You can tell when someone loves what they do, and this became quite apparent once I began my conversation with Carrie and Kaan Kurtural, proprietors of Kurtural Family Vineyards.
The winding gravel path led me to the idyllic setting for Slayback Vineyard, where the Kurtural family has been dedicating itself to growing some of the finest grapes on the land they lease from Gene Glaeser, founder of Putah Creek Winery.
The vineyards have been redeveloped according to Kaan, ones that were “originally planted in 1997” yet a virus took over and they were replanted in 2017. Some of the vines “are classified as old vines that did not have a disease, like the chardonnay, and the syrah and the old cabernet. Those are the old vines that are 28 years old now; the rest of the vineyard is new.”
When I asked Kaan what made them decide to take on such a venture, he said, “That’s what I know.” Kaan who used to be a professor at UC Davis in the viticulture and enology department until 2023, grew up in Turkey where his family still has land on which they grow grapes.
He now manages all the extension programs for the university, using “about 6½ acres of the vineyard still for research and development … the rest we make wine from … under our own label.”
His wife Carrie added that Kaan has published extensively in his 18 years in academia, “working on climate change, and science related to wine grapes…after years of doing academic research … we decided in 2024, it’s time to produce our wines.”
Kaan explained that for the first 10 years of his career, he worked on “mechanization of vineyard practices” as well as “chemical mitigation so you don’t have to replant” diseased vines and instead, you can treat them, a much less costly solution. Considering how expensive it is to pull out a vineyard and plant new vines, being able to treat the plants instead is obviously preferable.
“I did quite a bit of work on irrigation scheduling … and here we have an artificially intelligent system where we can put water and fertilizer anywhere we want in the vineyard.” This work was done in collaboration with a UCD student, an alumni and a pistachio grower who “developed a system for his pistachios that we have up here for our grapes.”
Carrie, whose “day job” is working as an attorney for the state of California, handled “the regulations … licensing and all of that fun stuff you have to do when you start a wine brand.” She laughed, stating that it was actually “pretty easy” for her to get them licensed “relatively quickly.” She shared that they had to “hire a designer … there’s a lot of ins and outs, you have to hire a winemaker, ‘cause wine making isn’t our specialty at all; our specialty is growing the grapes.”
One of Kaan’s former students is a winemaker, “that’s a benefit,” Carrie said. “Kaan got his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University; he went there for undergrad, master’s and Ph.D. in plant science. After that, he was immediately hired as assistant professor for university of Kentucky…three years later a position became available at Fresno State … funded by Fred Franzia … quite renowned in the bulk wine industry.” Then in 2015, Kaan joined UC Davis.
Carrie explained that there are “new natural chemicals coming on the market now” and Kaan added that there is “a push to use plant-based fertilizers so that’s what we brought here as well so we’re using 75% less fertilizer yet getting the same yield and quality as traditional fertilizer … that’s a brand-new thing and it’s changing really rapidly.”
Carrie continued that you “notice it, too, if you drink our chardonnay. I have yet to have a headache the next day,” although she isn’t certain whether it has anything to do “with utilizing more natural peptide base fertilizer. But the wine … is pretty amazing. For us to score so high in little old Davis,” and here she laughed heartily before adding, “We’re not in Napa or Bordeaux, or one of those places.”
Much of Kaan’s focus is on the “biochemistry of the grape berry … if you have … heat waves like we’re having today, grapes do not like excessive heat especially berries … in the previous 30 years, the focus was on exposing the berry, making these very short plants, not very adapted to California’ climate. Everyone says we have a Mediterranean climate, we don’t. This is an irrigated desert so all these things that they brought in from France, etc. started falling to the wayside. So we had to think a little bit out of the box. As I mentioned, people do not want to replant vines, so initially I worked with shade cloth…covering the side of the trellis with … mesh cloth. Then we put the cloth on top … then we refigured … how much water is needed on the north coast of California to sustainably grow grapes.”
Eventually they developed a new trellis.
All this research took place in Oakville and the commute became tedious. “This vineyard is 2 miles from our house now,” shared Carrie. The Kurturals now grow chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, syrah and sauvignon blanc.
“These are all the chardonnay,” Carrie pointed out, as we made our way towards rows of vines, stretching as far as the eye could see. “No one knows us in Davis,” she said, “it’s relatively new first production year. It takes a while to make reds … a year and a half to two years … they just take a long time … so they’re in oak barrels right now … the whites are quick. We just harvested last year and we produced the chardonnay.”
The Kurturals’ vineyard grows chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, syrah and sauvignon blanc grapes.
Karen Levy/Enterprise photo
Kaan reached for the grapes hanging like jewels in the sun. “This is our sauvignon blanc,” he explained, tasting one of the grapes. “They’re getting sweet … this is the one that’s going to get harvested first … in about like three weeks they’ll be ready … first week in August.” He added that “Starting Tuesday, we’re putting in another two and a half acres of sauvignon blanc.”
They have a labor contractor when it comes time to harvest while “Kaan does the majority of the farming and he is always out on the tractor spraying and doing his research trials so he manages it and then brings in a crew. But much of what we do is done by machine,” Carrie explained, although chardonnay has to be hand-picked. “We won silver on both of our chardonnays at the Orange County Fair this year,” she shared. “I believe they’re the largest wine competition for California only made wine … it’s a really fun one.” She added that Wine Spectator, “one of the top well-respected media outlets for the wine industry,” wasn’t going to score them “because we’re not really on the map, this is our first year.” So originally, Kurtural wine was declined. “But being the attorney I am, I submitted a rebuttal and she decided to score us.” Carrie laughed at the recollection. “And we scored out an 89 … I was pretty happy with that,” she added, seeing as Napa brands were receiving similar scores.
We kept walking past rows of vines until we reached the reds, eventually arriving at the cabernet sauvignon and merlot which will be picked in September. “We’re a new wine brand scoring so well on par with Napa brands, focusing more on utilizing more natural base fertilizers to limit synthetic fertilizer,” Carrie commented. While she spends her days surrounded by lawyers, there is no question that she has learned quite a bit about the wine industry and that this is a family affair. “My specialty is being a government attorney, and I still am … but I was always Kaan’s wife so I got brought in to university events, dealing with wine and all of that. And we also did a lot … with the Oakville wine growers association … I also noticed that there’s a lot of attorneys that get into wine. It’s a complicated area, you have to know what you’re doing, so we just essentially combined skills and so obviously, any of the compliance regulatory stuff, that’s in my boat and then Kaan is manager of the vineyard.” Carrie thinks that, “people want something different than just like what they would get at a grocery store … ”
“We don’t have a tasting room but we are available if you email me. We do have a wine club and we will be doing wine club events.” Certain events will be held at the El Macero Country Club while some will take place at the vineyard, like the annual fall harvest party.
“I have a lot of faith and conviction about our area and doing well,” Carrie continued as we made our way back. “There aren’t that many vineyards in Davis.” She shared that they have a new winemaker, Bryce Willingham “out in Lodi, so in harvest we will pick everything, and they’re stored and made … all in Lodi” where the crush takes place. “I’m very passionate that everything … only comes from this vineyard. I will not allow other grapes to be mixed with my wine. I think that’s very important for consumers, that they know what they’re drinking.” She pointed out the difference in the berries and vines as we passed the block in which the cabernet sauvignon is grown. “This is our old block … this vineyard has been here for thirty years … this is a more spicy cabernet and we’re going to be doing this one this year. This is the one you want to do the reserve on, the higher end.” A few steps away she pointed out “some regular cab sauvignon … mainly very fruit forward … very typical California … there isn’t that much complexities to that because it’s new … planted in 2017.” Carrie pointed to a further end of the vineyard where they will be replanting sauvignon blanc because it’s “really popular right now. I’m seeing demands for sparkling so I’m going to make him plant a couple rows of pinot noir” because mixing pinot noir with chardonnay makes “fabulous sparkling.”
We headed back while Carrie shared that their two boys, Anthony who is 14 and 8 year old Dominic, love it out there. Referring to her youngest she said, “I have him test the berry sample … when it gets close to harvest you test the sugar content and the pH to see at what point are we going to harvest it. He helps me with that … he loves it … my take in being a mom is … doing chores at home is too boring. Give them real projects … it’s a family affair,” she added in reference to running the vineyard. “They’ve always been in the vineyard, even at UC Davis we would go there on the weekends because Kaan was managing the farming for the university … it’s tough, farming, but it provides benefits for … the kids. I feel like it gives them a different education. Respect for the earth.”
In the shade of a tree with the vineyard just feet away it was time to taste the wine as Carrie brought out two bottles of 2024 chardonnay. All the Kurturals were gathered as I tasted, including Altun, their very friendly golden retriever. “This is Chablis style,” Carrie explained, pouring my first glass. “Chablis style means that this was all made in a stainless steel tank, there is no oak in it. This one’s listed at El Macero on their wine menu because … you get back from golf you want easy drinking, you don’t want anything too heavy … you don’t have to have it with food … it’s kind of like the everyday chardonnay.” Carrie is also on the wine committee at the El Macero Country Club and both she and Kaan have a wine series there.
My second glass was poured from the Vintner’s Reserve, and Kaan shared that he liked this one best himself. “It’s more eloquent in my opinion, better flavor profile. There was a trend the last 15 years I would say, people were making these very high alcohol, very woody wines and now some people think that’s what chardonnay tastes like but it’s not, so this one is not done in that style, it’s set in French oak … for about three months so it’s a very fine flavor profile.” According to Wine Enthusiast, “This bottling tells the story of Chardonnay in the area. Rich aromas suggest Golden Delicious apple, Asian pear, pineapple, citrus, vanilla cream and mineral on the nose. Flavors on the palate are yellow plum, quince and cinnamon spice, layered with more lively mineral and acidity on the finish.”
“It’s a satisfying thing” Kaan added, referring to the vines stretching out behind him. “But it’s a lot of work.” Having tasted the wonderful results, it was not surprising that the Vintner’s Reserve had received a 92 rating by Wine Enthusiast and that the stainless steel fermented chardonnay earned a 91. And if you would like to taste for yourselves, Kurtural wine is available at the Davis Co-op, listed at El Macero Country Club, and can be ordered online on their website, Kurturalwines.com. If you enjoy drinking good wine and like supporting local businesses, here is a great opportunity to do both. See more at https://kurturalwines.com.
People started lining up Saturday morning to check out the new Sierra store at 2107 Cowell Blvd in the Oakshade Town Center. A group of employees gathered for a photo and a ribbon cutting, yet none were allowed to make any comments or share their thoughts about working at this establishment.
“We can’t be spokespersons for the media,” said the district manager who would not reveal her name or share how she felt about opening a new store in Davis. “There’s a tremendous amount of scams,” added an individual with loss prevention. “…multiple times daily with utilizing names of executives,” he continued before saying, “we are excited but unfortunately there is a lot of scams.”
I made my way inside where the store manager for the upcoming Roseville Sierra also declined to give any information as he stood handing out gift bags with items such as water bottles, fanny packs and baseball caps, all bearing the Sierra logo. “Nobody can give any information that works here,” declared another woman who would not identify herself as she saw us speaking and swooped in to stop us from conversing.
“We are absolutely not allowed to speak to the media…we are off limits…” she said, suggesting that I speak with customers and take photos. As I took in the aisles of sportswear, bike helmets, backpacks, and camping gear among other items, an employee approached, and over music so loud that we had to shout to be heard, was happy to share that she was retired and working at the new store because, “You can only do so much stuff at home.” She added that it’s “a wonderful store” and that “working with all the young students is great.”
Dining and Cooking