Cooper Vineyards Wines in Amador County

We are winding our way around the Sierra Foothills, noticing a lot of head trained vines that we take to be Zinfandel making our way to Cooper Vineyards to meet with Dick Cooper and winemaker Mike Roser. We arrived mid-morning on a Sunday pouring down with rain. This winter, the Sierra Foothills was also in dire need of rain, much like the rest of Northern California. Dick Cooper's father has been credited with being the first to grow Barbera in Amador County and the story of how he came to do that is worth a read: Hank Cooper Plants Barbera. We sat down in Dick's tasting room which used to be the crush and winemaking facility, approximately 2500 square feet, until the production grew too large for the building. We tasted his Barbera and an accompanying platter of crackers, cheese and cured meat magically appeared as we met with Dick and Mike. Dick mentioned that his Barbera is the Sebastiani clone and they are all head trained. (Wow---head trained Barbera!)

Dick said that they were head trained to take care of the vigor of the varietal and also for shading of the grapes during the summer because they sunburn easily. He mentioned that it might be difficult for us to to grow Barbera in Connecticut because of the high acidity. Ann Kraemer also mentioned high acidity, so this grape must be rocking in acids, I thought. Dick said that they don't pick the grapes until the acidity is less than 1 and suggested that we do a test plot of Barbera to see if it can grow in our climate.

We ended our visit with Dick by having our picture taken with him and then buying a bottle of their Cooper Barbera. We also bought his book and then we went to the winery to meet with Mike who was in the process of racking his reds. Mike showed us around the expanded winery, configured to efficiently meet his needs. His facility included an on demand hot water system, an ozone steam cleaner, bottling and labeling system, a laboratory for testing his must including an ebulliometer and pH meter.

He had an outdoor crush pad with equipment to move his must into fermenters and storage areas for equipment that were not in use. We asked him about how he checked the wine that were being barrel fermented and he said that he would unstack the barrels and check the fill level of each barrel every 2 months, except during crush. Mike also showed us the circular rock pit that was being constructed to host the second annual Barbera Festival. Mike was terrific and we appreciated all the time he took to show us around the winemaking facility. We are constantly amazed at how generous and hospitable people in the industry are.
Here is a link to more information on the Second Annual Barbera Festival.