an oak barrow.

The curse of this climate comes in the spring when the blossoms are being pollinated and we get our early warm weather that often is broken up with late freezes."

Churchill Vineyards is located south of Fallon on Dodge Lane on land where continuous cultivation started prior to 1903 when the Newlands Reclamation Project was started. It has been in grape production since 2001 when the first grapes were planted. The first wine produced from "Nevada Grown" grapes came from the 2004 harvest.