MARK WAITE / PVT James Schaller and Mary Ann O'Neal were busy bottling the new "Nevada Ridge" wine at the Pahrump Valley Winery Wednesday. Advertisement

The vineyards at Pahrump Valley Winery are no longer just for show.

Bill and Gretchen Loken, owners of Nevada's oldest and largest winery, bottled the first crush 2005 Zinfandel called "Nevada Ridge" Wednesday, from grapes grown completely on Pahrump soil.

Besides being an exciting time for the Lokens, it marks a possible turning point for the fledgling grape-growing industry in Nevada, Bill Loken said.

"There's never been a bottle of wine ever made at the Pahrump Valley Winery from grapes that were grown here -- ever," Loken said.

Loken qualified his remarks, adding it's "believed to be" the first red estate wine ever grown in Nevada, since Frank "Pop" Buol grew grapes in Pahrump in the 1930s. But little is known about Chateau Buol other than it was bonded by the federal government, he said.

The first crush will produce about 100 cases, or about 1,100 bottles, Loken said. A long list of buyers is awaiting a bottle, expected to cost $75.

"It's the first time it's happened in the state's history. To my knowledge this is the first commercial red wine ever produced in the state of Nevada. It marks the beginning point for an industry that has potential," Loken said.

It took years to prepare for the estate wine.

A consultant from Napa Valley was brought in to put the Lokens on the fast track. Gretchen Loken attended the University of California at Davis to learn wine-making and is the real viticulturist. Bill Loken studied the art of wine intensely himself, receiving lots of advice from others in the industry.

The vines had to be pruned, fertilized and watered using what Loken calls "canopy management."

About one and a half tons of zinfandel grapes were picked Aug. 16-17, 2005, he said, which amounts to about four barrels.

The term "first crush" means the first crush of red grapes in the state.

"There's only one first crush, like there's only one first date," he said.

The wine was crushed and fermented, then aged in French and American oak barrels for two years, Loken said.

"The grapes here are a little rough around the edges. This is not exactly Napa Valley," he said. Ingredients like the sugar and the pH have to be balanced just right.

"What you have in Southern Nevada is the grapes ripen very quickly because of the heat. So to get all those components to line up is a little tricky. Sometimes you can coax that wine along by aging it a little longer and helping to calm the wine down and mellow it out," Loken said.

Even the label took some time to prepare. Loken said a federal regulator had to approve the lettering. It features a gold image of a setting sun -- reminiscent of the Pahrump desert sun setting over the Nopah Range -- on a silk screen label.

The 13.5 percent alcohol wine has varietal characteristics of a zinfandel, Loken said. The label proclaims Nevada Ridge "is filled with bright, berry fruit, complimented by hints of toast and almond flavors, crisp acidity and structured tannin."

The vines are about 14 years old. Loken said older vines produce a better grape.

Loken said he has already contracted with farmers to produce grapes at four other small vineyards in southern Nevada, including Amargosa Valley and Sandy Valley. It will take four years before the grapes can be harvested, then another two years of aging.

"You got six years before you even know if it's a waste of time," Loken said.

Southern Nevada is well suited for red wines, like zinfandels, syrahs and barberas, Loken said, who is the vice-president of the newly-formed Nevada Grape Growers Association. The colder, northern part of the state is more suited for white wines, rieslings, pinot grigios and chardonnays, he said.

"Grapes use a tenth the water alfalfa does and produce more money per acre. So it's a phenomenal industry for arid climates like this that want to cut down on water use," Loken said.

The Pahrump Valley Winery normally imports grapes from prime grape-growing regions like Paso Robles, Monterey, Sonoma, Napa and Lodi, Calif. Loken said. Pahrump Valley Winery has received 95 national wine awards since 2004, what Loken called "a staggering number."

Pahrump Valley Winery currently produces about 10,000 cases of wine annually, or about 120,000 bottles, Loken said. The Lokens are putting in another vineyard on the property which will increase their grape-growing property to about three acres, with tightly spaced rows.

An estate white wine was produced at Churchill Vineyards in Fallon, owned by the president of the Nevada Grape Growers Association, he said.

Pioneers of the Nevada wine industry are trying to establish what will work so others in the industry will have a better idea, Loken said.

"Everybody's kind of laying the ground work for an industry that has potential but it'll take another 10 or 15 years to develop, there's no doubt about it," he said.

In celebration of the bottling, Loken is planning a dinner release party for 40 invited guests at Symphony's Restaurant featuring a five-course dinner including a bottle of the estate wine, at $100 a plate. Proceeds will be donated to charities, probably to veterans groups and organizations helping children with learning disabilities, he said.

A bottle will be presented to Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons. Each bottle will be personally signed with a gold pen by the Lokens.

"It shows red wines are doable in southern Nevada," Loken told television crews filming the event Wednesday. "We're working with different growers around the state trying to coax them into being grape growers."

Then holding a glass of the red wine in his hand he said, "I wouldn't call it a great wine, but I'd call it a good wine and it shows that we can do it."

Could wine connoisseurs some day sniff their fine vintages in the glass and when they inquire where it was grown ask: "Napa Valley? Sonoma? Paso Robles? Pahrump?"