Cabin Fever

This winter has been our first living on the property where we are planting our vineyard and developing our tasting room. There has been plenty of work to do when the weather is good, but being winter, those days can be few and far between. The rainy days have given us an excuse to rest and we are ready to hit the ground running when the sun comes out, but mentally it can be exhausting. Sitting at the computer for days on end completing admin tasks and planning (for both the vineyard and winery and the vineyard management business) is necessary but my heart lies in the field. I do enjoy watching the rain pour and snow drift, but I feel the most complete after getting a little more done for the coming vineyard (even if sometimes its just an hour in the evening after work). As of writing this we have three acres of ground prepped and about 80% ready for our vines to be planted in March. The area will be split between Vermentino and Picpoul Blanc so keep an eye out for those to make an appearance in bottle in 2027! we know the energy we have expended in the field and mentally staring out the window on nasty days will pay off with more fantastic wines.

I’ve found the company of a bottle of Roussanne while staring into the fireplace on a rainy or snowy evening brings significant comfort and enjoyment (in moderation… have to leave some for you all to enjoy). If that sounds great or if a nice red is more your speed, hop over to our shop and order a bottle or maybe even a case! As always shipping is discounted as you order more bottles down to free shipping on a case or more!

-James

Chief Ditch Digger and Post Pounder of Pack String Wines

Our Future Vineyard..

When Danielle and I moved back to El Drado County in January of 2021 we had had our eyes on a vacant parcel of land in Camino, CA for months. It was mostly covered in wild and invasive blackberries, and sparsely wooded with Oaks, Cedars and Pines, but we could see the potential through the mess that it was. After a long process we closed on the land and were able to start some work to clean up the property and planning our vineyard layout while leaving a bit of space to build ourselves a home and a small tasting room down the line. 

With the help of family friends and great neighbors over 9 months we have 10 acres of blackberries cleared off, not accounting for regrowth next year (without herbicides so far), 2.5 acres of plantable ground logged and disced, a home site established, water lines repaired, plants ordered, and 12 burn piles so large we need inspections, special permits, and to advise Cal-Fire when we plan to burn.

This all may sound like we are flying through things and are ready to plant, however we still have a long way to go to be ready by the time our first order of vines arrive in early 2023 (we will be planting Picpoul, Vermentino and Barbera in our firs 2.5 acre block). With a good plan in place and the support of our friends and family we may very well get the ground prepped, fenced and planted via elbow grease and the fantastic community without having to hire out any of the work.   

Our grand plan is to be able to invite you all up to our place in the future to see the 5+ acres of vineyard developed, planted and farmed by us, taste wines in our tasting room, and enjoy all this wonderful area has to offer. 

How We Ended Up Here…

The main drivers of Pack String Wines are me (James) and my wife (Danielle Frost), two local El Dorado County kids who moved away, but couldn’t resist the pull of family and the wonderful area we called home while growing up.

The two of us had spent our whole lives living in the Placerville/Camino area before heading off to college and eventually traveling the US on a 4 month road trip with what little savings we had after graduation. This all led us into the depths of the wine industry after a few fleeting experiences with it during high school and college.

We ended up in the Willamette Valley in Oregon following a vineyard management job with a few large high end wineries. Luckily Danielle was game to come up there with me and strike out on her own path to work up the ladder in Forensics and along the way take on a few jobs in the wine industry in lab analysis and wine making. 

After nearly 3 years in Oregon Danielle and I were itching to start our own venture to build something for ourselves with our efforts rather than only working for others. The discussion boiled down to a wine brand and possibly our own vineyard and tasting room as that’s where our passion and skill lay. With lots of research and scraping up the money we were able to push through our first harvest and vintage in 2020 working with fantastic local growers, some of whom I have known and worked in their vineyards as far back as the 8th grade.

While all of this was happening another stroke of fate came out of nowhere, an opportunity to work in vineyard management and possibly take up management of a handful of sites in El Dorado County. This fast tracked our process of building up our business and going all in on licensing, launching, and finding a property. To truly chase our dreams Danielle and I ended up leaving our jobs in Oregon, selling our house and after nearly 4 years moved back home. 

The only way we could make all of this happen is that I had the job in vineyard management waiting for me, Danielle was able to grind and get herself a job back in forensics and we have been able to crash land with parents, and in January 2021, we closed on 10 gorgeous acres of vacant land in Camino, CA where we plan to build our home, vineyard and tasting room. 

As Pack String Wines as a label has been launched, the two of us have been working hard to clear and prep the land on our property for future planting and to build a small home for ourselves there. Our ability to make it this far and have some runway ahead of us mostly comes down to planning, effort and a supportive family. We run this business on a shoestring budget as we get started, using the last of our savings after property down payments and construction loan costs and a ton of our own effort to get things done rather than hire out projects. This all means there isn’t a bottle of wine, email, text, call, post, or webpage that isn’t either completely or mostly made/designed by Danielle and I. Our hope is that this comes through in the way our business conducts itself going forward as a force for good in the community while providing quality wines that highlight our home region. 

-James

The 5 W’s of Pack String Wines

WHO:

James and Danielle Frost along with our families make up Pack String Wines. James has a background in vineyard management in both Oregon and California ranging from small boutique vineyards to sprawling estate vineyards and as of this year has brought what he has learned back home to El Dorado County to build Pack String wines and ply his trade in the vineyards. Danielle brings the science from her time working in forensics as well as interning at a high-end Oregon winery and time spent working in grape juice and wine analysis. Our families lend a massive helping hand with logistics, brute force developing our future vineyard site and their own unique sets of skills acquired through their various careers. We still work our day jobs but hope to grow Pack String Wines into a self sufficient business by working closely with our community to produce unique high quality wines at prices that allow our patrons to enjoy them time and again.

WHAT: 

Pack String Wines is a small lot specialty wine brand based outside of Placerville, CA in the heart of “Apple Hill”. We started this brand with the intention to work in the area we grew up in to create high quality wines at reasonable prices while working with small, local vineyards. Our wines are made from family owned and farmed vineyards within El Dorado County and we only produce single varietal wines in 1 ton lots to stay true to the varietal and vineyard where they were grown.

WHEN:

The idea for Pack String Wines came to be in mid 2019 while we were living in Newberg, OR and discussing the idea of moving to be closer to family and building a business of our own. After starting a podcast to document the process we jumped into hyperdrive. A business plan, and lots of number crunching later we were harvesting grapes for our first vintage in the fall of 2020. Some licensing challenges later and here we are!

WHERE: 

Pack String Wines is based out of Camino, CA in the El Dorado AVA. Danielle and I wanted to be close to family and in a region known for high quality grapes and wine and there was no better place. Having grown up and previously worked in this area gave us a great starting point for building a network within the community and finding great partners to work with in starting our journey.

WHY: 

I had been putting in the hours in the vineyards in Oregon, and Danielle was working up the ladder of forensics, but after a few years we both started feeling like we wanted to build something for ourselves. Working for a paycheck and to build things for others wasn’t enough for us, so we decided to swing for the fences and follow our passions.

The forgotten “H”… HOW:

Before we could make anything happen we had to figure out what we needed to do and how to do it, despite being in the industry there were many unknowns especially on the licensing side. After much research and lots of helpful advice we liquidated our savings to buy grapes and pay for wine making and all of the associated costs. Once we were that far into it, we decided to go all in. In late 2020, we sold our house in Oregon and took the money from the sale and put it into 10 acres of vacant land in Camino, CA. With the help of family and friends we have been able to clear the land and start the process of building a home on the property, in the future with a lot of sweat equity and through the sale of our wines we plan to plant a small vineyard and develop a tasting room on the property as well to be able to share our wines with you in person! If you're interested in learning more about our journey, follow Voyage to First Vintage and Pack String Wines on Instagram and Facebook!

We hope you enjoyed our chat around the campfire. Come back and join us again soon.

- James Frost

Pack String Wines

Harvest 2021 So Far…

Harvest 2021 arrived with a few more challenges than the usual harvest brings. Out here in El Dorado County we had to contend with the Caldor fire shutting down harvest for nearly 2 weeks, affecting the grapes and vines in many ways, burning some vineyards and many homes, and on a personal note threatening the main hub of the vineyard management company I work for. This coupled with an early ripening crop this year has led to many creative solutions and lots of hard work by vineyard crews and wineries alike.

For our 2021 wines we were able to pick fairly early as we had a couple of growers able to include our ton onto already scheduled picks and we went into the smoke, clad in  KN95 masks, to pick the Sangiovese for our Rose. We have been lucky to be able to get grapes for another year of Roussanne, Sangiovese rose, and to get some Barbera for a young Barbera. Unfortunately due to fires and the complications that come with them, we were not able to get zinfandel this year. There  are many options available for us to deal with the challenges associated with the smoke and fires to come out with a zinfandel, however they are a bit of a gamble and in our situation we do not have the flexibility to take on a gamble like that if it were to not turn out. Have no fear, the 2020 Zinfandel is only getting better with a bit more time in the bottle and we will be making more Zinfandel in 2022 to keep you in great wine going forward.

In the vineyards we are seeing moderately low yields and early ripening with some vineyards being ripe 3-4 weeks earlier than average and yields being 50-75% of average depending on the site with a few outliers being close to their average output. There are lots of factors that can lead to the low yields and early ripening, including: a dry and relatively warm winter, some late spring frosts in cold sites stunting growth, wells being drawn low leading to difficulties irrigating sites and a longer hotter summer than normal. Many of these factors are site dependent however there was a lot of overlap with how this years weather patterns have affected the vines and we are planning accordingly to mitigate these effects going forward.

In the wineries the grapes are coming in fast and furious  (minus vin diesel) and winemakers all over the region are making many hard decisions on how to combat any smoke taint in reds that may be present and to try and keep fermenting space open as most grape varieties are ripe and ready to come in all at once this year. There are techniques that are being employed in wineries in the area that are worried of a certain lot of grapes having taint. One is to use activated charcoal as an in tank filtering agent to pull some of the chemicals causing the tainted flavors and aromas out, sometimes this can affect the other flavors in the wine by pulling some of those compounds out as well. Another that is fairly widely used is to press the fruit early to make a rose from red varietals and limit the opportunity to pull the smoke flavors in the skins into the wine. A lesser used technique is to oak heavily to cover the flavors present. We luckily have been able to avoid smoke-related issues by being able to pick relatively early and avoid long contact of smoke with the grapes we purchased.

Its been a wild and crazy beginning to harvest and we will keep you all posted on how the rest shakes out!

-JAMES