McHENRY – Brian and John Cunat of McHenry literally put their money where their mouths are – or, more specifically, their palates.
In 2007, the brothers, owners of the property management and development firm Cunat Inc., bought a 50-acre vineyard in Napa Valley, Calif. Since then, Cunat Premium Vineyards LLC have been producing several award-winning varietals under the label “Materra.” They produce seven different varietals, five of which they sell to the public and two are sold exclusively through their wine club. The whites are savignon blanc, viognier and chardonnay. The reds are merlot, petit verdot and cabernet souvignon.
Past accolades include a gold-medal merlot in 2008 at the San Francisco Chronicle, Dallas Morning News and TexSom Wine competitions. The Florida State Fair International Wine and Grape Juice Competition also presented silver medals for the 2007 and 2008 merlots and the 2010 viognier.
“Our goal is to make the best wine using the best grapes with the best sugar content,” Brian Cunat said. “Every business that starts up has its own set of challenges to overcome. It’s taken time to get all of our permits and approvals, and sometimes it’s frustrating, but we’re kind of past all of that now. Every single state has its own set of rules. You have to get licensed in every state you do business in. It’s a big hassle. We’re in seven – Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Florida, California, Colorado and New York.”
Locally, Materra wines are available at Cardinal Liquors, Bimbo’s Ristorante, Port Edward Restaurant, 1776, the McHenry and Crystal Lake country clubs, and Exclusively Napa Wine Bar & Emporium.
For information, call 815-385-3192 or visit www.materrawines.com.
Brian Cunat, 56, who oversees the California winery, was the driving force in getting the family involved. Sure there are great wines produced in Illinois, he said, but he believes none can touch Napa Valley for its consistency and diversity. The land has been a vineyard since the 1890s, except during Prohibition when it was usurped by plums. But grape vines are far from impervious. After 25 to 35 years, Cunat said, the vines must be replaced. Then it takes another three to five years for the new vines to begin producing.
Then there is the insect monitoring, the application of biodegradable pesticides such as fruit oils, the planting of cover crops like clover and mustard, fertilizing, pruning and sugar monitoring to consider. It is a “12-month-a-year job,” Cunat said.
“You have to start with the best possible grapes. Then you have to prune them back twice through the summer months,” he said. “As we get closer to the fall months, you have to monitor the sugar level in the grapes. ... “There is a hand-held device that squishes the grape and measures the juice that comes out. You want the sugar to be at 26 to 28 percent. But when the temperatures get hot in the summer, it can change one or two times a day. The higher the sugar, the higher the alcohol content. You want it between 12 to 14 percent [alcohol]. Wines that are at 25 percent are very astringent at that point.”
Rather than trying to increase the harvest, the Cunat team prunes off about half of the grape clusters in quest of quality. The result is about 6 tons per acre for white grapes, 3 to 4 1/2 tons an acre for red. A ton of grapes is needed to produce 770 bottles of wine, Brian Cunat said, and there are 12 bottles to a case.
“This year we’re producing close to 5,000 cases. Our goal is get close to 15,000 cases when we’re up and running,” Cunat said. “But that is a ways down the road.”
Toward that end they replanted vines to maximize sunlight. They also hired well-respected winemakers Michael Trujillo and Bruce Regalia as consultants, and a third-generation managment company, Madrigal Vineyards, to run the operation. And Brian Cunat’s daughter, Neena, runs the tasting station.
“I had an interest in it for many years. My father-in-law introduced us to many good wines 25 years ago, so I have been developing an interest in it,” said Brian Cunat, who handles more of the operations side of the business while John focuses on tastings. But being a wine connoisseur is much different than being a wine producer.
“I certainly encourage and support anyone who is going to try and produce something in McHenry County, but our goal was to produce the best wines from the U.S. Being number one is really what we’re shooting for,” Brian Cunat said. “We’re not necessarily trying to make a killing at this from a dollar standpoint. We’re out to make a killer wine.”