Jarvis Winemaker Reveals the Clone that makes their Flagship Wine

NAPA, Calif. - (Business Wire) Jarvis Winery is regarded as a great cave winery to visit, but the backbone of any Estate Winery has to be in its vineyard. Here is the story of how a particular clone of Cabernet Sauvignon became the corner stone of Jarvis Winery.

First, all Cabernet Sauvignon vines are not all the same. The famous Sunridge Nursery in Bakersfield today stocks nine different clones of Cabernet Sauvignon, each one different as to its crop yield and the flavor of its wine. Each clone is a separate genetic variation within the variety of Cabernet Sauvignon, the genetic changes being likely caused by cosmic radiation over the years. The University of California at Davis lists nineteen such clones that it studies. Selection of the best clone is a major decision for an Estate Winery.

The history behind the Jarvis clone selection goes back to early experiments that our winemaker Dimitri Tchelistcheff helped conduct for ten years from 1980 to 1990. Dimitri and his father, André, were working for Beaulieu Vineyards at the time and conducted a 10 year trials in collaboration with Dr. Austin Goheen from UC Davis and Anthony Bell, founder of today’s Bell Wine Cellars. This was the most ambitious research undertaken worldwide at that time with respect to grapevine clones and had much significance in improving the quality of Beaulieu wine into the next century. Beaulieu had been founded by legendary George de Latour in 1900 and was until recently under the winemaking leadership of Joel Aiken. During most of the 1980’s André Tchelistcheff was Beaulieu’s consulting winemaker, Anthony Bell was Beaulieu’s vineyard manger, Dimitri Tchelistcheff was consulting as the winemaker for the clone project, Joel Aiken was the Oenologist and Leigh Knowles was President of Beaulieu.

The 10 year research project was conducted on fourteen different Cabernet Sauvignon clones which had been pre-selected from the best clones of the United States, France, Argentina, Germany, Australia and Italy as well as the probable “family tree” of Cabernet Sauvignon in California. See the chart on the next page for a complete listing of these clones and their characteristics. The variations noted from one clone to another are indicative of the importance of clone selection. Plantings were done in the BV#4 vineyard, now known as the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville.

Each year during the ten years of trials, Dimitri and his father noticed one standout clone, the French INRA 5197 which won their blind tasting year after year. This clone was truly great but it also had the least production, only 3.28 tons per acre compared to the UC Davis 04/Argentina Mendoza clone which had the highest tonnage per acre of 6.9 tons. The low yield of INRA 5197 limits its present usage in many commercial vineyards but we are most happy to have it in the Jarvis vineyards.

In 1994, when phylloxera caused Jarvis Winery to replant, Dimitri suggested three top clones from his Beaulieu experiments which had only recently been carried out. After planting these three top clones we did our own tasting in subsequent years to determine the best clone. William Jarvis and Dimitri Tchelistcheff then determined that the INRA 5197 was a clear winner of our annual tastings, and then always going for perfection, we budded over all our vines to this clone! It was no surprise that this was the same winner as at Beaulieu for Dimitri and his father, André.

Today the INRA 5197 Cabernet Sauvignon grapes make up 50% of the Jarvis vineyard and produce our flagship wines. In like manner for our Chardonnay, which makes up 21% of our vineyard, we use the Wente 2a Clone which is famous for its small berries that give extra body and flavor to all Jarvis Chardonnays. The remaining 29% of the vineyards are made up of smaller acreages of Cabernet Franc Clone 1, Merlot Clone D6, Petit Verdot Clone 2 and Tempranillo Clone 1. In a similar manner we use four different root stocks, all chosen with care, to support the great wines from Jarvis.

Following is a list of the 14 different clones included in Beaulieu’s 10 year trials.

Comparison of Fourteen Clones of Cabernet Sauvignon
 
                    
Clonal Selection   Cluster Shape   Berry Size   Crop Level   Yield: Tons per Acre
France/INRA 5197   conical, winged   medium   very light   3.28
Australia/Seppelts   cylindrical   small   very light   3.63
UCD 06/Jackson   conical, shouldered   medium   very light   4.40
Italy   cylindrical, winged   medium   medium   4.75
Old Bv/Draper      medium   medium   5.21
Australia/CSIR 0126   cylindrical, winged   medium   medium   5.36
UCD 02/Oakville   conical, shouldered   medium   medium   5.38
France/INRA 5325   cylindrical   large   medium   5.45
UCD 10/Germany   cylindrical, winged   medium   medium   5.52
Chile/Cachopal   conical, shouldered   large   medium   5.76
Old Wente   cylindrical, shouldered   large   medium   6.00
UCD 08/Concannon   amorphous, winged   large   large   6.14
UCD 1A      large   large   6.23
UCD 04/Argentina   cylindrical, winged   large   large   6.90
             
             

For more information about JARVIS or the Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 call 800.255.5280 or go to www.jarviswines.com.

Journalists: To schedule an interview, or a visit to the JARVIS Winery Estate, contact John Schulz at 707-255-5280 or john@jarviswines.com

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Jarvis Winery
John Schulz, 707-255-5280
john@jarviswines.com