The Grape Whisperer: Ruben Solorzano s Journey From Migrant Farm Worker to Wine Aficionado

Tranquility.

That's the word that comes to mind as I stand before the lush, green foliage at Mt. Carmel Vineyard, 50 miles northwest of Santa Barbara, California. Picturesque rows of neatly pruned pinot noir-some on the brink of transforming from bright green to red-violet-coax me to stroll their passages. I comply, and the vines welcome me with a slight wave. My boots crunch over clumps of dirt, receiving a generous coating of loose soil. The fog blanketing the landscape is slowly dissipating, revealing the full beauty of the Santa Rita Hills. I could wander through these vineyards in the early morning hours on any given day.

Photo by: Deepi Ahluwalia

To have a deep love for one's profession-where the lines of the job are erased, replaced with an open passion to explore and innovate one's craft-is something most people dream of. There are a lucky few whose livelihoods follow such paths. Among them is Ruben Solorzano, an equity partner at Coastal Vineyard Care Associates, a full-service vineyard management company with 650 employees. Solorzano's relationship with grapes grew over the years, from a simple occupation to a true calling.

The youngest of 11 children, Solorzano was raised in the village of El Ranchito de San Mart n Hidalgo in the state of Jalisco, roughly two hours southwest of Guadalajara. I grew up on a small ranch in Mexico, he says. My grandfather, my whole family, are all farmers. Solorzano tried his hand at becoming a mechanic, attending a school in a nearby city. I only lasted three months, he laughs. I liked the school but I didn't like the city. So I said to my father, I don't want you to waste your money here. This is not what I want to do.' I went back to the farm and stayed there for three years. In November of 1988, one of his elder brothers who had ventured to California and worked with grapes, persuaded Solorzano to come with him. I started by pruning vines. I had no idea what a grape vine was at that time.

Ruben Solorzano || Photo by: Deepi Ahluwalia

Solorzano's new life in California took some getting used to. There were five to 10 guys living in the same house. On the weekends we played soccer and volleyball, and the other days we just work, work, work-nine hours a day, says Solorzano. My first year, being away from my family, that was really hard for me. I had two brothers that were already here but we didn't live together, although we saw each other every week. After a year, I got used to it and made friends.

Unlike some migrant farm workers who live nomadic lives-moving from farm-to-farm as work is needed-Solorzano decided to stay in the Central Coast region of California versus traveling to other states. Some guys come here and they like the harvest, so they move. They harvest grapes here, they harvest apples in Washington. But about 50 percent of the guys like to be with families. We like to live together. Migrant farm workers in the U.S.-who are predominantly from Mexico-leave their homes in search for opportunity in America. Over half of all farm workers are unauthorized with no legal status in the U.S.-many of whom arrive with a strong work ethic and already solid agricultural skills, having gained practical experience in their home countries.

Migrant farm worker in the vineyard || Photo by: Deepi Ahluwalia

Solorzano takes me for a tour of the vineyard, stopping first to say hello and pass a few jokes with his workers. Their warm smiles and laughter add to the beauty of the setting. It's much better for workers now, explains Solorzano. When I first came here, there wasn't much work but there were a lot of people, mostly from Mexico. So employers didn't need to pay a lot of money to get work. Now, there's a lot of work in the vineyards and with farming other vegetables, so it benefits the workers that come here. They get paid more money and they get to choose where they want to work.

Solorzano describes his early years in his newly adopted country. I was 19 when I first came to the U.S. It was 1989. I went back every year to Mexico-you can only do it for three years without papers, then I did it illegally, says Solorzano. I got my legal papers in 1994 and I got those papers because I worked in the vineyard. Tom Stolpman, the founder of Stolpman Vineyards, hired Solorzano when he first came to California. Stolpman soon realized the invaluable asset Solorzano had become and helped him obtain legal status. Tom told immigration he didn't have another guy that could farm the same quality of grapes that Stolpman Vineyards needed, Solorzano explains. After several years of interviewing, waiting and re-interviewing twice more, Solorzano finally got his papers, and today is a U.S. citizen. It was a great process, but scary at the same time.

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Solorzano's journey to becoming a grape expert took years, one that he says is marked with three distinct milestones. In 1994, Jeff Newton-the founder of Coastal Vineyard Care Associates-offered Solorzano partnership in the company for fear of losing him to someone else. Pretty much everything I learned, I learned from Jeff Newton, says Solorzano. He's my second father; he taught me everything about grapes. I was influenced by other winemakers and consultants, but Jeff is the main guy for me.

In the same year, Solorzano also began managing Stolpman Vineyards. In 2001, he started working with the vineyard's winemaker, Sashi Moorman, and with Alberto Antonini, an oenologist and wine consultant from Italy. It was at this time Solorzano had an awakening: he began to understand the connection between fruit and wine starts at the vine. I knew then, this is what I wanted to do with my life. It's very interesting and I could see that if I do the right things to the grapes, I can make a difference. In

LINK:	https://www.kcet.org/shows/the-migrant-kitchen/the-grape-whisperer-rub...
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