This valve fitting was used in the mid-1990s to seal an opening in one of the stainless-steel fermentation tanks at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars (SLWC) in California’s Napa Valley. Stainless steel tanks and fittings are among the major innovations in 20th century winemaking. Easily cleaned and maintained, the stainless steel tanks also prevent bacteria from spoiling the wine. Fitted with temperature-monitoring metal jackets, they also allow more control over the temperature of the wine during the fermentation process.
In an interview with Smithsonian researchers in 1997, Julia Winiarski, daughter of SLWC founders Warren and Barbara Winiarski, described how she learned the important function of tank valves as a child growing up at the winery. She recalled,
I was curious about the valves on the tank and I had wondered how they worked. So one day I came home from school and instead of walking right up the hill I wandered through where the tanks were and decided to find out how the valve worked. I opened a valve, I think my face was at the height, and the valve was kind of right face level and I just got blasted backwards by a jet of red wine. So I was terrified and I ran away, of course. Luckily someone had heard me shout when it first happened and came up and closed the valve and came and found me sniveling and wine soaked. At least I learned a healthy respect for valves.
While vineyards are shaped by and reflect the natural contours of the land, their distinctive look-patterned rows of neatly ordered grapevines-reveal an intensely cultural landscape. Viticulturalists don't leave much to nature or chance; they calculate the orientation of the plants within a grid, as well as the spacing of the plants, the distances between rows, and the practices for training and managing the vines. Most of the grapevines in the U.S. are grown on trellis systems-a series of vertical posts and wires-that not only support the plants, but influence how they are tended throughout the year. Trellises contribute substantially to the uniform, regimented look of modern vineyards.
Vineyard managers, workers, and winemakers don’t venture far into the vineyard without their pruning shears, often carried in a leather holster attached to their belts. These pruning shears were among the many used at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in California’s Napa Valley in 1996-97 for a variety of grapevine management tasks. Regular tending of the vines is an essential part of viticulture practice and helps ensure a good crop, the foundation for good wine.
Pruning dormant vines in late winter is one of the most critical tasks. A pruner has to know what to remove and what to leave, and how to make an efficient, clean cut. This skill requires knowledge of the plant as well as the desired balance for shoot growth and fruit production. Pruning during the growing season helps maintain the shape of a vine, training it to adhere to the vineyard’s trellising system. While machines are often used on very large vineyard tracts, workers using hand tools accomplish pruning and trimming year-round on the smaller estate vineyards in Napa.
The Cole Manufacturing Company produced a boll weevil killer in the early twentieth century to combat the pest that plagued cotton crops throughout the American South. This particular weevil killer was found in a hardware store in Rutledge, Georgia, and is listed in a 1940 Cole catalogue for $16. Still in its original shipping crate, It was purchased from Pam Jones, proprietor of the Rutledge Hardware Store in 1998 for $5000.
The weevil killer measures 50”x 34”x 17” and was designed as an attachment for the Cole Cotton Planter. The machine consists of rotating mops, which ran on ground power and applied a mixture of 1 gallon of molasses, 1 gallon of water, and 1pound of Calcium Arsenate to the cotton plants. The molasses attracted the weevils, while the arsenic acted as a pesticide.
The weevil killer represents two key issues that farmers in the early twentieth century faced on a daily basis: pests that plagued their crops and the toxic pesticides used to kill them. It not only reminds us of the hard work and ingenuity involved in producing a profitable crop, but also of the hazards involved to both the farmer and the environment.
This notebook contains documentation of winery operations at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars (SLWC) in California’s Napa Valley, during its first seasons of activity in the early 1970s. It reflects the basic tasks that were faithfully recorded by founder Warren Winiarski and others as they built operations. The notes, made in ink on loose-leaf paper include technical information on crushing, pressing, fermenting, and racking of the SLV (Stag’s Leap Vineyards) Cabernet Sauvignon. Notes on grapes from other growers are included as well, including Birkmyer Pinot noir and Riesling.
When Smithsonian researchers discovered this notebook (that smelled strongly of the wine cellar!) among the papers in the Winiarskis’ family archive, they saw its value as a record of operations at the fledgling winery when it produced the 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, the vintage that surprised the wine by placing first among reds at the Paris Tasting in 1976. The notebook also provides a stunning contrast to the highly organized, technical documentation the team observed at SLWC in the 1990s, when GPS and various computer programs had revolutionized the level of detail that could be more easily tracked from the vineyard to the bottle in modern wineries.