Kenneth E. Harker
2009 Anderson Valley and Ukiah Valley

Jen and I spent a weekend in October in Mendocino County, California. We've already explored a lot of northern California's wine country. We've visited the Napa Valley twice, the Dry Creek Valley twice, the Sonoma Valley, the Russian River Valley, and the Sierra Nevada Foothills. This was our first trip as far north as Mendocino County. Just like Sonoma County to the south, Mendocino County has several American Viticultural Areas, and some regions with viticulture that are not yet officially recognized as distinctive regions. The county is known for being cooler than the Napa and Sonoma counties to the south, and for having a higher percentage of vineyards dedicated to organic and bio-dynamic farming. We spent a day in the best known AVA of the county, the Anderson Valley, where we tasted a lot of Pinot Noir. We had enough time on the next morning to also visit a few wineries in the Ukiah Valley, a slightly warmer region to the east that is actually the largest growing region in the county, but is not yet a recognized AVA.

These photos are copyright © 2009 Kenneth E. Harker. All rights reserved.

Anderson Valley

The Anderson Valley is located in western Mendocino County along Anderson Creek, a tributary of the Navarro River. The mouth of the valley is about 10 miles (16 km) west of the Pacific Ocean, so it can be quite cool, with onshore winds and coastal fog. Prior to the expansion of the wine industry, the valley was mostly home to fruit orchards, and there is still a couple of large apple orchards in operation. The wine-growing region of the valley is maybe 12 miles (20 km) long. Our day started at the northwest end of the valley, visiting wineries on the south side of the road (California State Route 128). We ate lunch in Boonville at the southeast end of the valley, and then drove back toward the ocean, visiting the wineries on the north side of the road.

	The first winery on our tour was Husch Vineyards, a small family-owned winery and the oldest bonded winery in the Anderson Valley AVA. Unfortunately, their wines were something of a disappointment.
	The tasting room at Husch Vineyards is in the little converted pony barn to the right. The barn is over 100 years old, and was just large enough to hold about 6-8 people inside at one time. Behind it is the main winery building.
	Husch Vineyards, like most of the wineries in the Anderson Valley, focuses on cool climate grape varieties. This vineyard block was planted with Gewürztraminer, a white grape native to the Alsace region of eastern France.
	Another vineyard at Husch. Most of the grapes would have been harvested already, and the wineries focused on the fermentation processes. In about a month, the grape leaves on the vines will turn from green to reds, golds, browns, and yellows.
	Across the state road from the wineries is another vineyard owned by Husch. This is a young vineyard with vines only a few years old. Every vine is wrapped in cloth to protect it against frost. Although it was very pleasant on the day we toured the valley, there had already been a couple of frosty mornings in the previous week.
	Our second stop was at Brutocao Cellars, another family winery. The Brutocao family traces its heritage to the Veneto region of Italy. Brutocao had the best tasting Zinfandel we had that day.
	Jen, in front of the Brutocao Cellars tasting room. It was a cool, but sunny morning.
	The winery uses the winged lion of St. Mark's as the basis of its logo. The lion is a symbol of St. Mark, the patron saint of Venice and the namesake of Venice's largest Catholic church, the Basillica di San Marco. Unlike a griffin, which has the head, wings, and talons of an eagle, the winged lion of St. Mark's is a lion with just the wings of an eagle.
	This vineyard next to the winery was planted to Pinot Noir. The vineyard had a windmill in it, used to circulate air during frost conditions to try to protect the vines from freezing.
	Goldeneye Winery was by far the most expensive stop on our trip. The winery is part of the Duckhorn Wines group, best known for the Duckhorn Vineyards winery in Napa Valley. We've been to Duckhorn before, and expected Goldeneye to have a relatively expensive tasting fee ($15 to try all the wines they were pouring).
	The main tasting facility at Goldeneye is only a few years old, and is built in the same style and sensibility as the Duckhorn Vineyards estate in Napa Valley. The prices are similar to Napa Valley as well. Goldeneye's single-vineyard Pinot Noirs were being sold for more than $75 a bottle.
	The winery at Goldeneye was in this building. Although the winery and vineyards are located at the site of an old apple orchard, this building is also only a few years old.
	A view of the hills above Anderson Valley, as seen through one of the Pinot Noir vineyards at Goldeneye.
	Jen, inside the tasting room at Goldeneye. Like Duckhorn Vineyards, there's no tasting bar. You get to be seated at a table and served to, as if you were in a restaurant. This slows down the experience for those of us who want to taste rather than drink.
	Our tasting came with almonds, dried cherries, and crackers, further reinforcing the idea that you are at a wine bar rather than a tasting room. The coasters actually have information about each wine we were tasting. We tasted three single-vineyard Anderson Valley Pinot Noirs, two of which were among the very best wines we tasted all day. They were also 50% more expensive than the next most expensive wine we tried that day.
	The lawn behind the tasting room and winery at Goldeneye Winery.
	The Confluence Vineyard at Goldeneye. The best Pinot Noir I tasted all day was made with grapes harvested from this vineyard.
	A picnic area at Goldeneye Winery underneath a large shade tree.
	Another building on the Goldeneye property.
	A songbird visited the fountain behind Goldeneye Winery. It was a very nice, sunny day in October. Just before lunch, the temperature was probably 65°F.
	After lunch, we made a quick stop at the tasting room of Londer Vineyards, which was located in a non-descript building on the main street of Boonville. I sometimes ask the people working the tasting rooms what other wineries they like. Joe, who was a fantastic personality, suggested we visit his other wine project, Foursight Wines. Foursight is a very small family winery, so Joe actually works most of his week for Londer. It's not uncommon for winemakers and viticulturists to work for more than one winery if they're small.
	The Foursight Winery tasting room was in a simple building on the south side of Boonville with redwood siding. Inside, Kristy poured us several wines, including some excellent Pinot Noir. We ended up buying a bottle to take home. The winery dog (whose name I forget) slept through most of our visit.
	Breggo Cellars was sold to Cliff Lede Vineyards, a well-known Napa Valley winery, the week before our trip. Breggo has developed a good reputation, but, from what I could tell talking with other winery people in the valley, was substantially in debt. It takes time to establish a winery in the ultra-premium market space, and the recession apparently caught up with them.
	This is an experimental vineyard at Breggo. It is planted in the Burgundian style, with row spacing too close for standard tractors, which of course makes it more labor-intensive and expensive to farm.
	Some of the winery machinery and hardware at Breggo. All of the equipment looks brand new.
	A pile of stainless steel barrel racks was in the parking lot outside the tasting room. These are much more expensive than powder-coated steel racks, but they're more attractive. Upgrading to stainless steel racks is something most wineries do after they become profitable.
	Our next stop was Philips Hill Winery, another small, family winery. The tasting from for Phillips Hill was in a small house on California State Route 128 in the small town of Philo, in the center of Anderson Valley. Phillips Hill sources its grpes from growers all over the valley.
	Toby Hill, one of the two founders of the winery, is also something of a modern artist. Most of the wine labels are painted in more or less the same style as this flag hanging from the front of the tasting room.
	The front of the tasting room building had a couple of grapevines and a some rose bushes for vegetative decoration.
	Just north of the town of Philo, we stopped in at Toulouse Vineyards. The winery was located at the end of a long, winding uphill gravel driveway, and was probably the second largest operation we stopped at that day (after Goldeneye).
	The winery was on top of a hill on the north side of the valley.
	There were some long views of the northern end of the valley through the trees. I think this is the view toward the Pacific Ocean, which would be just beyond the range of hills in the distance.
	The Toulouse Vineyard near the winery was planted to Pinot Noir. Some of the grapes from this vineyard are sold to other wineries, such as Phillips Hill Winery.
	The winery was named after a French breed of goose. Supposedly, the owners were looking for a fun name and found that names based on ducks and frogs were already taken. Trying out names based on geese, they came across Toulouse, struck upon this phrase, and were happy.
	A new destemmer at the winery. While we were tasting, the winemaker and an assistant were busy improvising a skirt around the hopper above it to keep the grapes from going everywhere when the next batch was ready.
	The tasting bar at Toulouse Vineyards was located inside a corner of the winery. As we were visiting during crush, the place was crowded with bins and cases and hardware.
	The woman pouring at the tasting bar took our photo together for us.
	Our next stop was Greenwood Ridge Vineyards. Greenwood Ridge sources most of its grapes from Mendocino Ridge AVA vineyard to the south of Anderson Valley, but owns a small triangle of land on California State Route 128 just large enough to have a nice building for tasting and sales.
	Jen, in the parking lot of Greenwood Ridge. The road behind her is California State Route 128. It was a lot less busy than the main roads in Napa Valley. Inside, the owner has a display of wines in a can, apparently a portion of his personal collection. The owner also seems to be fond of Chinese dragons.
	The building is very California. The colorful flags were more of a New Age thing than a tribute to any specific religious or cultural tradition. Unfortunately, the wines here were not inspirational. Greenwood Ridge had, by far, the most disappointing wines we tasted on this trip.
	Solar power arrays. We saw a few of these in the valley. Apparently, they are becoming an attractive target for thieves in the Napa Valley.
	The Greenwood Ridge property has a small lake with an island on it. A picnic area on the island has an array of new age flags. I think it's clear that this winery walks to the beat of a different drummer.
	Our next-to-last stop was Navarro Vineyards and Winery, one of the larger wine operations in the Anderson Valley.
	Some of the vineyards at Navarro.
	An outdoor picnic area in front of the tasting room featured this pool with a fountain of a dog holding a newspaper in its mouth.
	Some more of the picnic area at Navarro. It was a really gorgeous day out, and the rural country scenery was fantastic.
	Some llamas and sheep were grazing in this field next to the winery.
	One of the llamas came over to the fence line. I suspect that maybe some of the wine tourists feed the animals.
	Some more vineyard at Navarro Vineyards and Winery. By about 4:00 PM, there were a few darker clouds overhead, but it was still a great day outside.
	The tasting room at Navarro was in this redwood building. Navarro had some very interesting wines, including the best wine we tasted under $20/bottle, the Navarrouge.
	The tasting room had two of these distinctive chandeliers made from old wine bottles. Supposedly this one was an antique over 100 years old.
	Our last stop of the day was Handley Cellars, in the north end of the valley, near the small village of Philo. Mendocino County is known for having a very high percentage of organic and bio-dynamic vineyards.
	Some of the vines at Handley Cellars. In this vineyard, they are using what is known as drip irrigation. Rather than spraying water everywhere, plastic tubes carry water to drip holes where it is directed to the base of each vine.
	Some of the unique buildings at Handley Cellars. Neither of these buildings was open when we were there.
	The tasting room was in this, less interesting, building. Inside, the winery was decorated in a mish-mash of Indian, African, and Indonesian tribal art that the winery describes as "eclectic." The wines were somewhat "eclectic" as well.
	Some of the Pinot Noir grapes growing in the vineyard just outside the tasting room of Handley Cellars.
	Gewürztraminer grapes growing at Handley Cellars.
	The Anderson Valley, as seen from Handley Cellars.

Ukiah Valley

The Ukiah Valley is the largest wine-growing region in Mendocino County. Located to the east of the coastal mountain ranges, the valley is formed the Russian River, which flows from north to south. California State Route 101, also known as the Redwood Highway, runs the length of the valley. Being further away from the Pacific Ocean, and sheltered by the intervening mountain ranges, the Ukiah Valley is warmer than the Anderson Valley, so a greater variety of grapes are cultivated there. We were driving back to the big city that morning, so we only had time to stop at a few wineries on the way.

	Our first stop of the morning was at Parducci. The Parducci family sold their winery to the Mendocino Wine Company in 2004. Parducci is a rather large operation and is best known for its Petite Sirah.
	Just after we pulled into the parking lot, this flatbed truck arrived, carrying a lot of white wine grapes for the winery. Parducci sources its grapes from all over Mendocino County.
	A vineyard at Parducci.
	Our next stop was at Saracina Vineyards.
	The winery at Saracina Vineyards was located next to a steep hillside vineyard.
	The tasting room was located inside a wine cave, which had been bored into the side of a hill. Saracina had some very impressive wines, including a white blend called "The Choir" that was unlike anything else we had tasted on the trip.
	The wine cave at Saracina is basically a long tunnel that doesn't go anywhere. It was the only wine cave we saw on this trip.
	Our final stop of the trip was the tasting room of McNab Ridge Winery in the town of Hopland. After the Parducci family sold their eponymous winery, they took a break from the wine industry. After a few years, they decided to get back into making wine and founded a new winery, which they called McNab Ridge. The wines were more impressive than the building with its bizarre mural.