{"id":34364,"date":"2019-12-18T04:00:13","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T09:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/civileats.com\/?p=34364"},"modified":"2019-12-26T12:29:42","modified_gmt":"2019-12-26T17:29:42","slug":"rolando-herrera-is-blazing-a-trail-for-latinx-winemakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/civileats.com\/2019\/12\/18\/rolando-herrera-is-blazing-a-trail-for-latinx-winemakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Rolando Herrera Is Blazing a Trail for Latinx Winemakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rolando Herrera is a bit of a unicorn in California\u2019s Napa Valley. For one thing, he’s transcended the wine region\u2019s traditional hierarchy. As a teenage immigrant from Mexico, Herrera started out as a dishwasher before working his way up through prominent restaurants and cellars, eventually becoming winemaker and owner of the award-winning Mi Sue\u00f1o Winery<\/a>. For another, he\u2019s that rarely seen combination: a winemaker who also grows grapes.<\/p>\n

At first glance, the pairing might not seem remarkable, but it\u2019s not usually how Napa’s wine industry works. Most winemakers hire vineyard contractors to do the on-the-ground work\u2014or they simply buy grapes from existing vineyards. \u201cWhat I\u2019m doing today, it\u2019s what a lot of people did back in the \u201960s and \u201970s,\u201d Herrera says. He admits that within his circle of winemaker friends, \u201cthey all think I\u2019m crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Herrera couldn\u2019t imagine making wine without growing the grapes himself. On a Wednesday afternoon this fall, he was in the field, as he usually is, walking the slopes of Mt. Veeder to mark the land for a new vineyard. He talked lovingly about Veeder\u2019s soil: \u201cIt\u2019s just beautiful loam, a gold-reddish soil full of nutrients. It has a beautiful rich topsoil, but [since] it\u2019s a hillside it\u2019s also rocky, and drains really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"One

This kind of attention to soil, the topography of the land, and the nuances of each vineyard\u2019s microclimate is exactly what sets Herrera apart. He has his hands in every stage of his grapes\u2019 growing cycles, and he tries to farm with as few inputs as possible, paying careful attention to soil health. This devotion to the land has deep roots, extending back to his great-great-great-great grandparents.<\/p>\n

From Dishwasher to Winemaker<\/h4>\n

The Herrera family has made a living from the land as far back as they can remember. Herrera\u2019s ancestors in Michoac\u00e1n, Mexico, were subsistence farmers, and his grandparents farmed a 15-acre parcel in the village of El Llano, growing produce to feed the family and sell at local markets. As a boy, Herrera learned to love the soil alongside his grandparents and cousins, picking his first cucumbers and tomatoes at the age of four.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of my practices are no different than what they were for my grandparents, way back,\u201d he says. \u201cMy grandparents always said, \u2018Value the most important elements in farming: the sun, the air, and the soil. Take good care of [the land], and allow the dirt to represent the produce that you are harvesting.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1975, Herrera\u2019s father brought his wife and children across the border to the Napa Valley, where he worked in agriculture. At the time, Napa resembled El Llano: sweeping fields of produce beneath green hills. Herrera joined his father in the fields on weekends, eating cherries and walnuts as he helped with the harvest. \u201cIt was a beautiful childhood,\u201d he says. \u201cI loved everything about Napa, and for me it was very easy to want to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n[newsmatch_box]\n

The family returned to Michoac\u00e1n after a few years in the States, but Herrera felt pulled to the Napa landscape and the opportunities it represented. When he turned 15, he asked his parents for permission to return, knowing he could accomplish more in Napa than El Llano. He returned (first undocumented, and later earning citizenship), joined his older brother in the Valley, and enrolled in a local high school. In those early days, the brothers lived in a plant nursery, and Herrera washed dishes to support himself.<\/p>\n

Over the years, he worked as a dishwasher, line cook, and manual laborer. After a summer of breaking rocks at Stag\u2019s Leap Wine Cellars<\/a>, Herrera\u2019s work ethic impressed owner Warren Winiarski enough to land him a spot crushing grapes in the cellar. Herrera worked nights and attended school during the day. After three years, he was promoted to cellar master. \u201cThat\u2019s where Mi Sue\u00f1o\u2019s story begins,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Herrera learned everything he could about winemaking during his seven-year tenure as cellar master, taking classes on viticulture and enology on the side. After he married his wife, Lorena, the two set their sights on turning their passion for farming and wine into a sustainable livelihood. Lorena\u2019s parents had also came to California as migrant workers, and she shared Herrera\u2019s love for farming and wine.<\/p>\n

\"The

In Napa\u2019s elite wine industry, many build their wineries from existing wealth. But Rolando and Lorena didn\u2019t have that option. \u201cThis industry is [made up of] the wealthiest people in the world,\u201d he says. \u201cSo how do you compete with that?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Herreras encountered plenty of barriers on the road to making Mi Sue\u00f1o\u2014Spanish for \u201cMy Dream\u201d\u2014a reality, but the most intractable was financing. \u201cThe winemaking wasn\u2019t as difficult for us,\u201d Herrera says. \u201cWe had the know-how. But just\u2014how do we afford to buy grapes? How do we afford to buy barrels?\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1997, the Herreras produced their first 200 cases of Chardonnay. The wine quickly found an audience, selling out three vintages in a row. While the reception was thrilling, the success pushed the family into years of financial strain.<\/p>\n

The Herreras kept Mi Sue\u00f1o afloat by refinancing their house, riding lines of credit, and working multiple jobs. Herrera took a job as head winemaker with Paul Hobbs Winery<\/a> after Hobbs hired him to consult with South American clients. At the same time, he built up a small roster of consulting gigs. \u201cI\u2019d wake up, go [to work], and come back to sleep for a few hours\u2014it was around the clock, working seven days a week,\u201d Herrera says. \u201cAll of that went towards paying the bills and buying a little more grapes. That\u2019s how we did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paving the Way for Latinx Winemakers<\/h4>\n

Since those early, scrappy days, a lot has changed. Mi Sue\u00f1o now produces between 8,000 and 10,000 cases of wine every year. The winery is internationally recognized, and Herrera\u2019s wine has been served at three different White House dinners (the 1999 Los Carneros Chardonnay in 2001, the 2006 Russian River Pinot Noir in 2008, and the 2006 Herrera Rebecca Cabernet Sauvignon in 2010). Since 2004, Herrera has turned his full attention and energy to Mi Sue\u00f1o\u2014where he is both farmer and head winemaker\u2014his vineyard management company, and his consulting work.<\/p>\n

But a lot hasn\u2019t changed, including Rolando\u2019s tenacity and work ethic. \u201cHis attention to detail, from exploring different regions and different cooperages to estimating proper barrel aging, sets him apart from many other winemakers,\u201d says Rich Aurilia, owner of Red Stitch Wine Group<\/a>, where Herrera consults as the winemaker. \u201cWe\u2019re very confident in the fruit we get because we know first-hand who\u2019s out there taking care of it on a day-to-day basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rolando

Now that he\u2019s found success in an insular industry, Herrera wants to break down doors for other Latinx winemakers to walk through. He employs a team of full-time, year-round workers, many of whom are Latinx. The Napa wine industry runs on seasonal labor, but by owning both his winery and his vineyard management company, Herrera can maintain a permanent crew and move employees between the vineyard and the cellar. This allows him to provide stable jobs and a consistent income to the team he calls family.<\/p>\n

In 2010, he founded the Mexican American Vintners Association<\/a> (MAVA) with a small group of other vintners. \u201cIt was no longer a question of whether we wanted to unite and form a group\u2014it was a responsibility that we had,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The group exists, in Herrera\u2019s words, \u201cto be an inspiration, to be role models, to be a home and a hub for Latinos and minority people to come and ask us questions, and to show the path for all the new generations that want to do this. We don\u2019t want them to trip on the same rocks that we did. We share with them our experience: what we did, what worked, what didn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n[pico_box]\n

Aurilia adds, \u201cHe\u2019s had a huge impact on other Latino people in the wine industry\u2014whether they\u2019re vineyard workers or people who work in barrel rooms or people who are interested in making wine. You can look at him and say, \u2018If this guy can put his mind to it and do it, why can\u2019t I do it?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Devotion to the Land<\/h4>\n

Today, Herrera Vineyard Management covers vineyards across the Napa and Sonoma regions\u2014he and his team currently manage 40 acres, and they planted an additional 45 in 2019\u2014Herrera lets soil variation and microclimates dictate his rootstock and irrigation choices. In the Carneros region, where he grows Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes, the soil is built from limestone, silt, and sand. In his Tierra Blanca vineyard (named for the soil\u2019s white color), located in a cooler area closer to the Bay, he says, \u201cWe put a rootstock that can stay a little more on the top of the soil, not go too deep.\u201d<\/p>\n

But a dozen miles west at his Russian River vineyard in Sonoma, Pinot Noir grapes grow in completely sandy, loam-rich soil. Here, Herrera plants a more vigorous rootstock that reaches deeper into the earth. He also irrigates more frequently and in smaller amounts to compensate for the quick-draining soil. \u201cSome of my vineyards here\u2014and this is something I saw in Mexico\u2014are only a quarter of a mile apart, but they have different soils and different microclimates [depending on] the land,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"Rolando

Soil and microclimate aren\u2019t the only things that inform Herrera\u2019s choices. \u201cEvery year Mother Nature gives us a different growing season, and that alone creates hundreds of different variables,\u201d he says. The subtle shifts in weather are what keeps Herrera in the field, testing his grapes against the humidity, temperature, rainfall, wind, and erosion of a given season.<\/p>\n

In all his vineyards, Herrera farms in a way that prioritizes soil health. \u201cI do everything I possibly can to minimize any herbicides and fungicides out in the vineyards,\u201d he says. \u201cOne of the biggest challenges we have is weed control. I invest a lot in labor\u2014moving weeds with a shovel\u2014or mechanically, with instruments, instead of just spraying.\u201d<\/p>\n

To avoid erosion, especially during the rainy season, he plants cover crops and spreads hay on particularly steep areas. He visits his vineyards right after rainstorms to get a sense of the water flow and how his team can redirect water into creeks. \u201cThere\u2019s not a lot for me to create out here, other than just continue to learn, learn, learn,\u201d Herrera says.<\/p>\n

Every harvest season, Herrera tastes every varietal until each one hits the notes he wants: ripe fig, honey, plum. \u201cThere are years when we have to drop 20 percent of grapes on the floor to get that quality,\u201d he admits. But fine-tuning the grapes\u2019 brix levels<\/a>, flavors, and acidity results in a wine that is completely his own.<\/p>\n

Herrera\u2019s farming philosophy hasn\u2019t changed much from the one his grandparents handed him in Mexico. His approach to farming is intuitive, almost innate, inherited from a long history of devotion to the land and attention to the soil.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, there are really no secrets to being a great farmer,\u201d he says. \u201cIf there are, I\u2019d say: respect your land, love your land\u2014and [put in] a lot of work. Some of my vineyards I\u2019ve been farming for 25 years, and the more I\u2019m out there, the more I love farming [them].\u201d<\/p>\n

Photos \u00a9 Rocco Ceselin<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rolando Herrera is a bit of a unicorn in California\u2019s Napa Valley. For one thing, he’s transcended the wine region\u2019s traditional hierarchy. As a teenage immigrant from Mexico, Herrera started out as a dishwasher before working his way up through prominent restaurants and cellars, eventually becoming winemaker and owner of the award-winning Mi Sue\u00f1o Winery. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":860,"featured_media":34342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4632,4479],"tags":[],"coauthors":[4611],"class_list":["post-34364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-farmer-profiles","category-farming"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRolando Herrera Is Blazing a Trail for Latinx Winemakers | Civil Eats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The farmer-winemaker's award-winning Mi Sue\u00f1o Winery is built on generational dedication to soil health and respect for the land.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/civileats.com\/2019\/12\/18\/rolando-herrera-is-blazing-a-trail-for-latinx-winemakers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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