Wine and Tech: The Best of Both Worlds

Tim Bucher fell in love with growing grapes as a young child.

Raised on a dairy farm in northern Sonoma County, California, he learned about grapes while hanging out with friends whose parents owned vineyards. 

“Play dates back then were going to my friends’ homes and working in the vineyards where I learned about pruning grapes and making wine,” he said. “They were all Italian immigrants. We were Swiss and the only ones with a dairy.” 

By age 16, Bucher had purchased a 2-acre vineyard through family connections, setting the stage for the first of his lifelong passions: grapes and farming. Using a tax-free exchange, he upgraded the small vineyard to a larger one and again a few years later. 

When he headed to the University of California-Davis to study agriculture, Bucher kept up his vineyard located in Geyserville. While in college, he discovered his second passion. 

“I accidentally took a computer course, and it was the scariest thing I’d ever done,” he said. “I didn’t know computers. I was a farmer and sat in the back of a 500-person auditorium. Then the professor started to talk, and I understood everything he was saying. By the end of the quarter, I was teaching. I knew I had found something.” 

Bucher went on to build a successful career in Silicon Valley where he developed several startup companies, which were acquired by Microsoft, Dell and Apple. “It’s been a wonderful journey having worked directly with people like Bill Gates, Michael Dell and Steve Jobs,” he said. “I learned a lot from them about being an entrepreneur.” 

Building the vineyards 
While working in Silicon Valley, Bucher remained passionate about farming, returning to his vineyards on weekends to work. By then, he had hired crews to help. 

He officially named the business Trattore Farms, paying homage to his appreciation of tractors. Trattore is the Italian word for tractor, and Bucher loves tractors. He grew up with Fiats and Fords, but today uses New Holland tractors and crawlers. His TK4.80F crawler has rubber tracks and is well suited to the farm’s 30-degree slopes and rocky soils. 

In the late 1990s, Bucher cleared more land for grapes and began making wine to sell commercially versus just selling grapes. Business was starting to take off and he kept his foot on the pedal. Today, Trattore Farms has about 40 acres of planted grapes with 11 varietals and more vineyards in other areas of California for winery sources. 

Bucher’s goal has been to produce the best wines possible on his farm with its rough terrain and varied soils. To do this, the vineyards are divided into 11 blocks based on soil, sun exposure, slope, vine age and type. Each block is managed individually to optimize plant health and grape quality. 

The varieties grown on the farm include Rhone varietals Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Counoise, Cinsault, Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne and Picpoul. They also grow Petite Sirah and Zinfandel. 

Attention to detail and quality continues during grape harvest. The varietals selected for certain blends are picked together in the field, combined then co-fermented. This Old World method of field-blending produces a rich, complex wine. 

“We pick grapes by hand, and I’ve had to pick many grapes in my day,” Bucher added. “We pick at night so the grapes come in cold so we control when the yeast starts to activate and convert sugars to alcohol.” 

Grapes are put into tanks that can be chilled to slow and control fermentation. This helps extract as much color and flavor from the red grape skins as possible. The chilling tanks use electricity produced from solar panels Bucher installed on the farm, part of Bucher’s commitment to using new, sustainable technology.

The olive business
When clearing land for his vineyards, Bucher discovered 30 heritage olive trees on the property. “My wife and I never had any intention of doing anything with olives,” he admitted. “But we researched it and found the land used to be a large olive grove from the early 1850s. We decided to bring the history back.” 

As with the vineyards, Bucher continued to expand the olive groves. Today, they produce olive oil from 20 different olive varietals on 20 acres of trees. The olive products are sold under the brand name Dry Creek Olive Oil Company. There is also a line of vinegars produced at Trattore Farms which accompanies the oils. 

“The olive oil business is fantastic,” Bucher added. “But here’s a secret: Olives are really easy to grow and really difficult to harvest. Grapes are difficult to grow and really easy to harvest.” 
The olives are picked by hand and go directly to one of two olive mills on their farm. “We are one of only a few olive companies in California that has two different mills,” he said. “We have a traditional stone mill, which nobody uses these days. But I wanted to have the ability to mill in a traditional way as well as with a hammer mill, which is a much newer technology.” 

Both mills offer unique benefits. “You can take early season Tuscan olives that can be bitter and pungent, put them in the stone mill and you will get a nicely balanced oil despite the olives being green. You can also take olives that are nearly black later in the season and put them in the hammer mill to spice them up. Having two different mills give you great flexibility to yield the highest quality oils.” 

Merging high-tech, farming
Over the years, Bucher used his tech knowledge to improve efficiency at Trattore Farms, especially when it comes to labor and sustainability. 

“Finding labor is tough and getting tougher for every farmer,” Bucher said. “I had to develop a lot of technology because I couldn’t find people to do everything and manage costs.” 

He designed a water recycling plant to handle all the production water used in the wine cellar and olive mill. The water goes through an automated 4-stage recycling plant and is used in the irrigation system. 

Bucher also built a high-tech compost center to separate solids and liquids. The liquids are injected into the irrigation system and the solids composted for fertilizer. 

Of course, these systems can be controlled remotely on a cellphone. Bucher also enabled cellphone control of other parts of the farm like the irrigation systems, fermentation tanks, and even all the gates on the ranch. 

From field to consumer
In 2004, while Bucher was building both his tech career and Trattore Farms, he and his wife, Mary Louise, moved their three young children from Silicon Valley to the Sonoma County farm.

“We were thrilled to raise the children on the farm and help build it as a family,” he said. “It’s a great life, and they got to experience a well-grounded lifestyle and appreciation for hard work.” 

The move to the farm also allowed Bucher to spend more time to achieve his goals for Trattore Farms. 

“I’m a big believer in vertical integration for quality control,” he explained. “We have our vineyard, groves of olives, winemaking and olive mills on site so we can control every aspect of product from vine to bottle for our wines and tree to bottle for our oils. We used to sell through distributors all over the U.S., but my dream was to be 100% direct to consumer.” 

“Over time, we became better known. Our tasting room grew and so did our customers. In 2017, we achieved the dream of selling 100% direct to consumers. For any farmer who can produce products and then sell them, your margins are better, and you can take care of your end customer better.” 

Bucher had help from his family reaching these goals. Mary Louise manages the olive business. Their oldest daughter, Jenna, works full-time at the business and son, Stephen, remotely handles the farm’s IT needs while working for Microsoft. Their youngest daughter, Michaela, uses her culinary skills in the tasting room when she’s home from college. 

Today, Trattore Farms is a full estate with facilities to welcome all types of customers interested in learning about the farm, winery and olives. Their “Get Your Boots Dirty Tour” includes a tour of the vineyard, olive mill and cellar topped by a tasting of Trattore Farms products. 

Customers can visit the farm’s Dry Creek Valley tasting facility to sample wines and olive oils. Charcuterie boards, paninis and wood-fired pizza can be ordered to accompany the tastings. The facility and vineyards are also available for private events. 

Another tasting facility, called Trattore on the Plaza, recently opened in nearby downtown Healdsburg. Here wine and oil tastings, wines by the glass and bottles are offered for enjoyment in an outdoor or indoor lounge setting.

All Trattore Farms products are available for purchase at both tasting facilities. The products may also be purchased online at trattorefarms.com.