Alsace or Burgundy, you be the judge (Anderson Valley, California)

The Anderson Valley suffers somewhat from isolation, as every road into it is very windy and narrow (which makes for great driving, actually). There isn't a large population living there either, so drawing people in is very important. Luckily they are blessed with some of the best fruit in California, both wine grapes and table fruit like apples. Post-Prohibition this region was established until the early '70s and so they are younger than most regions in the state. The key varieties here are pinot noir (the best in California in my opinion), and gewurtztraminer.

Tasting at Goldeneye Winery

Goldeneye range

Goldeneye Winery has no relation to James Bond whatsoever, just to clarify. After establishing wineries in the Napa Valley, Dan and Margaret Duckhorn decided to explore the potential of pinot noir, and chose the Anderson Valley to do it. Since the first commercial vintage in 2000, Goldeneye wines have established themselves for being world-class expressions of site and variety. Having tasted through the range which includes a sub-label, an estate wine and three single vineyard wines, I can see why they are so sought after. I can say with some confidence these were the best pinot noirs I tasted in California. They walk in ballet shoes on the tightest thread between too light and too heavy, too much fruit and too much savoury. They are so well balanced and delicate you could be forgiven for thinking they were simple. Whilst cabernet has a structure similar to that of steel girders, these pinots have an almost spider-web like structure, so fine but so strong. The wines are also my preference for enjoying with food, as I tend to go for more Cote-de-Beaune style than Cote-de-Nuits. Simply a revelation.

Lula range

Further up the valley was Lula, only in it's second vintage and very small (1300 cases). The wines here showed a lot of potential, and I tried the first of many pinot noir roses for the day. The zinfandel was very good, but the pinot was a little extracted and hot. Next door was Drew Wines which had been recommended to me by several people. Unforunately they were closed, even though the sign said open Thursdays to Mondays. Busy time I guess, vintage and all. Not far away was Toulouse Winery, named after the breed of goose, not the town in France or the 19th Century French artist. Whilst the new tasting room is being finished, they are conducting tastings in the winery, right next to fermenting pinot noir. The gewurtztraminer was the best wine here, but the pinots were pretty good too.

Pinot noir ferments at Toulouse

Back in 1974 when there were only two wineries in the Anderson Valley, Navarro Vineyards and Winery planted their first gewurtztraminer vines, seeing the potential for Alsatian varieties. They take risks and do some interesting things here, including blending riesling, gewurtztraminer, pinot gris and muscat into a traditional Alsatian style. When you taste the wines you can see what the family saw nearly 40 years ago. The second winery to establish in the Valley was Husch Vineyards, also planting gewurtztraminer and pinot noir back in 1972. The wines aren't as good, but they do have some variety and the sweet wines are very nice.

Navarro tasting room

Gewurztraminer vines at Husch Vineyards

A number of people had suggested visiting Roederer Estate, established by the champagne house in 1982, as they produce the best sparkling wine in California. Whilst the fruit character was undeniably California in style, the yeast autolysis is much better integrated than other sparkling wines I have tried. Interestingly this was very pronounced when comparing the 750ml Brut MV and the magnum of the same wine. The vintage wines had great elegance and balance, but the still wines were probably the most insipid I have tried. They would be better used as base wines for the sparkling wines.

Roederer Estate Jeraboam

Click here to see more photos from Day Two of Mendocino County.

Honesty is the best policy (Mendocino and Lake Counties, California)

First of all, Mendocino and Lake Counties are both beautiful. Secondly, some of the best wines I have tried came from fruit grown in Mendocino County. The major problem with Mendocino and Lake compared to other regions, is it's remoteness (2.5 hours from San Francisco instead of 1 hour for Napa and Sonoma), and it's size. These aren't problems that I have personally, it was actually nice to be visiting wineries where I was the only one there. They are problems with wine tourism though, and the area needs to draw more people up from the Bay area to have them try and buy the wines. So if you ever come to California, I highly recommend making the trip up North, beautiful scenery, people and wines.

Saracina vineyards

Heading back down the 101 I first stopped into Nelson Family Vineyards, which is a small operation that makes wine from only 5% of their fruit. The wines are just OK, nothing special, but they do some interesting things such as an orange muscat and an ice riesling (not from Mendocino). Saracina next door was established by the oldest of the Fetzer dynasty, and the wines here were better. Slightly more restrained and elegant in style, the malbec was great, but the best was probably the roussanne viognier blend. The cellar under the hill was a pretty cool location for a tasting too, and Damien was nice enough to recommend some wineries to visit whilst in the area.

Saracina tasting room

A Mexican migrant to the USA, Cesar Toxqui worked his way up through the Fetzer empire starting as a vineyard hand, and eventually graduating to assistant-winemaking duties. He started his own brand and now makes a range of wines entirely from contract fruit. The wines are all excellent food-friendly styles, and even includes a non-vintage red blend made in the solera-style that includes a different blend each year with the previous blend.

Cesar Toxqui Pinot Noirs

Changing plans mid-afternoon, I decided to drive down to Lake County which is just next to Mendocino. Back in the '60s Clear Lake was a popular destination for tourists from the Bay Area for camping, watersports, and gambling. That was until they opened the interstate that drew people to Lake Tahoe, which straddles California and Nevada. The locals in Lake County are trying to draw people back to the area, and one way they are doing this is through world-class wines.

Gregory Graham

After many years within a large wine company making large quantities of wine for other people, Gregory Graham established his own winery on the southern shores of Clear Lake. When I visited on a Sunday afternoon he was plunging syrah in small fermenters himself, always nice to see. One of the benefits of being so hands-on and producing wines in such small quantities means that you can charge very reasonable prices. This is one of the secrets of the industry the large companies don't want consumers to realise. It also means that most of the wines need to be sold direct, whether through the tasting room or wine club/mailing list. Greg gave me some great insights into the business and pointed out that a maritime climate actually gives cabernet the green edge to it, probably why I prefer Yarra Valley cabernets.

Gergory Graham Cinder Cone

Along with Benziger, one of the wineries heavily promoting the biodynamic story in California is Ceago. Located on the northern shores of Clear Lake, Ceago was established by another Fetzer (hard not to find Fetzers in Mendocino and Lake), Jim Fetzer. The family business grew to 2.5 million cases between 1968 and 1992, and was growing 1200 acres of organic grapes. In 1993 Jim established Ceago vineyards as a biodynamic vineyard and the first commercial vintage was in 2001. Similar to the Benziger and Frog's Leap wines, the idea is that biodynamic and organic fruit better expresses the terroir, and Ceago continues this trend. The best sauvignon blancs I have tried in California have all come from these types of vineyards.

Click here to see more photos from Day One in Mendocino County, California.