Growing up on his family’s vineyard in Napa Valley, Christian Palmaz knew exactly what he wanted to be: a winemaker. But after apprenticing, he learned he couldn’t quite read the wines the way a winemaker should. But that didn’t stop him from wanting to help make a great wine. He turned to his other passion instead, computer science. –continue reading below–
Palmaz Vineyards is a family-owned Napa Valley winery that is entirely encompassed inside Mount George. Unique to Palmaz is its own propriety ML software developed by Christian Palmaz, CEO. FILCS (pronounced “Felix”), stands for Fermentation Intelligence Logic Control System. It gives insight on fermentation by measuring variables in the process, then adjusts the temperature and rate of fermentation as needed. Another system, VIGOR, or Vineyard Infrared Growth Optical Recognition, monitors the health of the vineyard and adjusts irrigation accordingly throughout the growing season.
Discussions of alcohol levels in wine are analogous to the third rail of train tracks: Often dangerous to even approach, and it should only be done with extreme caution. This is because everyone, it seems, has an opinion about what constitutes an “appropriate” amount of alcohol. It makes sense: The abv in a bottle has a huge impact on the balance of the wine, the flavor profile, the texture, the ways in which it interacts with food, and more. Strong opinions, on either side of the proverbial aisle, are justified, and I find plenty of merit in both.
But as with all deeply held convictions, it’s far too easy for logical argument to devolve into orthodoxy, when the reality is that there are plenty of great wines that don’t have all that much alcohol (the Kutch Bohan Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016, for example, clocks in at 11.3% abv, and it’s magnificent, with copious red fruit, Indian spice, and roses leaving a lasting impression long after the wine has been finished) and just as many that have higher levels (the Faust Limited Release “Graffiti Edition” Cabernet Sauvignon 2015, which comes in magnum and boasts 14.9% alcohol, is balanced and assertive all at once, with chocolate, cedar, blueberry cobbler, cassis, and cigar tobacco). They are verydifferent wines, but I find a ton of pleasure in both.
American Chardonnay has gotten a bad rap—not without cause, in many cases. For a decade or more, beginning in the 1990s, it was impossible for them to be buttery enough, creamy enough or ripe enough. Sugar levels were staggering almost across the board. Returning from a trip to Germany in 1998, I was startled to find that many domestic Chardonnays were sweeter than the Rieslings I had been drinking in the Mosel and Rhine.
In this episode we met with Christian Palmaz, CEO of Palmaz Vineyards and President and CEO of Vactronix Scientific, a material science company based in Silicon Valley. Palmaz Vineyards has been able to pull together wine and data together to not make better wine but how can big data make the process less prone to error, more sustainable to quality and to allow the wine makers to focus on what is most important, making the best wine possible… to enhance the human element which makes wine beautiful, multi-dimensional, and complex. All the things we have a hard time putting numbers to
In the wine industry, there are many creative people, true artist but as Christian stated, “you can spend your whole life studying art but that does not mean you are going to be a great artist”. Christian now feels like he plays a supporting role to those that have the artistic direction even though he has a computer science background. His father started this innovative spirit and the process of using innovation to problem solve. Christian said it best when talking about his role in wine and data analytics, guys like him “don’t wield the paint brush, we make the paint”… and what great paint it is.
Christian Palmaz ’07 builds intelligence technology that save his family’s vineyards during Napa Valley wildfires.
You might not be able to detect notes of tech in your glass, but California winemakers are embracing cutting-edge techniques to create world-class vintages.
As helicopters rescued people and their pets off Atlas Peak, in Napa, Calif., one night in October, Christian Palmaz was nearby battling his own flames. His task: to save his family’s winery, Palmaz Vineyards.
Sunday, October 8, 11:00 pm: Napa Valley winery owner Christian Palmaz received a text from a buddy with news that a fire was spreading through Atlas Peak, about two ridgelines away. Christian thought little of it. He had no inkling he would soon be facing the first of seven fires ignited that night, the beginning of what became a raging inferno, raining hell on Sonoma, Santa Rosa, and Napa—claiming 42 lives, decimating over 6,000 homes and businesses, and damaging or destroying 27 wineries. As I am writing this, fires in Santa Rosa are contained, but not out.
12:00 am: “I could see the glow on the top of the mountain,” says Christian Palmaz, owner and operator of Palmaz Vineyard in Napa, California. “No news agencies were reporting this; it was the first fire, the beginning. The power started flickering, and that was the first sign that this was something big, but there were no evacuation orders, nothing like that. We ended up losing power, so I drove to the winery to make sure the generators transferred over. When I came out at 1:00 am, the fire was near the property line. It moved half a mile in a matter of what felt like minutes. I couldn’t believe it.”
Christian Palmaz used hoes, shovels and rakes to keep flames from his family’s 19th-century vineyard estate home on the flanks of Mt. St. George in eastern Napa County.
But he didn’t have to worry about his vines. They’re green, very much alive, and a stark contrast to more than 500 acres of oak, manzanita and grassland charred by the Atlas fire as it tore across Palmaz’s property.
