Journal
2015 ZINFANDEL, 2014 SANGIOVESE, 2014 SEGROMIGNO, 2015 VERDICCHIO
Two years ago, we hired Jason Valenti to be our winemaker. It was a long and somewhat tedious process, but I’m proud and happy to say Jason is the perfect fit for Unti Vineyards. Let me explain.
Unti Vineyards Winery is a small business, that we started in 1997. We produce between 8,500 and 9,000 cases a year. You can imagine how challenging it is to find the right winemaker who has made Barbera, Grenache, Montepulciano, Sangiovese, Syrah, Zinfandel, Fiano, Grenache Blanc, Vermentino, and now Aglianico. Out of the 95 resumes I received, nobody had made even half of these wines.
So we had to adapt the adage Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis used by “drafting the best athlete.” Upon meeting Jason one is almost immediately impressed with his energy, charm, sincerity, and as the ladies might say, his en fuego-ness. Jason came to winemaking later than some folks, earning a degree in English and working in sales before heading back to school to study enology. That kind of experience tends to ground a person.
Since this would be perhaps the most important hire ever for our winery, we ended up interviewing Jason at least 4 times. The final interview was a blind tasting of 20 or so wines from around the world, and previous Unti wines. While he wasn’t familiar with many of the wines, I could tell Jason was an excellent wine taster. He was either a wine-tasting version of Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man or was a quick study from his history working at Paul Hobbs and ADAMVS.
While Jason was at ADAMVS he worked with Phillipe Melka, a well-known Napa Valley Winemaker. When I asked Phillipe about Jason, he remarked that “he was a good wine taster, had attention to detail in the cellar, was knowledgeable about viticulture, is a good family guy, works well with everyone—solid guy.” Phillipe then said he had only one problem with Jason—he’s an Oakland A’s fan and Phillipe is an SF Giants fan. I almost dropped the phone. “Are you messing with me?” I replied. After a lengthy guffaw, I told him that we have a policy of warning our employees if they come to work wearing Giants pride-wear too often. By now most of you know we are die-hard A’s fans, for better or worse. (see Newsletter #30 from 2009).
So when Jason accepted the position, I had to tell him that he could have cut the prolonged time of his hiring in half just by saying a little sump’n sump’n.
Jason began in February 2015, and from the get-go he has improved our wines through more diligent involvement in the vineyards, and attention to detail in the cellar. Jason and I did all of the 2014 final blends. 2015 was his first full crush here, and all of our 2015 whites were outstanding including our 2015 Rosé. Our 2015 Zinfandel ranks as one of, if not our best Zin.
Jason represents an exciting era here at Unti. On behalf of everyone here, it is a pleasure to work with him.