UNCORKED WINE TRAVELS

Musings Along The Wine Trails

Whimsical & Historical Sites Dot North Sonoma County’s Wine Trail

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Besides the stellar wines, whimsical statues and historical landmarks can be found all along the winding North Sonoma wine country roads.  Whether it’s a towering coyote howling at the moon at Wilson Winery in Dry Creek, or a step back in time at the old Dry Creek General store, built circa 1881, the valleys are steeped in history.

Continue further south on Westside Road, south of Healdsburg where the old Hop Kiln California Historical Landmark No. 893 jets toward the sky.  Once an old hops operation, the site is now home to Landmark’s Hop Kiln Estate where Pinot Noir rules.

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Kistler Vineyards Is A Wondrous Showcase For Chardonnay Lovers!

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Kistler Vineyards‘ stately old farmhouse, aka the Trenton Roadhouse, sits high above the winding Trenton-Healdsburg Road in sleepy Forestville, just north of Sebastopol in Russian River Valley.  Unless you’re intently looking for the sign, it’s easy to miss the hidden gated entrance, thinking it is just another beautiful historic home nestled in the vineyards. With enough planning and a little good fortune, you may be able to reserve a seated wine tasting invitation and slip back in time as you gaze over the vineyards from a rocking chair on the old covered porch.

Founded in 1978 by Steve Kistler, winemaker and vineyard manager, the small family owned winery is now producing upwards of 35,000 cases of handcrafted Burgundian-style Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  As is traditional in Burgundy, France, Kistler Vineyards produces all of the wines using native yeasts.  There are 10 single vineyard Chardonnays, derived from the Wente clone.   The Chardonnay is unfined and unfiltered and gracefully aged sur lie in French oak barrels for 11-18 months before bottling.  The Pinot Noir, too, is a single vineyard designate and is also unfined and unfiltered.  The unctuous free run juice is barrel aged in French oak from 14 to 18 months before bottling.

Kistler‘s Trenton Roadhouse property is absolutely stunning from any vantage point.  Hosted tastings are either held in the glass-walled sun porch room overlooking the vineyards in the off-season or held down below in the vintage barn and surrounding patios in the warmer months.  As luck would have it, in the middle of the fall harvest, right before a huge rain storm,  I had the entire wine tasting experience all to myself, thanks to my wine friend and hostess, Ashley Bender.   [Read more…]

2017 Russian River Valley Grape Harvest Is One For The Record Books

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“Wine is sunlight, held together by water.”  Galileo Galilei

My yearly tradition, is to travel to a different wine region to observe the grape harvest.  Last year I was fortunate to be in Tuscany for la vendemmia, and this year I chose my all-time favorite Russian River Valley in Northern Sonoma County to observe the harvest.  There’s something magical about harvest time.  There’s a sweetness in the air of the grapes hanging on the vines and a musical trill of the grape press as it hums along.   It’s a time of high energy, camaraderie, bustle and communion with nature in the vineyards, but it can also mean anxiety, sleepless nights, anticipation, relief and ultimately, jubilation for the wine maker.

Depending on who you talked to, wine makers had various opinions as to the projected quality and yield of the 2017 grape harvest.  Wild weather conditions this year brought relief from the severe drought with heavy winter rains, which submerged vineyards in low-lying areas, an early Spring bud break and late Summer temperature heat spikes which ripened the grapes sooner than usual.  And then there was predicted rain during harvest, again, unusual.   All this, and more, make for interesting wine fodder around harvest time.

Harvest Moon Winery owner and wine maker extraordinaire, Randy Pitts, greeted me with a big smile and a paper cup of his freshly pressed Pinot Noir.  Optimistic as always, Randy was pleased with the harvest so far, although there were still grapes to be hand-picked in nearby vineyards and much work to be done.

Randy explained that night harvesting was commonplace in Russian River Valley.  Harvesting at night when the temperatures are cooler, helps to maintain the acidity in the grapes, which in turn, delays oxidation and spoilage before the grapes get into the winery for processing.

Indeed, it truly was  an eerie sight to see the dim sea of headlamps and blazing tractor lights dotting the vineyards in the late night  and wee morning hours.

There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes at harvest time, and getting the grapes to the winery production pad is only the first step.  Here’s to a great 2017 harvest and amazing future releases!  www.harvestmoonwinery.com 

Russian River Valley’s Martinelli Winery Dates Back To 1890’s

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Martinelli Winery is impossible to miss on River Road in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley wine country.  The massive brick-red hop barn facade is legendary in these parts.  Tuscan transplants Giuseppe and Luisa Martinelli cultivated grapes in 1898 on a steep 60 degree slope, now known as Jackass Hill.  The non-terraced steep slope was originally planted to Zinfandel and Muscat Alexandria and surrounding fields were planted to Gravenstein and Golden Delicious apples, cherries, pears, prunes, hops, berries, walnuts, potatoes and green beans.  The centurion vineyard, Jackass Hill, took its name when family told Martinelli that “only a jackass would farm a hill that steep”.  Today, that very vineyard produces some of the finest old vine Zinfandel in the valley.

Descendants of the Martinelli family, Lee Sr. and his sons now farm the vineyards and his daughters manage the office and marketing for the winery.   The turn of the century tasting room also serves as a mini museum with many artifacts, an old wine press and sepia wall photos of the Martinelli family.

Martinelli‘s vineyards are strategically positioned in the Russian River Valley and along the Sonoma Coast in the Fort Ross/Seaview area.  While the best grapes are retained for the estate wines, over 90% of the grapes are sold to other Sonoma County wineries.

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Ode to VML Winery’s Russian River Tasting Room

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VML Winery on the Russian River’s Westside Road has been a familiar sight, and a favorite haunt for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay lovers for the past five years.  Grapes are  primarily sourced from Freestone’s Ivywood vineyard and the Swicegood Vineyard high atop the ridge in Green Valley.  Both vineyards produce the 115 and 667 Pinot Noir clones.  Chardonnay clones include the Calera clone and the Old Wente clone.

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I had the pleasure of meeting artisan winemaker, Virginia Marie Lambrix, earlier in the year for a private wine tasting.  Virginia’s engaging personality shone brightly as we tasted through the flight of the 2012 Blanc de Noir Sparkling Wine, 2014 RRV Gewurtztraminer, 2013 RRV Chardonnay, the 2013 Walker Station Chardonnay, the 2013 RRV Pinot Noir and the 2013 Stars “Barrel Selection” Pinot Noir. [Read more…]