CALIFORNIA
ANTHILL FARMS
Mega-scarce, mega-tiny, mega-boutique, mega-Pinots. Oh, and a bit of
Syrah. Three young guys, Anthony Filiberti, Webster Marquez and David Low met
at Williams-Selyem and decided to make wine together. They have a handful of barrels
in the corner of Papapietro Winery just outside Healdsburg on the road up to
Dry Creek. Pure, ethereal and with a blessed lightness of touch with the oak,
these are state-of-the-art un-showy Pinots for Pinot lovers.
BACIO DIVINO
Claus Janzen also works for Caymus. This is his own wine, Bacio Divino,
Divine Kiss, getting incredible reviews.
DAVIS
FAMILY
Guy Davis gives the
impression of the archetypical Californian winemaker – a wonderful
combination of laid back and infectiously enthusiastic. His winery is on the
outskirts of Healdsburg overlooking the Russian River which, most of the time,
is less of a majestic river and more of a trickle. Russian River Valley is
widely held to be one of the best spots for Chardonnay and Pinot in California
and every year he swiftly sells out of his Dutton Ranch Chardonnay and his
ferny, autumnal, raspberry toned Pinot.
ÒOver the years I've
been jockeying for position in the Dutton Vineyard, which is divided into very
spread-out parcels. I now get the fruit from the far west side, near Occidental
and it's way cooler there.Ó
When we visited last
autumn, he took us to his house, complete with 100 year-old Zin vines and a
beautiful view eastwards over the valley. ÒThere was no way my wife and I could
have afforded this house, but it was used by a bunch of wasters as a Crystal
Meth Lab, the Cops came and the bank foreclosed. It was in such a bad state we
got it for a steal!Ó Far out!
DUNN
One
of the cult wineries of the 1970s. There is no sign on the driveway. Just a number
on one of three mailboxes on Angwin Main St which is really just a road through
a wood with the occasional timber house.
Randy
Dunn had a PhD in Insects from UC Davis, dabbled in making wine, then went to
work at Caymus in 1975. He and his wife Lori found a vineyard for sale up on
Howell Mountain in 1978 which Caymus bought for them before deciding they
didnÕt want it after all. In 1979 the winery was established and they released
their first wine in 1981. RandyÕs energetic, enthusiastic, mountain bike mad
son Mike also studied at UC Davis and now handles most of the work in the
cellar.
They
make two wines, Howell Mountain and Napa Valley. Both Cabernet Sauvignon, both
made identically. The only difference is the fruit and the soil. ÒOur Howell
Mountain fruit has very small berries and tons of skin. The soil is volcanic
and itÕs cooler at night up here. Down on the valley floor itÕs more alluvial
and thereÕs more water.Ó
In
DavidÕs opinion they make the finest Cabernet Sauvignon outside Bordeaux. Built
for the long term, bottles from the mid-80s are at their peak.
Green &
Red Vineyard, named for its red iron soils veined with green serpentine, is
located in the steep hills on the east side of Napa Valley. Each time we visit,
more of affable Jay Heminway's past is revealed: he trained as a sculptor,
studied in Italy as a sculptor, taught sculpture, had a gallery in San
Francisco. Became disenchanted, got divorced. Bought a place in the Napa hills
to get away from it all.
A guy was
putting in a septic tank and when he saw the geology of JayÕs plot, said Òyou
should put a few acres of vines in.Ó It wasn't long before Jay was off to
Bordeaux do a season at Chateau Lascombes followed by a spell with NYC wine
merchants Sherry Lehmann and Alexis Lichine. He planted the vines in 1972 and
started selling his wines in 1977. Now joined by his second wife he has never
looked back.and neither have we!
Jay,
normally very self-effacing, is proud of his high altitude ÒTip TopÓ vineyard,
way above the fog line, up at 1,700ft, where the soils are red and rocky.
HAFNER
Scott
and Parke Hafner have a different business model to most. They only sell to
private clients, no retail. We were lucky to spot a bottle from the 5% they
sell into restaurants in California. Here is their Cabernet which looks to
Bordeaux rather than Napa for its inspiration. Scott and Parke HafnerÕs family
winery is beautifully located in Alexander Valley and surrounded by their own
meticulously kept vines. While their winery was being built back in the early
80's, Parke Hafner did a stint at Comte Lafon in Meursault, influencing the
style ever since. Lush, ripe Alexander Valley fruit unobscured by oak, with
aromas of roasted nuts and a stream of minerality rarely seen in Californian
Chardonnay.
While Alexander
Valley produces succulent fruit, the valley is cooler than Napa, making the
wine more restrained than its neighbour from the other side of the canyon. We
revel in its generosity and its pure, high-toned fleshiness, reminding us of
those legendary Cali bottles from the 70s and 80s before some people got
carried away with new oak and over-extraction.
Did we say no
retail? There is one exception - we are proud to be the only shop in the world
to have Hafner wines.
Organic
winery on Westside Road in the Russian River Valley, not far from Healdsburg.
After internships in California, Burgundy and the Rhone (Sonoma-Cutrer, Bernard
Michelot, Christophe Roumier, Camille Giroud and Guigal), 40-year-old Alex Davis
took over from his father, George, in 1997. ÒIt was Roumier who taught me that the grapes will tell you
how hot they want to go.Ó
ÒZinfandel
is a big-berried grape. ItÕs not supposed to be noble, itÕs a goofy thing.Ó He
does a very gentle pressing in his old bladder press, adds 10% Carignan and
Òthen I give the rest to the compost gods.Ó
ÒAlthough
I donÕt like the stereotypical oaked Cali wines, I do like the exchange with
old oak.Ó
He
picks at 4 in the morning and, apart from a little sulphur, adds nothing. All
wild yeasts.
RABBIT RIDGE
We visited the new Rabbit Ridge winery outside Paso Robles at the
beginning of the 2003 harvest. It was still very much a building site, the
fermentation tanks had only been delivered a few days earlier and were being connected
as the first crush arrived! Erich and his wife Joanne James are crazy about
things Italian, so the new facility is a rhapsody on an Italian theme - a
palazzo on the desertÕs edge. Many of you have already tasted his Barbera, the
Super-Tuscan ÒMontepianoÓ and his Sangiovese (in our opinion, the best version
of the Chianti varietal to come out of California). Although Rabbit Ridge has
expanded rapidly over the past five years, it is still very much a family
concern - both JoanneÕs sisters are now on board and ErichÕs brother-in-law is
now helping with the winemaking. The Paso Robles palazzo is surrounded by
vines, part of ErichÕs masterplan to increasingly rely on his own fruit and to
experiment more with lesser-known varietals such as Primitivo and Carignan.
Olive oil is also part of the plan!
SEA
SMOKE
ItÕs
a very different expression of Pinot Noir here in the Santa Rita Hills at the
western end of Santa Barbara County on the Central Coast. The sea fog, or
marine layer, rolls in along the canyon and keeps it cool enough to make Pinot
possible this far south. Video Games CEO and Burgundy nut Bob Davids wanted to
make his own Pinot Noir (and a little Chardonnay) and had his heart set on a
south-facing strip in the canyon overlooking the Santa Ynez River. The bean
farming owner didnÕt want to sell but, after a long and concerted campaign, was
made an offer he couldnÕt turn down. So in 1999, with winemaker Victor Gallegos
onboard, Sea Smoke was born. They produce four wines; a tiny amount of
Chardonnay and three Pinots. The Southing, Ten (which is made from their best
ten barrels) and One (which is their single best barrel).
WHITE
ROCK
In 1977 Henry Vandendriesche revived the small White Rock winery which
had been originally set up in 1870. ItÕs in a beautiful side valley below the
Stags Leap outcrop off the Silverado Trail in the heart of cool-climate Napa
Valley. HenryÕs son Chris has been making the wine recently. Their amazing
cellar, dug out of the white rock, a compacted layer of volcanic ash, has one
section at the back which they rent out for Òcustom crushÓ - which basically
means several of Chris' mates make their own boutique wines there. Meanwhile,
elsewhere in the cellar, Henry and Chris continue to make their
beautifully-crafted Chardonnay and Bordeaux-style blends.
WOODENHEAD
The mystery is solved. On last autumn's visit to Woodenhead we
finally asked where the name Woodenhead comes from. ÒNikÕs ex-girlfriend
thought he was very stubborn, so used to call him a ÒWooden HeadÓ, winemaker
Nik Stez's current girlfriend and partner Zina Bower told us.
When we first stumbled across Woodenhead they had their handful of
barrels in the corner of a bankrupt winery in Forestville. They were doing the
crush with an enthusiastic bunch of friends including a fireman from San
Francisco, and a local teacher who had called-in sick.
Construction worker Nik Stez got the wine bug by working a couple of harvests with the legendary Burt Williams at Williams Selyem, the original Pinot garage winery in the Russian River Valley. Nik and Zina buy small lots of fruit from several vineyards. Wiley is from Anderson Valley which has a strong coastal influence from the Pacific Ocean. Humboldt County is from Eel river where there are huge Redwoods. Martinelli Road belongs to one of the feuding Martinelli brothers. Tiny production, unfiltered, unfined, fragrant and supple. Muscular, even.