UNCORKED WINE TRAVELS

Musings Along The Wine Trails

Book Review: Sonoma Wine And The Story Of Buena Vista

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For the discerning wine geek on your holiday list, Sonoma Wine And The Story of Buena Vista would be a most welcome read.   Modern California wine historian Charles L. Sullivan offers a fascinating detailed perspective on the state’s 200+ year viticulture history complete with vintage photos and colorful anecdotes.

Sullivan engages readers with in-depth tales of the ginormous entrepreneurial wine pioneers and overwhelming financial hardships encountered in Alta California’s La Frontera del Norte in the 1800’s. 

Many Italian immigrant farmers found their way first to the “promised land” and successfully planted the vineyards with their native grape varietals, many of which remain today.  Others with “deep pockets” and little farming skills became large winery owners or shipping magnates.

By far, the most intriguing chapters of Sonoma Wine trace the tumultuous early years at Buena Vista, California’s oldest premium winery, through the acts of brillant, yet quixotic founder Agoston Haraszthy in 1857.  Add the aftermath of the Gold Rush, the devastating plague of phylloxera and the dry years of Prohibition to the mix and it becomes a novel worthy of historical fact and reflection.

Etude Winery Artfully Handcrafts World Class Pinot Noir With Old World Elegance

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On a recent jaunt to Napa Valley, I stumbled upon Etude Winery on the very outskirts of the Napa city limits.  Tucked off a sleepy two lane country road, I thought I’d stop in and check out the old Remy Martin Brandy Distillery site which is now home to Etude Winery.  Out with the Cognac and in with the Pinot Noir.

For a better appreciation of the wines, it’s key to understand the terroir.  Carneros AVA is shared by Sonoma County and Napa County and is revered for its cool growing climate, replete with fog and maritime breezes off the Pacific Ocean and San Pablo Bay. The combination of  low daytime temperatures, an array of volcanic, coarse sand and gravel soils and the influence of the Petaluma Wind Gap,  make for ideal growing conditions for both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  Etude‘s flagship Grace Benoit Ranch is planted to seven clones of Pinot Noir, nine+ clones of Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, and two clones of Merlot and Malbec.

Nothing prepared me for what I was about the discover inside the old distillery.

Not only was Etude‘s tasting room a show-stopping masterpiece, but the wine tasting experience was one of the best I’ve encountered in a long time, thanks to Greg Sweval, Hospitality Sales Manager and the amicable and knowledgeable Wine Club Ambassador, Angel Aguirre-Benites. [Read more…]