About 60 miles north of Healdsburg and along some seriously winding roads that might cause motion-sickness for some lies the Anderson Valley.  This American Viticultural Area (AVA) is well-known for producing some fantastic Pinot Noir, so it didn’t take much for my tour guide for the day, Deb Kravitz (@whatdebpours), to convince me we should make the trek.  If you are visiting the Napa/Sonoma area and want to check out what Anderson Valley has to offer you will need to plan for an entire day due to the distance and time it takes to get up there and back.  But, it will be well worth the trip.

The main grape varieties planted in the AVA are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer and White Riesling.  Warm sunny days and cool foggy nights are ideal for these types of grapes and ensures slow maturation leading to maximum flavor and development of varietal character.

Roederer Estate Brut Rose

Roederer Estate – Started in 1982 by the historic, 200-year old Champagne Louis Roederer, they are obviously well-known for sparklers but also make still wines.  We chose to stick with the bubbly to start our trip.  The view from the property is spectacular and my favorite was the NV Brut Rose.  However, Deb informed me that the L’ Ermitage Rose rocks even more, though they were not pouring it

Husch Vineyards Tasting Room

Husch Vineyards – Husch has quite a large list of wine to choose from which made it difficult to select just 6 for the basic tasting.  It included Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel.  After some deliberation and a little sensory-overload, we ended up with 2 Gewurztraminers, 3 Pinots and a Zin.  The 2008 Pinot Noir was very expressive with anise and bing cherries on the nose while the 2006 Knoll Pinot Noir reminded me of Oregon-style Pinots with cherry cola characteristics.  In the end, I enjoyed the 2009 T-Bud Dry Cuvee Gewurztraminer the most with it’s floral, citrus and spice aromas.

Toulouse Vineyards – Named for the type of domesticated Goose originating near Toulouse, France, the owners released their first vintage (2002) in 2005.  The Pinot Noir Rose’ had a light, salmon-orange tint and was refreshing with watermelon and strawberries on the nose.  The 2009 Pinot Gris and 2009 Muscat were standouts as well.

Phillips Hill Estates – The tasting room is a cool little old house in Philo.  While you are there, you can get a sandwich at the small grocer next door too.  The winery is the child of artist, Toby Hill, who was, unfortunately, not around while we were there.  Deb tells me he is quite an interesting guy and that he creates his own labels for the wines. There is more Gewurz and Pinot Noir, including 2 bottles of 2008′s containing fruit that was affected by the fires in the area that year.  I particularly enjoyed the 2008 Ring of Fire and the smoke taint was less recognizable on the nose still allowing the luscious fruit to take center stage.  The 2007 Corby was the most delicate and elegant in the lineup.

2009 Jim Ball Rose of Pinot Noir

Jim Ball Vineyards – A retired lawyer, Jim started his winery and teamed up with infamous winemaker, Greg La Follette, to make some truly outstanding Pinot Noir.  This was a great way to finish the day of tasting.  The 2009 Rose’ Pinot Noir has a salmon-orange hue with luscious red fruit and watermelon aromas.  Greg’s creations, the 2006 Estate Pinot Noir and the 2007 Boonville Pinot Noir were also outstanding.  The latter was a little herbaceous at first, but eventually blew off allowing anise and black cherries to come through.  For those looking for a bolder Pinot Noir, check out the 2007 Jim Ball Pinot Noir that displays bacon fat, sandalwood (like woodust on the floor of my grandfather’s wood shop) and black cherries.  Deb and I had the pleasure to also try a few barrel samples and we both agree that the 2009 vintage is going to knock your socks off.

The evening ended with dinner at long-time and well-known Rodney Strong and Iron Horse winemaker in a previous life, Forrest Tancer, and Cynthia Ariosta.  Both are very much involved with horses and hosting long-distance riding events.  The view from their home up on the Greenwood Ridge was phenomenal, though we did not get to the see the usual early evening fog “event” everyone talked about.  Still, this was a good day.

Horses

The South is at risk of losing it’s title of having the friendliest hospitality in the land.  Once I arrived safely in Santa Rosa after my 5-day trek across this great land of ours, I had expected to take a few days to relax, get settled and work on a few things.  Well that thought didn’t last long as I was greeted by great friends in the area, including those I had met face-to-face before as well as others I had only known as online friends.  I truly appreciate this outpouring of generosity and friendliness which has made me feel at home very quickly and has helped my transition to living in wine country that much easier.

It Takes Lots of Beer to Make Wine

So, I roll into wine country and you’d think I’d celebrate the arrival by cracking open a fine bottle of local juice, no?  No.  My first two night were chilling with Shana Ray and Hardy Wallace at Toad in the Hole in Santa Rosa and Healdsburg Bar & Grill (HBG), respectively, on the first two nights.  Toad in the Hole is a British-style pub off of 5th street in the historic Railroad Square area of Santa Rosa.  I did not know that there were so many local microbreweries in the area and I enjoyed a Bear Republic Racer 5 and Lagunitas IPA.  At HBG, the bartender, Dave, enlightened us with some unique brews (at least to me) including Supplication wild ale from Russian River Brewery, Hitachino Nest White Ale and a German Smoke beer.

Grape to Glass

This weekend was busy with many events in the area including Grape to Glass and on Saturday I attended a discussion on Russian River Valley terroir and the Hog in the Fog dinner.  The setting along the Russian River could not be any more beautiful as Darek Trowbridge, Mark Greenspan and Kevin Hamel discussed terroir, grapegrowing practices and the impact of the river to the region.  Thanks to Old World Winery and Steven Washuta for allowing us to attend.  Some tidbits I took away from this discussion included:

• the identification of Goldridge Soil, which is a sandy loam in which Pinot Noir will  flourish
• 1800-2000 degree days is ideal in this area for Pinot
• you may detect more tree fruit aromas (i.e. apricots, peaches) in Chardonnay in the warmer, northern end of the AVA
• you may detect more green apples, pears citrus in Chardonnay in the colder, southern end of the AVA
• The 2008 Olivet Lane Pinot Noir by Pelligrini rocks

Steven Washuta and Kevin Hamel

Olivet Lane and Pellegrini

Darek Trowbridge

Hog in the Fog was at Saralee’s Vineyards in Windsor where we enjoyed some fine animal flesh (mainly pork and beef for me) and more fantastic wines.  I met more winemakers, owners and other local social media personalities.  It was funny how every time I mentioned that I was working for John Holdredge at Holdredge Wines this harvest I would get the occasional snicker, but all in good fun.  It’s good to see John (and his wine) is well known and well liked.

Soiree Lighthouse

There’s nothing like a bonfire near Diamond Mountain in Calistoga at Drew’s pad (@winesoiree) with some new and old friends.  Oh yeah, there was more wine.

Photo by Andrew Lazorchak

Dirty Drive Around Russian River Valley

The weekend wrapped up with a surprise early morning text from my fellow ATL-ien, Sir Dirty himself to take a cruise around wine country and maybe hit a few wineries.  We made two great stops for Pinot: Woodenhead and Iron Horse, not to mention some fantastic sparkling wines are also made at the latter.  While at Iron Horse, we ran into Clint and Loni of Stark Silver Creek, a great local lifestyle site that I have followed in the past.  It was great to finally meet them in real life.  I highly recommend the 2007 Woodenhead Buena Tierra Pinot Noir.

Loni, Clint and Hardy

Thanks to everyone for the great hospitality!

After a pretty chill day tasting Gruet sparklers and rolling out only about 300 miles (compared to 721 and 666 the previous two days, respectively), today I planned to put in another hard days work on the road but making sure to check out some of the sights Utah has to offer.  I have to give much appreciation and thanks to my good friend and fellow wine geek Jack Misiura in Atlanta who convinced me to take this route.  I had originally planned to book it across I-40 all the way to Barstow before heading north up the gut of California, however, Jack easily twisted my arm as he described some of the phenomenal natural wonders he had seen several times on previous trips.  There would be many more miles without proper cell phone coverage and very little in the way of human habitation, but it was well worth the additional 300+ miles it would add to my original trip plan.

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The light just after dawn was perfect for highlighting the deep reds and oranges in the canyons, cliffs and plateaus along the way to Monument Valley on highway 163.  My Dad informed me that many of the old westerns were filmed in this area.  It is vast and steep and really makes you feel small in this world.  The next 4 hours would set my mind adrift trying to completely understand these wonders of the world and how outside of my everyday life there is still vast space and monumental structures on this planet that are truly awe-inspiring to behold.

Once through Mexican Hat, UT I took a left onto 261 toward what is called the Moki Dugway.  As I turn I am immediately confronted by signs that warn of the steep grade, the gravel road and warnings not to take RVs, trailers and such on this route.  I may have just peed a little in my pants just then.  In just a handful of miles I am met by a wall of rock thousands of feet in height.  I look left and right and there is no way around.  I can only go up a steep grade gravel road with about 6 tight switchbacks with no rails on the edge of the road.  I will provide video of this later.  Needless to say, I survived.  What a rush!

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Next stop was Arches National Park just north of Moab.  Again, it is really difficult to truly fathom the size and majestic dominance of nature until you have witnessed it up close.  I drive away shaking my head in awe and talking to myself.  Much of the drive until I reach Salt Lake City is filled with the same types of expansive landscape views of plains, plateaus, canyons and mountains.  America has huge tracts of land… just waiting for you to experience!

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So, tomorrow is the homestretch for Santa Rosa, which equals another 522 miles — piece of cake, right.  The smell of grapes being pressed at Gruet had me salivating for the winery life, but I will have to wait a few more weeks and then some to wait for mother nature to complete her work on the grapes of northern California.  Only then will my trip be complete.