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MIKE MORISOLI -
GROWER /MANAGER MORISOLI BORGES VINEYARD
At a January tasting at Mike Morisoli’s
house in Yountville, Traci summed it up perfectly when she asked,
“So, Mike, what did you build today?” As a senior partner with a
Napa engineering firm and a builder-inventor by profession, Mike
is accustomed to this question. Moonlighting as the head grower
for his family’s Morisoli-Borges Vineyard, he’s responsible for
“building” the Rutherford fruit that goes into the Fountainhead
cabernet sauvignon. To best express the district’s terroir, Mike
farms his family’s vineyards according to the demands of
Rutherford’s soil and climate. Additionally, in an effort to
protect the long-term health of the vineyards, he employs a strict
regimen of sustainable farming. “Much as it is with my engineering
job,” Mike notes, “working with the vineyard is something
tangible, where we can taste and smell the culmination of my
family's grape-growing heritage, as well as the hours and effort
that went into establishing and maintaining the vines.” The
importance of Mike’s role can’t be overstated; his practiced
understanding of the Rutherford appellation helps to define
Fountainhead and its wines.
MIKE'S 2003 HARVEST NOTES
I think the ’03 Fountainhead illustrates the
growing trend of grower and winemaker sharing their combined vision of
what the land and vines can ultimately produce. In addition to cluster
thinning and leaf pulling to enhance sun exposure, we irrigated through
the hot days of September and delayed the harvest to allow the vines to
continue ripening the fruit and develop intense flavors, rather than
beginning harvest with physiologically unripe, but raisoned fruit. It was
also exciting to see some of my young vineyard begin to produce fruit for
the Fountainheads. Although only a small percentage of the total blend,
the young fruit should add distinctive characteristics, including softer
tannins and fruit characters that will complement the old vines (more
structured tannins and “dusty” character) that make up the majority of the
wine. After three years of farming, that first harvest of a new vineyard
block is a pretty special payoff.
THE HISTORY OF THE
MORISOLI BORGES VINEYARD
With the immigration of Rocco Morisoli to the Napa Valley
(Yountville) in the late 1800's and Francisco Borges to the Vacaville area
in 1877 (and later to the Chiles/Pope Valley area), both sides of the
family eventually began growing grapes in the Napa Valley. My uncle, Frank
Borges is a grower in the St. Helena area and my mother, Beverly Borges
managed the family vineyard beginning in the early 1970's. The Morisoli's
started growing grapes in the 1940's in the Rutherford area and my
grandfather, P.M. Morisoli, was a buyer/salesman for the Gallo winery/St.
Helena Co-op for a brief period in the 1950's. He also owned a general
store in Rutherford (now the site of the Rutherford Grill) in the 1940's
and delivered supplies to the local mercury miners that worked in the
hills west of Rutherford. In addition to my "real" job as a
Civil/Geotechnical Engineer, and since the mid-1990's, I've managed the
portion of the vineyard that produces the Fountainhead grapes.
The fruit for the Fountainhead / Morisoli-Borges vineyard
designated wine is from two separate parcels on the west side of Highway
29, just south of Rutherford. One parcel of the vineyard is at a higher
elevation near the base of the Mayacama mountains/Mt. St. John and
consists of well-drained, gravelly soils. The other vineyard block for
this wine is at a lower elevation along the west side of Highway 29, just
south of the town of Rutherford. These vineyard blocks were purchased by
my family in the early 1970's and were at that time planted to a range of
varietals, including zinfandel, petite syrah, gamay, sauvignon blanc and a
small amount of cabernet. The vineyard has since been replanted entirely
to cabernet sauvignon. The different soils, vine ages (range from 5 to 15
years old +/-), trellising (vertical-bilateral cordon and quadrilateral
cordon), vine spacing, rootings (5BB, AXR1, SO4, 039-16) and clones (cab 7
and cab 4) from these vineyards increase the complexity and variations in
the fruit, which in turn improves the quality of the Fountainhead wine.
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