IN TUNE WITH THE VINES

Published on Sunday, July 2, 2000
© 2000 The Press Democrat

By by Peg Melnick
Staff Writer |

Davis Bynum is a maestro.
At 75, the balding vintner with chapped, ruddy cheeks walks through his vineyard imaging a Bach concerto.
While some growers treat their vineyards with pesticides and commercial fertilizers, Bynum wants to treat his vines to the finer things of life ( this part was left out of article posted on SR Press Democrat website I put back in from orginal newspaper article )
This summer Bynum, the owner of his namesake winery, plans to pipe classical music into his vineyard in the Russian River Valley.

``I haven't figured out quite how to do it, but I'm definitely going to do it,'' Bynum says. ``Everything I've read about it indicates the vines really respond ... it makes them healthier.''

Of course vines, like people, have preferences.

``The symphony is going to overwhelm them and rock music they don't seem to like,'' Bynum says. ``But a Bach concerto is just going to make the best wine, theoretically.''

Bynum grins.

Call him a transcendental farmer, a man who has raised organic grape growing to a high art, a man who sees a vineyard seething with life and vitality ... a man convinced vines, like people, are inspired by music.

``I feel very strongly that I can walk through the vineyard and really feel a kinship to the whole thing,'' Bynum says. ``Just a feeling that you're preserving nature or that you're shepherding nature.''

For Bynum, the key to success has been obvious.

``Any idiot can make wine but he has to be a tireless idiot,'' Bynum says. ``Winemaking takes enormous work and attention.''

A reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle in his 20s, Bynum worked his first 48-hour day when Harry S. Truman was elected; he decided in his 30s he was tireless enough to become a winemaker.

Why wine?

``It's sort of like being a printer," he says, shrugging his shoulders. ``The ink gets in your blood and you can't ever shake that. I was totally turned on by the process of fermentation and the clarification and aging of wine.

Of course, these days Bynum is ``making wine'' in his vineyard.

``There are so many improvements with the techniques of vine growing in the last couple decades,'' Bynum says. ``Anybody who doesn't pay attention to his vines is never going to have the kind of wine that he could have, I don't care how good a winemaker he is.''

The test lab

An organic grower, Bynum is looking for ways to make a better bottle of wine outside of the tank. He has a three-acre ``test lab'' at his winery to study water conservation and insect management, among other organic practices.

The ecology-minded call him a pioneer.

``I just hate it when I see the vineyards, and I won't name names, but there are some around here that spray their vineyards to death,'' Bynum says. ``I'm surprised those vines are still alive. I really am.''

At first glance the three-acre spread is a weave of mounds and ditches, rows upon rows, each a few feet apart. The concept under study is water conservation. The ditches serve as holding tanks to prevent run off, keeping the moisture in the ground so irrigation isn't necessary.

Meanwhile the mounds are sprouting a unique food forest with a commingling of grape vines, pomegranates, Sea berries, and cluster kiwi among other crops. A buffer of trees -- olive, prune and apple -- surround the food forest.

``I hate to see Sonoma County become just a mono-culture,'' Bynum says. ``I can understand people bumping their apples out. It just distresses me to see it happen.''

Bynum concedes three acres makes not a multi-culture, but he's hoping this food forest will inspire other growers in the county to see that they can make a profit on crops aside from grapes.

As for the mounds and ditches, if the system truly conserves water, Bynum hopes to expand it throughout his 20-acre vineyard. Yet another design element Bynum might expand is the buffer of fruit trees designed to lure troublesome insects away from the vines.

Bynum's son Hampton, also an inspired organic farmer, initiated the test lab idea.

``I applaud the winery,'' says Brock Dolman, the director of the Permaculture Program for Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. He's also a co-founder of the Town Hall Coalition.

Dolman says he knows of only one other vineyard in Sonoma County that has developed a Permaculture design (a site of mounds and ditches) like Bynum's, and it's not associated with a winery.

An organic grape grower for nearly two decades, Bynum says he was deeply inspired by ``Pleasant Valley,'' a book he read in his 30s about a self-sustaining farm in Ohio with pristine farming practices.

``I think the book crystallized for me thoughts I might have had on that and brought it all to a head,'' Bynum says. ``It made me stop and think about methods of farming. In the garden prior to that I'd use sprays if there were bugs on the roses or mildew on the begonias. Now I just don't do that. I just don't think it's necessary."

Weathering wine

It's a good thing Bynum has perspective and gives Mother Nature equal billing in winemaking. Otherwise he might be distressed that his star winemaker, Gary Farrell, is leaving this summer to open his own winery.

``It's sort of like losing a family member and having him go off on his own,'' Bynum says, ``but he's going to be consulting with us.''

Farrell, one of the best winemakers in the business, has been on staff for more than 25 years. ``Davis is one of the kindest, gentlest most enjoyable people that anyone can imagine to be associated with,'' Farrell says. ``It's been a wonderful relationship.''

Farrell says he plans to keep close ties with Bynum as a consultant as well as a potential partner in future projects.

In addition to producing Davis Bynum wines, Farrell has bottled under his own name and he has a cult following. In fact, Farrell's star status has raised the profile of Davis Bynum wines, particularly its pinot noir.

How will the winery fare without Farrell?

Bynum is upbeat. After all, he has weathered plenty as a winemaker and a vintner and he has managed to survive.

Transitions are never easy -- but his first had to be the most wretched.

After 15 years at the Chronicle editing Sunday garden stories and other features, Bynum decided he wanted to spend his days in nature's company. But making his vision a reality was a terrible strain.

``Both of our kids could have expected a more normal existence than we were able to give them because of the fact that we were pouring everything into the winery,'' Bynum says. ``Energy. Money. Everything.''

Hampton was 16 when they began their winemaking crusade and Bynum's daughter Susan was 13.

``We jumped into a void so to speak and landed on our feet,'' Bynum says. ``I'm not just proud of myself, but I'm proud of my wife and my kids because the early years of the winery were really tough.''

Today, the winery is still a family business. Bynum is at the forefront of finances; Hampton runs more and more of the day-to-day operations; Susan handles billing and shipping; and Bynum's wife, Dorothy, oversees the gardening.

The winery produces 14,000 cases of wine each year, specializing in Russian River pinot noir. The Bynums own and farm 26 acres -- 20 in the Russian River Valley and 6 in Dry Creek Valley.

``I asked myself if I knew then what I know now, would I have done it,'' Bynum says, reflecting. ``I think I would have because I was so obsessed with the concept of making wine.

A smile creeps across his face. ``I'm old enough to know better but I still love making wine."

Cultured

When you buy a bottle of wine, chances are you pay attention to its vineyard designation. But did you ever stop to consider whether the vines were cultured -- whether they were reared on Bach or Vivaldi?

This summer on Westside Road, up on a hilltop, Bynum's vines will begin to appreciate the finer things in life.
PHOTO: 2 color by Press Democrat

1: Davis Bynum finds a beetle along his Westside Road vineyard. The plants he is tending to attract harmful insects and their predators, forming a natural barrier for the wine grapes.
2: The Davis Bynum winery produces 14,000 cases of wine each year.