Laetitia Wines has started removing older vines from its vineyard to make way for new types of wine grapes. Winemakers said this multi-year effort will help not only the wine but the land itself.
It's a major transformation for a winery that’s been on the Central Coast since the 1980s. Every vine at Laetitia Winery has reached the end of its productive lifecycle, winemakers said, meaning the vines have reached their limit for making good wine.
Eric Hickey, Laetitia’s head winemaker and CEO, said they’ll be scrapping all of the existing vines after more than 20 years and won’t make any wine on location for at least the next two years.
“What we'll do is we'll let the land lay fallow for about two years, let it rest and kind of rebuild itself and regenerate,” Hickey said. “Then also, at that point in time, after two years, that's when we will start the planting of the new vines.”
Hickey said once the new vines are ready to be planted, visitors will still see familiar favorites. Additionally, he said some new varieties will be coming to the tasting room.
“We make a lot of sparkling wine,” Hickey said. “So the sparkling wine varieties being Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, new for us will be Pinot Meunier. I'm excited to maybe try a couple of other of the classic champagne varieties that have not been grown here yet.”
Laetitia is one of many wineries on the Central Coast that is Sustainability In Practice (SIP) certified. Beth Vukmanic is the executive director of the organization that certifies the wineries.
“That is such a holistic approach where it's looking from soil all the way into social equity,” Vukmanic said. “It's the best way to know this operation has taken the time to, you know, invest in that process.
Hickey said on top of utilizing other SIP practices, Laetitia will be cover cropping, one of the most common sustainability practices. They’ll be planting crops that bring in insects to make the soil healthier.
“That's all adding organic matter to the soil, which helps the healthy little living critters down there,” Vukmanic said. “It's like a big biome, kind of like your stomach is, so you're providing food to that.”
During this process, Laetitia will partner with other local wineries so it can continue making wine while the vines mature.
