When the Bargetto family celebrates their winery’s birthday in 2008,the cake will blaze with 75 candles. In the glow of candlelight, surely they will feel the spirit of all those Bargettos who worked to build their successful family winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Occupying a place of honor among them will be Giuseppe Bargetto, a peasant with scarcely an education who joined Santa Cruz’s burgeoning wine industry in 1890. Toasting his memory will be a host of relatives, including Philip and Uncle “Barba” Giovanin, who ran the original Bargetto winery in San Francisco from 1910-1917; Silvia Bargetto Nolan, who ran their Santa Cruz retail shop from 1934-1955; John Bargetto who oversaw the winery’s expansion after WWII; and John’s son, Lawrence, who labored in tough times during the ’60s and ’70s to position the winery for the success it enjoys today. Lawrence has passed on, but his sons John (Vice-President/Director of Winemaking & Vineyard Management) and Martin (President) and daughter, Loretta (Administration), continue to upgrade operations.
Their wine line-up has evolved to include their upper level “LA VITA” wine as well as a bevy of estate wines from the Santa Cruz appellation. Adding to the continuous improvement is more and better cellar equipment. “Last year, in the middle of harvest, we installed a 12,700 gallon tank, the largest in Bargetto’s history,” notes John. “We had to dismantle part of the winery building to move it in, because it would not fit through the door.” Bargetto’s Carignane, was bottled and labeled by a new bottling line “twice as fast as the old line,” John adds. “Most importantly, the wine enters the bottle in a much more protected way with much less oxygen pickup.” But the winery’s forward momentum isn’t confined to the cellar…
Out at Bargetto’s 50-acre estate, the Regan Vineyard, near Corralitos about 15 miles southeast of the winery and just seven miles from the ocean, Bargetto leads the way in the use of alternative energy for agriculture. A year ago, John installed sixteen panels that comprise a 3.0kw photovoltaic system. This system is one of the first to be used in a California vineyard where electricity is needed for well pumps. While solar power is gaining ground in winery facilities (at Schaefer and Grgich Hills, for example), these vineyard panels are something new and have earned John speaking engagements at major seminars like the recent Ecological Farming Conference in Asilomar, attended by more than 1,000 participants eager to “go green”. “These solar panels are just the latest in our sustainable winegrowing efforts as we strive to be good stewards of the land,” explains John. “For me, it’s exciting that we are doing our small part for the planet.” Bargetto’s ongoing commitment to sustainable winegrowing can be tracked each month on its website, where it posts the earth-friendly practices currently in use, from barn owls for gophers to erosion control.
And every day, it’s solar power… Every day, Bargetto’s solar panels generate electricity that then goes into the local PG&E power company grid. By irrigating at off-peak hours, John buys his electricity cheap (8 cents per kilowatt hour) and sells it at four times the price (37 cents), from May through October. Did the family resist this $25,000 investment? “Since I’m the managing general partner, I have autonomy, and autonomy is a beautiful word,” John chuckles. “Basically I only have to answer to myself on this baby.” The answer is sounding sweet; Bargetto will recoup this solar investment in seven years and meanwhile earns significant tax breaks for its alternative energy from the federal government and California. Moreover, during its 25-year lifetime, this little system will avoid putting 200,000 pounds of carbon dioxide/greenhouse gas into the environment. “I found that to be astounding,” says John.
With panels in place, John and vineyard foreman Jesus Figueroa are free to focus on making the most of Bargetto’s 36 acres of vines in the benchlands of Corralitos. With its fog and cool summer, the estate is ideal for Pinot Noir, and as that variety races past Merlot in consumer popularity, the Bargettos are grafting Pinot Noir to Merlot vines (a pile of Pinot Noir vines are kept comfy at 39°F in Bargetto’s guesthouse refrigerator!)
Upon their 75th anniversary, the Bargettos see their Regan Vineyard as a key to their success. “It allows us to get back to our roots, to have eight Santa Cruz Mountain estate wines, to control our grape sources (the most important part of winemaking) and to hone our identity,” says John. Focused, and moving forward with “green energy” at Bargetto!
Join Bargetto during its celebratory year at its tasting room, 3535 N. Main Street, Soquel, CA 95073, 831-475-2258, or at their Monterey tasting room, 700-L Cannery Row, Monterey, CA 93940, 831-373-4053.
