Verticals (2019) s02e06 Episode Script

(cork popping)
(spacious music)
(shimmering music)
- The lifecycle of the grapevine
is really fascinating to me.
Just to see something
grow from the ground up
is something special, I think.
It's almost like it's your baby,
like you're watching them
grow and you tend to them
and you're there at every important point
of the growth cycle of it
and you're seeing it grow and develop.
And I walk the vines and
it's like, I listen to it
and it's like I could talk to it.
And I just like, that's
my way of connecting
and finding my balance with it.
- Tara's in a really unique position.
She got started at a
time when there really
just weren't a lot of women
in winemaking in California.
But on top of that, she's a Native woman.
And the truth is there is a lot
of anti-Native prejudice
in the United States.
I'm not overstating that.
And so in starting the
nation's first Native-owned,
Native-grown, Native-made winery,
she's not only had to face the challenge
of being taken seriously
as a woman in wine,
she had to face the challenge
of getting people just to taste the wine.
- To be recognized as the
first Native American winemaker
and then our tribe being the
first Native American tribe
to have a winery run solely by our tribe,
that's a huge honor.
(stirring music)
(waves crashing)
- So if you go about 2/3 of the way
down the coast of California,
you get Santa Barbara County.
And the southernmost edge
of Santa Barbara County
is Santa Ynez Valley.
(elegant music)
It's this gorgeous, slightly arid,
very ocean-exposed,
warm but not hot stretch of California
that does an excellent job at growing
really cool climate grapes
like Pinot, Chardonnay,
Riesling, close to the coast.
And then as you just go slightly east,
you end up seeing beautiful
Cabernet, Merlot. Syrah
sorta goes the whole stretch
back and forth, east-west,
just depending on the style you want.
So it's a really versatile growing region.
The Chumash tribe are
really the original people
of this central coast area of California.
The Chumash were an incredibly rich,
vibrant culture of people
that relied on food from the ocean,
food from the rivers,
food from the mountains,
food from the land,
and also had an incredibly
rich culture of storytelling,
of sharing, of dance, music,
and of honoring its own history.
Then in the 1700s, the
Spanish missionaries
kind of enslaved the tribal groups
through the entire length of California
up as far north as Sonoma County
and a lot of people died very quickly.
So the Chumash went,
in just a few decades,
from tens of thousands of
people to a few thousand people.
A lot of that loss was as a
result of disease, of course,
and a lot of it was also as a
result of direct mistreatment
through enslavement, lack
of food, loss of culture.
(meditative music)
In the Santa Barbara County area
was the Santa Ynez band
of the Chumash tribe.
So a band is just kind of a kinship group.
It's a local part of a tribe.
- I'm Richard Gomez, one
of the tribal members
from the Santa Ynez
band of Chumash Indians.
- So my father, he's really quiet,
but when he speaks, everybody listens.
He always has a lot of
wise advice to give to me
and he's just a really
caring, nurturing father.
- I actually got into the wine tasting
when I joined the service
'cause I had lost my dad when I was 17
so I ended up working.
I went to Europe, I was a medic.
While I was in France,
I got into the wine,
started tasting wine over
there and enjoyed it.
So when I came back,
I continued, you know,
just tasting wine here and there.
And we ran all the way up
California doing wine tasting.
Tara and her older brother
would, they'd go with us.
- And I was like, maybe, I
don't know, eight, 10 years old.
And we used to go with
them on these tours.
I mean, just imagine a little
kid going into a cellar,
seeing these large stainless steel vats
and just the smell of
the cellar, you know,
it would smell like
grape juice. (laughing)
And so, and wine.
But from there, it was just that whole
chemistry science background of it.
(bright music)
So it was actually the love of science
that led me into winemaking.
I love looking at nature
through a microscope.
And then from that it
grew into chemistry sets
and now winemaker!
- When Tara decided that
this was a direction
that she wanted to go, we found Fresno.
And then when she got
accepted and everything else.
Didn't know anybody up there
and I went to one of the
tribes up there and, you know,
Tara being my only daughter, I asked them
if they would watch,
take care of her for me.
And one of the elders said,
sure, you know, she would do it.
It was that connection
that I think a lot of tribal people have,
that they all help one another.
- I'm very fortunate to
have such supporting parents
that have been with me
through every step of the way.
(bright music)
- It was a lot of pressure
because even when she
went to Fresno State,
at that time there were very few women
that were even trying to
get into the wine industry.
I remember that she
called me up, you know,
upset that they wouldn't
let her into a study group
because all males.
When she took her test,
she scored a lot higher
than all the males that were in class.
So they were surprised
that she knew all of that.
And they asked, "Well,
how'd you know that?"
"My dad came up."
You know, so I helped her out on that,
but then they accepted her,
little by little they
started letting her in.
- I graduated out of Fresno State,
the oenology program, in
1998 and got my first job
and internship was with Fess Parker Winery
here in Los Olivos.
(light music)
- Like I say, you know,
she's a tough cookie.
She doesn't let things hold her back.
- (laughing)
- The history of the
United States has included
a lot of intentional abuse of
Native people through alcohol.
One of the results of that
is there's a lot of prejudice
assuming alcoholism is latent
and kind of innate to Native communities,
which is not actually the case.
Actual alcohol use numbers
or alcoholism numbers
are not higher in Native communities
than in other communities
in the United States,
but there's a presumption
that they're higher.
And so a lot of Native
communities really want
to just keep alcohol out of the picture
as a way of keeping themselves
and their own people safe,
but also as a way of
keeping others from judging
the Native communities harshly.
So for someone like Tara to
know from a really young age,
know wine can be a good thing,
it can actually be a gift,
an art and a blessing.
And to choose, even in the
midst of this social pressure,
you know, I'm gonna commit to wine.
It actually shows a profound
sort of forward-looking vision from her
and a lot of strength.
- Yeah, I mean, it's all
the blood, sweat, and tears
and, you know, it's my passion.
It all starts here in the vineyard.
And finding that connection to the land
and being able to connect
to it and listening to it.
- We've always looked at things, you know,
that what comes from Mother
Nature, that she gives you,
you know, you make the best of it.
And it's the same thing, I
think, with the vineyards.
You know, we're trying
to make the best of it.
(light music)
So this is my 2007 Kalawashaq'
Cabernet Sauvignon.
It's actually my first label.
So when I first got
into the wine industry,
this was actually the
first wine that I made.
I think this was all
within like three years
after graduation that
I started my own label.
2001 was actually my first harvest there,
didn't release though until 2004.
And so 2007 was actually
one of my last vintages
before I took off to go
work harvests in Spain.
(tender music)
I mean, I was still very young
and just starting out my
career as a winemaker,
so I felt like I had a lot to prove.
(tender music)
Oh, I got a lot of dark fruit.
Of course, you could see,
you get a little of that
age-worthiness here.
A lot of spice, some tobacco notes.
Mm! Yeah, the acidity is still
there, still really evident.
The fruit flavors, really darker fruits.
Get some of that, like
pencil shavings in here.
I mean, you can taste
through all the layers of it
as well as the oak, a
little bit of sweetness
from the new barrels.
The trend back then, and it maybe still is
is just really like big and bold wines.
And so that was what my first palate
was accustomed to tasting
back in that time.
And to see me now, over all these years
and coming back to
actually my first label is,
yeah, I've learned a lot
since then. (laughing)
I'm really, really happy
to be able to taste this
and kind of, yeah, it just
brings back all those memories.
And the most memories I
have are with my parents
helping me make this wine.
You know, they're just so supportive.
I just remember going to the tribe
and asking for permission
of using the name Kalawashaq
because now it is like our trademark name
that represents our tribe.
Right along the Santa
Ynez River right there
is where my ancestors once
occupied their village,
which was called Kalawashaq Village.
I actually wasn't sure how
they were gonna take it
with me wanting to use the
name, but because it wasn't,
I mean it was just a
street name back then,
they didn't really
think too much about it.
The tribe was pretty much
on board with allowing me
to use this name, but I did
go and present it to them
just out of respect.
And they were, they were
cool with it. (laughing)
On the actual bottle itself, the sundial
is actually from Painted Caves,
which is nearby from our village.
It's really cool to be able to represent
just a part of my culture.
(shimmering music)
After this 2007 vintage
is when I went to Spain
and I did two harvests in Spain.
(shimmering music)
When I came back in 2010
is when I started working
for my tribe under the Kita Wines brand.
- For her first to go and be educated
with the help of funding
from her community
and use that funding to
get a degree in winemaking,
like that's a bold move, right?
And then she goes off and
she establishes herself
as an oenologist, as a winemaker.
She travels the entire world,
visits the great wine
regions of the world,
really gets to know wine and winemaking.
And then she comes back and she says,
"My people have the chance to be leaders
in the state of California in wine."
And so she helped show the
tribe, no, we can do this safely.
We can do this in a healthy
way and in a beautiful way.
- Chairman Armenta, he
came out and he told her,
he says, "If you're gonna be
the winemaker for the tribe,"
he says, "I want award-winning wines.
And I want nothing but the best."
So he said, "We're gonna
put you to the test."
And sure enough, you
know, her first year, she,
I forgot how many accolades she got.
You know, she done what
the tribe wanted her to do.
- It was with the financial
support of my tribe
that I was able to go off to
college and get my degree.
So I see it as like paying it forward
and coming back and teaching
my tribe all that I learned
and, you know, giving back in that way.
(shimmering music)
- And that's the birth of Kita.
(birds chirping)
The Santa Ynez band has
really put a concerted effort
into reuniting, reclaiming its history,
reclaiming some of its original land.
And so they have actually successfully
reclaimed a few thousand acres
of what was originally Santa
Ynez band Chumash land.
(rustic music)
- We are on Camp 4, used to be owned
by the late Fess Parker.
He called it Camp 4
'cause the history on it,
being one of the stagecoach stops
they used to have way back when,
so we just kept the name with it.
- So Fess Parker was a really well-known,
well-celebrated Hollywood actor.
He played both Daniel
Boone and Davy Crockett
and had a lot of success in his career.
He used some of that
Hollywood success money
to move up into the inland
parts of Santa Barbara County
and buy a significant amount of land.
- He was very friendly,
a very accepting person.
Really admired him.
- His family got really interested
in vineyards and winemaking.
And so Fess Parker actually planted
this really significant vineyard
for the Santa Ynez Valley
called Camp 4.
(rustic music)
There's been a lot of anti-Native racism
in the United States since
the founding of the country.
California is not an exception.
But Fess Parker was unique
in that he saw that the Chumash tribe
and the Santa Ynez Valley band
were a really integral, important part
of the culture of the region,
the history of the region.
- You know, at first, when he came in,
he had a lot of people
that were against him.
He went through a lot 'cause
they wouldn't sell his wines
in the stores where he used to have it.
And it kinda got ugly for
him, but he never changed.
He just stayed the person he was.
- He ended up working
with the Santa Ynez band
to help return some of the
land that he owned himself
back to the band.
- He was on his deathbed
actually, when he asked his family
to make sure that they passed the property
'cause he had started the process,
but he wanted to make sure
they followed through.
So he asked him that and they did.
The whole family was behind him.
(rustic music)
- The whole purchase of
this 1400-acre property
was mainly for housing for all
the families that have grown
all this time, you know,
over all these years.
And it just happened
to be that the vineyard
was on it as well.
- And so that actually became the start
of what is now Kita Winery,
which sources all of its fruit
from its own Chumash-owned
vineyard, Camp 4.
And Kita has now become
the first Native-owned,
Native-grown, Native-made
winery in North America.
- So Kita translates to "our valley oak"
in our native Samala language
and represents all these valley oak trees
you see out here in the vineyard,
many that have existed since
our ancestors' beginnings.
(tender music)
These valley oak trees
represent the history,
our culture, our legacy of our ancestors.
So in a way it's like our
return to our historic homeland.
(tender music)
(group chattering)
So this is a blend of
Grenache, Syrah, and Carignan,
so a GSC blend.
Get a lot of cherry, some vanilla.
A lot of the brighter red fruits.
- Yeah, you do.
- Nice aromatics.
And you get like the rounded tannins,
the soft and velvety.
- You know, came out real good.
And I think you're in
the right direction now
to explore a little bit
and see how it turns out.
- Yeah, I would love to do
a 100% Carignan here soon.
It's what I always wanted to do,
but I had to take baby steps.
And so the baby steps are
with this blend. (laughing)
- And it's paying off.
- Yeah.
- You know I remember you,
when you used to walk
around with a little plate,
you were getting to, you know,
carry in the wine
and so forth. (laughing)
- Oh! (laughing)
- That was when we were in
the Catholic private school.
- Yeah.
- I always thought maybe
I could make better wine
for the priests. (laughing)
- And you have.
- I remember that.
- You've shared it with a few.
- We've shared it with quite
a few of the priests, yes.
- Yep.
Then you decided to make the
wine or go into the wine.
I wasn't sure if you
were gonna stay with it,
but you were set.
Then we made that trip to
Fresno and I knew that was your,
your destiny then.
- Yeah.
- Now we always had the faith
in you that you'd make it.
We never backed away from
that, always supporting you.
(tender music)
- Sorry, just a second.
I didn't mean to get emotional.
It is a long journey for
us and I struggled a lot
throughout the whole process of this.
And now to be sitting here with my dad,
it just, it means a lot.
We both don't really show
our emotions that much.
So this is a rare moment.
- The truth is, Kita is a
really important winery, right?
It is North America's first Native-owned,
Native-grown, Native-made winery.
(tender music)
Native people in the United
States are either invisible,
people don't even realize we're here,
or they're taken to have
very specific options,
not just any option.
So for Tara to come back
and work with her tribe
and her family, her kinship
group, to create this winery,
it's an entirely new thing.
We can be successful in wine.
We can make fantastic wine.
Tara is helping change that perception.
(stirring music)
- For you as a winemaker and
as a tribe moving forward,
we all go through our struggles,
but we always come up on
top one way or another.
And this shows it.
To you.
(glasses clinking)
- Thanks, Pops.
(shimmering music)
For every single pick,
I'm out in the vineyard.
(shimmering music)
One thing I really love about winemaking
is that it's not the same every year.
Like, you gotta roll
with the way, you know,
Mother Nature has, you
know, what she's given you.
(shimmering music)
(laughing)
Fruit is looking really nice.
The workers are doing a great
job and the grapes themselves,
they're nice and ripe.
It's gonna be for the
Grenache, 100% Grenache noir.
The different microclimates
within this region itself,
we're able to grow both
Rhones and Bordeaux varieties.
It was just something I really
enjoyed doing with my family
and some of the other tribal members
that come out during the pick.
I think it's really cool to
see them involved with it
and them being a part of
it because in the end,
like, I'm making wine for
the tribe, for my tribe.
It's just, it's a good feeling.
Oh yeah, my dad used to drive
trucks when we were younger.
And so he was always good
with maneuvering the
trailers and everything.
When I got that bigger trailer,
it's like a 24-foot trailer,
he brought me out here to teach me
how to make the turns and everything.
And so I felt like I was 16
years old all over again.
You go down the street here and you see it
lined with all these dumpsters
and everybody dumps
their, what you call MOG,
material other than grape.
But for us, we take the
time to haul it back
to the land, to the vineyard,
and incorporate it back into the soil.
And for us, it's just like,
we feel like, you know,
we're not wasting and we're
giving back to the land.
So everything that we
take, we're giving back.
And that's, I mean,
that was just something
that I was raised on and
taught at an early age.
So 2006 is when I met this girl. (laughs)
Her name is Mireia.
She was an intern student at
J. Lohr where we both worked.
And so she would actually
come and help me before work,
after work, lunch breaks,
helping me with the punch down,
helping me attend to these
grapes and to this wine.
(emotive music)
- So we are opening our 2017
Syrah from Zotovich Vineyard,
which was actually our
first wine that we made
under the Camins 2 Dreams label,
and our first wine
together, officially.
- Yes.
For me, it's always been a
dream to have my own winery
and I always wanted my
spouse to be a part of it.
- She's lucky that the spouse
is also a winemaker. (laughing)
- I'm extremely lucky that
she's also a winemaker as well,
I can totally understand
the long, hard days of work.
- I think it makes it easier, when you--
- Totally easier.
- You know,
like when the other half knows
exactly what you're
trying to do or what you
are trying to achieve.
- Try to achieve, yeah.
(emotive music)
- It was super scary
though, at the beginning,
because--
- Oh, heck yeah!
- Our first vintage actually,
we did it in this building
where we have the winery,
but there was another winery here
and they let us use their
space to make our wine.
And right after harvest, they moved out
and they asked if we
wanted to rent this space,
and it's like 2000-square foot
and we only had two barrels of wine.
And it was like, I don't know
if we're ready to have
a winery or, you know,
like we don't have anything.
- I think I was the one
that was more for it.
- And she was just like--
- I was pushing it.
- "Oh yeah, we are
renting this space."
- Like, "We're gonna do it."
This is our new beginning
and this is our future.
You're either both feet
in or both feet out
and we put everything into it.
We wanted to really focus
on natural winemaking.
This was literally our first shot at it
and working with a vineyard
that we were not even
familiar with at all.
So it was like new for both of us.
And it was a new plantation as
well and newly planted vines.
So this was literally their first harvest.
- [Mireia] So Syrah, we chose Syrah
because we're in Santa Rita Hills,
everybody knows Chardonnay and Pinot noir.
But we think the Syrahs
from here are just as great.
- [Tara] We have diatomaceous
earth within the soils.
We have clay, we have sandy silt.
And so just a mixture of everything
just really helps balance the
chemistry in the clusters.
- When we were walking the
vineyard right before harvest,
as Tara said, like it's a young plantation
so it was the first crop and
the grapes were so perfect.
Remember?
- Yeah.
- And we kept saying
like, "Oh my goodness,
these grapes are like so perfect."
They were like--
- Really tight.
Small.
- The clusters
were super small.
- Almost perfect clusters.
- Yeah.
And it's like, it gives us
like all that concentration.
We really were surprised with
the first wine that we made.
I mean, we knew we could
make good wine (laughing)
but it came out like really good
for being, you know -
- Surprised us
in a positive way, for sure.
- Not knowing much how
the vineyard would come
and how these grapes would do there.
And it just had like everything we wanted.
It had the concentration,
it had the acidity, natural acidity.
It was--
- Low pH.
- Yeah, low pH.
And then it has like really
nice aromatics on the nose.
It has all that peppery and the spiciness,
more of the cool climate.
So we were really happy with this wine.
Cheers.
- Cheers. (glasses clinking)
(buoyant music)
- This is the future for us,
is this label, this brand.
(buoyant music)
If you really focus on your
dreams, it could happen for you
and just don't give up
and believe in yourself.
- She's helping to show how
creative, how brilliant,
and how loving and vibrant her people are.
And in that way, how us
as Native people are.
For me as a Native woman in wine,
to know Tara and to see her
success, that emboldens me too.
- It's like I have this
platform now to be able
to tell our story, the story of our tribe
and you know, how we persevere.
Whatever obstacles we come across,
we're able to get through it.
- She's showing people what we can do.
And that's irreplaceable.
(buoyant music)
(emotive music)