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Peter Burford has
built his winemaking career on both sides of
the equator. In Australia he studied at
Roseworthy Agricultural College, part of the
University of Adelaide and worked at
industry icon d’Arenberg in the McLaren
Vale. From there he went north to
California, joining the winemaking teams at
Alexander Valley Vineyards and Renwood in
the Sierra Foothills. After that he returned
south to become General Manager/Winemaker at
one of Asia's largest wineries, the Chateau
de Loei in North Eastern Thailand. Today he
makes his home and livelihood right here in
Sonoma County.
With a good friend he established Burford
& Brown, which has been building in size and
success over the last three years. He’s
since bought out his partner leaving only
the Burford in Burford & Brown.
Over the past year I’ve tasted some
stunning wines from Burford & Brown,
including a Barbera and opulently fruity
Zinfandel. The 2004 Russian River Valley
Chardonnay, $12-$14, will soon be released.
It has 10% Sauvignon Blanc to punch up the
tropical fruit flavors. Peter is a master at
working the alcohol levels in a given wine,
always searching for what he calls ‘the
sweet spot’. After a number of trials, he
found it at 14.6% and reduced the alcohol
from 15.4%. With a pH of 3.2, the wine is
crisp and refreshing. This wine will have a
proprietary label, called Lady Grace after
Peter’s mother.
There’s a soon to be released
Cabernet-Shiraz blend and twenty tons of
Amador Zinfandel are on order for this
harvest. The fruit is from a young vineyard
that was established with cuttings from the
famous Grand Pere vineyard in the Shenandoah
Valley.
With Sauvignon Blanc, Peter is planning
to grow to 5000 cases made from North Coast
appellation grapes, blending fruit in the
2005 vintage from Lake, Mendocino and
Sonoma’s Dry Creek. From a business
perspective, Peter calls Sauvignon Blanc a
cash cow in the portfolio. The upcoming
harvest should be bottled by the end of
November.
He’s also planning to make a few hundred
cases of the Portuguese grape Verdelho
sourced from Lodi. He utilizes fruit from
many vineyards, working with growers
throughout northern California. He has to
remain flexible as the market and supplies
change. For example, he says that “after
Sideways, bulk Pinot from the Napa Valley
went from $1.50 per gallon to $10 per
gallon.”
While developing his brand in his spare
time, he’s been working full-time at
Vinovation for the last 5 years. He’s
incredibly loyal to the company and
describes his time there as great, allowing
him marketing access and the opportunity to
build his brand while working on the many
projects that Vinovation does for its wine
industry clients.
“More and more people are doing RO,
”Peter says, speaking of reverse osmosis.
Vinovation’s website describes reverse
osmosis as:
…A type of filtration. Depending on what the
winemaker desires to accomplish…the result
may be a wine with the same volume and
constituents except that a specific element
has been reduced, enhancing the perception
of desirable flavors. All R.O. applications
seek to remove ‘surgically’ a
low-molecular-weight constituent of the wine
with as little change in the rest of the
wine's composition as possible. Current
commercial uses include volatile acidity
reduction, alcohol adjustment, and juice
concentration for rainwater removal.
Peter says, “the process can produce a
wine that is complete, adding that up in the
15% alcohol range, you can lose some things,
like aging time and compatibility with food.
The idea is to hit the sweet spot; nailing
it makes the wine better”. Even if the
practice is still relatively secret in the
wider world of wine consumption, many feel
it’s a good secret and the public gets
better wines.
“The process provides a tool,” Peter
says, adding that it’s a tool that more
wineries are using, especially those
producing high-priced, prestigious wines,
and those scoring over 90 points in the Wine
Spectator.” Peter says that at least 80% of
the wineries in California have spoken with
the staff at Vinovation to explore their
services adding, “more people are letting
their fruit hang longer, so there’s more of
a need to decrease alcohol and Vinovation is
well-placed to serve that need.”
Besides services to the wine industry,
Vinovation also crushes about 50 tons of
grapes each year, between co-owner Clark
Smith’s wines, Peter’s and some other
brands.
Peter has tagged along with Clark Smith’s
Cheap Skate brand on the East Coast. Grape
Craft Wine Marketing, owned by Clark’s wife,
has been selling these local brands and
others in the New York area, building their
identity.
Peter has also seen great success with
wine clubs, like Geerlings & Wade started by
Guy Davis of Davis Family Vineyards. The
International Wine Club of the Month is
another amongst about thirty such clubs out
there. Sometimes they are booked out six to
seven months. He send samples, first the
current wines available and then the new
releases. “It’s a great outlet and they’re
reliable to pay,” says Peter.
Peter is also involved in other custom
projects, such as working with a San
Francisco brewery and restaurant to produce
a private label for them to serve and sell.
Peter has proven that it’s not necessary to
build the winery first. Like many other
successful entrepreneurs in the wine
business, he has painstakingly built a brand
through hard work and key relationships. You
can visit Burford & Brown online at
www.burfordandbrown.com.
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