Q & A with Lynch Vineyards winemaker,
Gary Galleron

By Julius Schillinger, Wine Aficionado

As winemaker for Grace Family, Vineyard 29 and Whitehall Lane, Gary Galleron crafted some of America's most acclaimed Cabernets for nearly two decades. Then, in the mid and late 90’s, he scored a smash with Cabernet Sauvignon under his own label, Galleron Signature Wines. Gary recently announced that he left Hartwell and has taken over the winemaking for Napa Valley's Lynch Vineyards. He replaces Heidi Peterson Barrett, who wanted to concentrate on her existing projects including ultra-cult-Cab Screaming Eagle.

How did you get into winemaking?
I’ve been surrounded by grapes for a long time. Grape growing has been in my family since 1918. My Dad and uncle began Galleron Bros. grape farms in 1947. Those grapes went into wines from Beaulieau Vineyards, Charles Krug, Beringer and Christian Bros. My genuine interest in winemaking began in the early 70’s at Santa Rosa JC. As part of our coursework, we pruned acres of vineyards for free and stated our own wine club.

How do you view winemaking? Where is the emphasis between winemaking as a science, as strictly a series of chemical processes, and as an art, intuitively making hundreds of right decisions to create great wine?
I’m “old school” in that I like to know the science; I’m really interested in it, and conduct my own analysis. Many winemakers today don’t do it; they send the samples out to a lab. Yet, it makes it harder to make great wine, when you are applying all this technology and data, because part of achieving greatness, is in the process. Some grapes need to be bruised in the winemaking process to get some character out of them.

What’s in store at Lynch; will there be any changes in direction?
Beginning with 2003, the wines will be “racier”. We have begun using more new French barrels, particularly, the thinner stave Chateau barrels, to gain additional complexity from oak, without the oak hitting you over the head, or palate, as it were. Also, in 2002, we began vinifying the wines at the newly built Vineyard 29 facility, with state of the art technology, using a “gravity feed” approach.

Tell me a little bit about the winemaking for Lynch wines, given that they are made at Vineyard 29, a state-of-the-art winery using “gravity feed” processes. What is “gravity feed” and what difference does it make in the wine?
The idea of gravity feed is to minimize the handling and pumping of the grapes so there is less aeration and gentler handling. Too much aeration can be a problem, particularly with white wines. The theory is that the gentler you are in handling the grapes, the less oxidation that will occur, enabling the color, fruit and richness to develop deeper, and last longer.

What are Dan Lynch’s eventual goals for production levels for each of the wines?
When the newly planted Syrah vines mature in 2005, we’ll double our Syrah production to about 100 cases. The Lynch Cabernet is around the 200 case production level. The Napa Dan wines will be about 500 case production total between the Cabernet and the Chardonnay offerings; these grapes come from Lynch Valley Ranch.

What’s your model of a great Cabernet?
The most important to me is darkness in color, which equals a blend of richness and speciality of the place the grapes are grown. Not every site gives you good color. If you can attain great color, you’re halfway there. With Lynch fruit, we can achieve great color. I also try to achieve a “balanced softness” staying away from the harsh tannins as much as possible. This does affect ageability, but when you can achieve a great wine, it often drinks great young, and can retain that distinctiveness for years. I think Lynch Syrahs, for example, will go 7 – 10 years easily, yet be exciting, vibrant and approachable on release.

You are known for your world class Cabernets? Why Cabernet, how did you end up focusing on Cabs?
White wines are harder to make (laughs). Really, I like to make a variety of wines, but the colors of Cabernet and Syrah really appeal to me, and after all, Cabernet thrives in most places within Napa Valley, so it’s been a natural evolution. I’ve been fortunate to have made friends with some great vineyard sites (and even get to know the people that own them), like the Morisoli Vineyard, Vineyard 29, Grace Family, Seavey’s vineyards in Conn Valley, and now Lynch. Cabernet has always been a part of my heritage, but Syrah is such a neat grape too, such a useful grape. It adds fatness, fruitiness, and dense color. It’s more purple and bluish, while Cab is more ruby and red.