Michelle Willcock Schulze is the chief cook and bottle washer at Venturi-Schulze in Cowichan Valley, BC. She has always had a passion for food and travel, a natural ability in writing, and an affinity for foreign languages. She surprised the family by joining the winery in early 1995, soon after graduating from high school.
After years of immersion in all aspects of the business (soil preparation, vine planting, pruning, canopy management, harvesting, crush and winemaking) and following an intensive program of reading and research into other wine regions of the world, Michelle is an integral and indispensable part of the winegrowing process. She has a great palate and brings a fresh viewpoint and wonderful sense of humour to the business. She shares the passion for wine and commitment to quality. Her son, Connor, born in January 2012, loves accompanying her to work and is our official junior apprentice.
Media Inquiries: Michelle mick@venturischulze.com | https://www.venturischulze.com/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your brand?
My father, Giordano Venturi (born in Modena, Italy 1941), and Mother, Marilyn Schulze (born in the outback of Australia in 1951) came to Vancouver Island to plant a vineyard to produce grapes for crafting their traditional method balsamic vinegar. Giordano was a diesel electric maintainer for the locomotives of CPR and became a high school teacher for computers and electronics. Marilyn was a microbiologist and high school teacher. It was a second marriage for them both, and they came to the Island to start fresh.
The first barrel of balsamic vinegar was produced in 1970 by Giordano. Wine was always a passion for Giordano, so it wasn’t long before they planned to become a small, estate-grown wine (and balsamic vinegar) producer. From the start, they were passionate about sustainable grape growing and decided that they wanted to be 100% estate grown on this one piece of land in the Cowichan Valley. No pesticides or herbicides are used. We dry farm, so that means the vines have never seen water from us, except for 1 gallon put into the bottom of the hole the vine was originally planted in.
We pride ourselves on making consistently high-quality products, but we absolutely are not consistent in the production of the same things from one year to the next, except the balsamic vinegar. The weather varies, but so do our moods, so we make what we feel is appropriate considering those two things. It’s what’s great about us and is also what is likely the most frustrating thing about us. Don’t ask me when something will be making another appearance. I have no idea.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
If we weren’t constrained…boy. I mean that ranges from wanting a new, modest press, because apparently ours is now considered a dinosaur, to wanting the government to butt out. Honestly, I’d love to see the interprovincial trade barriers for alcohol removed from within our own country so we can get on with getting product out into the hands of people who don’t know we exist. And also into the hands of people who DO know we exist.
What is the One Wine most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
I think I’ll lean towards the Reserve Pinot Noir. It epitomizes our story. Elusive, complex, hard fought, finicky, brutal, torturous and delightful at the same time. Five clones of Pinot Noir make up this vintage. A German clone, a Swiss clone (Mariafeld) two Dijon clones (113 and 115) and a California clone called the Jackson Clone (UCD 29). We made our original Pinot Noir clonal decisions based on a tasting of unadulterated Pinot Noirs presented by Barney Watson and Steve Price back in the early 90s. We imported several of them through OSU. We are not a grafted vineyard so all these Pinots are on their own root. Severe yield control is done several times throughout the growing season. During harvest, sorting is done in the field, not in the winery, which is painstaking, but worth it. Fermentation is partial whole bunch and the rest is destemmed, but not crushed. Several yeasts and fermentation temperatures are used. Some is pressed off after 14 days on skin, some after 30 days on skin. French oak barrels are used, in this case 10% new, 25% 2-3 year old barrels and the rest were older than 4 years. I believe it was about 2 years in barrel before release. Read about this unique Pinot Noir here.
Bonus Question: What’s the one thing people would be surprised to learn about you?
The one thing people would be surprised about us is that we produce Canada’s only traditional method balsamic vinegar. The only ingredient is vinegar made from white grape juice. The grapes are specifically grown for this product, which has nothing to do with wine. The high sugar, low acid grape juice is simmered outside in 1500 liter tanks to concentrate. It’s then inoculated with our starter brought over from Spilmaberto, Italy, Giordano’s home town, back in 1970 where it ferments and acetifies the juice, taking about 8 years to do so. This starter contains 127 different yeasts and bacteria. The vinegar is then aged in a solera system of barrels (cherry, chestnut, oak, acacia and ash) of varying sizes ranging from 3 liters up to 2500 liters where is evaporates up to 30% per year. I also breed raptors (falcons). But that’s another story.