Meet Alex Young: Assistant Winemaker at Judd's Hill and Panoramic Wines
This interview has been edited for clarity and was featured in the June 14, 2023 of Merobebe.
Merobebe
If you could visit any wine region in the world, where would you go?
Alex Young
Wow! Super hard choice, but I would absolutely love to visit Italy to sit down and have a glass with a small-town producer. To listen to their story about their family’s history in winemaking and the philosophy behind their winemaking choices. I think the difference between textbook winemaking and familial secrets passed down from generation to generation is so fascinating. Both produce phenomenal wines but I really geek out on the differences between the two.
Merobebe
If you could have any superpower related to wine, what would it be?
Alex Young
I would love to be able to be an accurate human analysis machine – be able to taste anything and articulate accurate lab reports. First off, the money saved on labs would be astronomical. But secondly, the amount of guesswork that it would take out of day-to-day cellar activity would be awesome. Also; bragging rights.
Merobebe
I'm so jealous that you grew up with a sommelier mom! When you were younger, did your family often talk about wine at home or discuss what you were drinking with dinner?
Alex Young
Yes, my family often talked about wine while I was growing up. One of the earliest memories I have of wine is my mom teaching me to detect cork taint around age 6. She even put damp newspapers into a Tupperware and let them mold so I could smell the “moldy newspaper” and pick it up in wine. Her favorite party trick (while hosting International Wine & Food Society dinner parties) was to hand me a glass of wine to smell and have me inevitably say “ew, that’s corked” to all of her wine club friends who hadn’t previously detected the TCA [the acronym for the compound causing cork taint]. About 90% of them would agree it was tainted after I gave my official declaration.
Merobebe
You grew up in the Reno/Tahoe area and migrated towards Napa. What initially drew you to winemaking there?
Alex Young
I had been lucky enough to visit when I was younger (with my mom of course), and after she moved down to Napa I spent a couple of years working in the restaurant scene and learning more about wine before moving back to Reno for almost 7 years.I continued working in restaurants and bars back in Reno, learning more about beer and wine, and in 2017 I decided I wanted to take a little hiatus from the service industry and take a deeper dive into how wine was made. So I applied for a couple of internships and landed at Judd's Hill for a harvest winemaking internship.
Merobebe
Coming from the service side of the wine industry, what was the most surprising aspect of harvesting and winemaking for you?
Alex taking a vineyard stroll with her pet pig, Pinot
Alex Young
The absolute most surprising thing for me was the realization of how much of an agricultural product wine is. It was never something really thought of, pouring a glass of elegant Pinot Noir or crisp Sauvignon Blanc for a table. I don’t think I ever would have connected how much wine truly comes from the vineyard until I saw grapes come in with part of the vineyard on them; including ants, dust, grape leaves, etc. And then seeing fresh-pressed grape juice looking like something from a juice bar with skins floating around in it.
Then throughout the whole process, it slowly started to take the shape of the end product I was so familiar with. It was truly an eye-opening experience that first year to watch sticky grapes fresh from the vineyard transform into a glass of rosé I could enjoy on the patio.
Merobebe
What are your favorite (and least favorite) aspects of wine making?
Alex Young
I think my favorite and simultaneously least favorite aspect of winemaking is working with what Mother Nature has to offer for that particular vintage. Some vintages offer up perfect grape growing conditions with the ability to call all your picks at the perfect ripeness and even luck out finding a last-minute vineyard that has extra grapes from a varietal that you’ve always wanted to work with.
But sometimes you are offered sweltering heat waves, with vineyards that get much riper than you would ever want, leading to high alcohol and stuck fermentations. Or vineyards that are coming in at a quarter of the tonnage you were expecting. What’s cool about both the good and the bad is that they tell a story of the vintage and both make for truly unique and delicious wine.
Merobebe
Tell us a little bit about the custom crush process. How does that work?
Alex Young
Custom crush varies throughout the industry. There are some established wine labels that do not actually own their own wine making facilities, but instead turn to custom crush houses to make wine for them.
And then there is what we do at Judd’s Hill which is custom crush on a “Microcrush” scale. We will have families bring us grapes from either their backyards or from their family-run vineyards and make them their own custom barrel of wine from start to finish. Most places have a minimum requirement of at least 3-4 barrels worth of wine but we only ask for about half a ton of fruit which is a single barrel.
From there, we make each of our clients their custom wine exactly to their specifications. Some just want wine to share with friends and family over the holidays, and others are starting their own small brands to promote the grapes that their families have been growing and selling for years. Our clients range from being completely hands-off and just picking up the final product once it’s bottled, to those who are actively producing the wines with us. No matter what level of involvement they have, everyone ends up with the type of wine they want and love.
Working in custom crush has been one of the best educational experiences for me because I get to see a massive amount of different varietals and winemaking styles, and I have been able to learn from the grapes as well as my mentor, Eric Lyman.
Merobebe
If you had all of the money in the world...what kind of wine would you make?
Alex Young
I would make wine for friends, family, and fellow wine nerds who want to drink unique varietals from forgotten vineyards and enjoy what story each vintage has to tell. Wine made for the masses can be wonderful but also limiting. You have to make the same product year after year because people want their wine to taste exactly like what they are expecting.
I want to make wine that makes you think and talk about it with your friends at a backyard BBQ. Or a wine that you bring to stump all of your friends at a blind tasting group. Ultimately, I want to make wine to just enjoy.