Highlands Retiree Pursues Winemaking

After owning a carpeting business for 38 years, Pacific Palisades resident Klaus Friederici decided to pursue a new hobby in retirement ‘ winemaking. ??’It’s a labor of love,’ said Friederici, who turned the barren hillside behind his Mediterranean-style home on Camino de Yatasto in the Highlands into a vineyard in 2005. ??Friederici came up with the idea because the Los Angeles Fire Department requires Highlands residents to clear the brush near their homes for fire safety. Since it cost Friederici about $2,000 to clear his hillside, ‘I thought I might as well do something productive with the area,’ he said, adding that his wife, Jennifer, enthusiastically embraced the concept. ??Today, rows of grape-bearing vines line the one-third acre below Friederici’s pool deck, which provides dramatic views of the Highlands. A bronze grape arbor featuring two statues of nymphs and a sign reading ‘Friederici Vineyard’ provides a whimsical entryway to the vineyard below. ??To learn how to make wine, Friederici read books and enlisted the help of his friend and neighbor, Cosimo Pizzulli, a descendant of Italy with his own vineyard, located south of Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades. ??Winemaking was definitely a new venture for him. A native of Hamburg, Germany, Friederici moved to the United States in 1962 at age 21 and studied aviation at Northrop Institute of Technology in Inglewood. He worked for Pan American World Airways for a couple of years and then entered the carpet business. In 1968, he founded Alpine Carpet One Floor & Home, which now has five stores in Los Angeles. He retired about four years ago, but is still part owner, so he calls himself ’80 percent retired.’ ??Friederici, a 16-year resident, chose to grow pinot noir because ‘I liked it personally a lot.’ He prefers red wines and especially enjoys Mark West’s and Row Eleven’s pinot noirs grown in California. ??After planting 275 pinot noir grapevines, Friederici’s initial harvest in 2007 yielded 150 bottles, followed by 185 bottles in 2008. ??Despite two successful years, Friederici had to throw out his entire harvest in 2009 because he tried to make his vineyard entirely organic and mildew formed on the grape vines. The vines were also not watered properly during the hot summer. ??’We tried to be extreme in our organic approach, without any spray, but we lost the harvest,’ Friederici said. ‘[For 2010], we had to make some concessions to avoid the mildew. We added some chemical spray in hopes of a better harvest, but still consider it organic.’ ??Friederici explained that the grapes form in May and are harvested in late August and September. Once the grapes are harvested, Friederici and his wife, with the help of friends, separate the fruit from the stems, then crush and press them, all at their home. They drain the liquid into glass containers and add yeast to turn the sugar into alcohol, which usually takes two weeks. After spending another two weeks testing the wine, they transfer it into a small wooden barrel, which is stored in a cool room for three months. ??’The wooden barrel helps bring out the traditional flavor,’ said Friederici, who then bottles the wine to share with friends and family. ‘We bring the wine to parties and give it as Christmas gifts. It’s a novelty.’ ??Friederici doesn’t have any plans to distribute his wine, but residents can taste it at the nearby Highlands restaurant, Casa Nostra Ristorante. ‘It’s a hometown specialty,’ he said, smiling. ??The labels on the wine bottles feature a replica of an acrylic painting of the Friedericis holding glasses of wine in the entryway of their vineyard. The actual painting was done by a friend, Aldo Luongo, an Argentine painter and Brentwood resident, and is displayed in their living room. ??With the addition of the vineyard, the couple decided they needed a wine cellar. Jennifer, a native of Taiwan who has lived in the Highlands for 30 years, designed the barrel-shaped wine cellar and the attached sitting room, which has a mural of Tuscany, Italy, painted on an interior wall and sliding glass doors that overlook the vineyard. The entrance to the sitting room features a custom-made wooden door with carvings of the winemaking process. ??’I call it my shrine,’ Jennifer said. ‘It’s a place for me and my dogs, for peace and tranquility.’ ??Jennifer, who is chairwoman of a furniture manufacturing company, Minson, located in Montebello, said she loves having a vineyard in her backyard ‘ it makes her feel like she is living in the Mediterranean. ??’In my last life I was an Egyptian,’ she said, adding that a psychic once told her she was in the dynasty of a pharaoh. ??’I told him that ‘I am not surprised,’ Jennifer said, adding that whenever she visits the Mediterranean she feels at home. ??The Friedericis met in 1992 at a tennis tournament in the Palisades. They married two years later and bought their home in a gated community in the Highlands. ??’These days we socialize around tennis and wine,’ said Klaus, whose grown daughter, Karin, is working on her doctorate in anthropology at the University of Arizona. ??His advice to those wanting to start their own vineyard: ‘Make sure you have good soil, your land has good sun exposure, and you have the patience and time for it.’