The wine man

Battista Calvieri lives the life of a superhero

Battista Calvieri is a man of diverse talents. And if you look at it with the right lens, he lives a bit of a superhero life. During the week, he is a professor of electron microscopy at a medical school in Toronto.

“It’s the job that keeps the lights on at Hubbs Creek,” Battista says with a smile.

But when the school week is over, the suit comes off and the boots come on. It’s time to fly to PEC and take care of the vines. It’s a tough road that he warns is not for the faint of heart.

“This is farming,” says Battista. “It’s backbreaking and it’s constant. The grapes require constant attention and protection from a number of different factors.” These include raccoons, hornets, molds, aphids, temperatures, wind direction and rain. Each one of these pests are responsible for taking out large sections of his crop on a yearly basis. Battista takes this correspondent out to where the chardonnay is still hanging on the vine and points to a section where an airborne mildew had taken out large area of grapes, turning the green grapes a grey-ashen colour. The chardonnay will stay on the vine for another week or so, as per Battista’s order. The pinot noir has already been picked and the yield this year was very high. So high that Battista needs to order 10 more barrels than usual this season. His vineyard is mostly pinot noir (75 per cent) and chardonnay. Hubbs Creek has just recently purchased another acre of land, so growing and producing more wine is in the works.

Battista is well-known as one of the first winemakers to come to the County. Arriving in 2000 and putting his vines down in 2001, Battista was drawn to this area for one main reason: the soils, which produce the best pinot noir and chardonnay.

The past few seasons though, have not been ideal. A late spring frost in 2015 devastated his crop and stopped the vines from growing before they could even start. In 2016 the County experienced a drought that caused the yield to be significantly lower than usual. This year is a much more positive story.

“We had an ideal growing year for pinot noir,” says Battista.”The cold, wet start to the season was challenging for us, but the cool climate meant that the acids in the grapes stayed high. Then we had a very warm end to the season, which balanced the vintage out nicely with the sugars being produced from the warm temps.”

“The old saying is that the harvest is made in September has never been more true this year,” says Battista.

He gestures to a large square vat of crushed pinot noir that is cold soaking. This is pure crushed fruit off the vine and already there are hints of cinnamon and spices. It’s very sweet, and the colour is a purple, ruby red mixture that is lovely all around. These big square vats are stacked almost everywhere and where there aren’t square vats, there are barrels. The winery is mostly used for function and not hosting. The tasting room is just a simple corner bar at the front of the building. It’s modest, but very comfortable. Hubbs Creek lets the wines speak for themselves. When asked about a possible food and beverage component to his winery, Battista doesn’t see it going in that direction. It would take focus away from the process of winemaking and there would have to be a significant amount of renovation. For Battista, future expansion ideas would include a barrel cellar and more equipment. In the fight against temperature in the County, Battista has armed himself with an anti-frost machine. This propane cannon can blast heat 150 metres in a circular rotation. The problem is, they need two to cover the winery—and one is expensive enough. Margins are incredibly tight in the wine industry, and a second anti-frost machine will have to wait a while.

Year-round, Battista relies on the help of his brother Joe (co-owner of the winery) and other close family members to help at the winery. During harvest, a tight-knit cast of employees and friends help pick grapes. The family-run style of business, combined with Battista’s knowledge and personality is what makes the place so special. He is very approachable and his process is completely transparent, allowing anyone who visits the winery the opportunity to see wine-making at its purest form: A man, his wine and his barrels.