Matt Garcia, the founder of Homage Brewing in Pomona, California, has quickly filled two plastic bins and a Trader Joe’s tote bag. “I think this is already what we got last year,” he says, while looking ahead at the rows of grape-laden vines. He grabs an empty bucket and continues picking.
This is the second time that Homage, which produces beautifully expressive barrel-aged, mixed-fermentation beers, has been invited to participate in the annual harvest at Cal Poly Pomona, a nearby university with three vineyards. Last year, Garcia and his team collected around 150 pounds of zinfandel grapes, which they used (along with petite sirah from a winery in Paso Robles) to create Human Behavior, a lively, juicy, and lightly tannic mixed-fermentation Saison.
Typically, students involved in the viticulture program at Cal Poly oversee its vineyards, planting and pruning as part of the curriculum (once the fruit is picked, it’s shipped to a partnering winery to produce). But this new academic year is different. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the university’s fall semester will be virtual, and no students on the bucolic campus means no hands to harvest.
“They called and said we could pick one of the plots whole,” Garcia recounts, still sounding surprised at the offer. He’s quick to note that the unfortunate circumstances brought about by the pandemic are not lost on him. That the brewery will reap, by his estimation, four or five times as many pounds of grapes as last year, though, has his creative juices flowing. He’s becoming more interested in natural wine, he tells me, and in incorporating the flavors and techniques of that world into his Saisons and wild beers. “Our intent is to make true Homage-style ale,” he says.
For a moment, Garcia raises a bunch of grapes to the bright morning sun and turns the cluster slowly, as if it were on rotating display in a showroom. It feels fitting that, despite the unflagging heat, he would take a few seconds in this small parcel of zinfandel to admire the agricultural product likely to become an integral feature of several future beers.
But he’s not just musing.
“There’s a ladybug on here,” he says, before using his secateurs to safely transport the tiny insect from the soft violet surface of the fruit to a yellow-tinged leaf along the vineyard row. “I check each bunch I clip and try to put all the bugs back. This is their home.”
Words + Photoby Niko Krommydas