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!

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Courtesy Napa Valley Vintners

Earlier this month the Calistoga AVA was finally approved by the TTBafter 5 years of review and consideration.  AVA is the abbreviation for American Viticultural Area, which is America’s version of AOCs in France.  In the U.S. AVAs do not prescribe strict grapegrowing and winemaking requirements like AOCs (Appellation d’Origine Controlee).  However, AVAs are still supposed to be grapegrowing regions in which the area if significantly different from its surrounding areas and 75% of the grapes in a wine must be from the AVA before a winery can display that AVA name on the label.  Unfortunately, for two existing wineries, Calistoga Cellars and Calistoga Estates, they will need to change their business names in order to abide by this regulation, which is tough for any organization that has build its brand and reputation under a single name.

A well-established wine region that is still having challenges with the use of its name continues to charge ahead with its campaign to stop the claimed “unauthorized” use of it, especially in the U.S.  Of course, I am talking about Champagne.  The name is legally protected in the European Union and has been so since 1891.  Canada, Australia and Chile recently signed agreements prohibiting the use of the label outside of the region in France.  Even the U.S. now prohibits the use of Champagne on any new wines, however, labels using the term prior to 2006 were grandfathered in.  I cannot recall the last time I saw a California Champagne or similar, so I don’t really know how prominent its use is out there.  Yet, I did receive a marketing email earlier this year from a Washington, D.C. group lobbying for complete agreement and compliance of the use of Champagne only on sparkling wines from the Champagne region in France.

So, what’s in a name?  Several things.  It helps consumers so they can get a better understanding of where the wine is from and possibly an expected level of quality.  It helps winemakers and producers who can now be more specific in applying a known and identified region name instead of a broader designation (i.e. Napa Valleyor Bourgogne) which may help in marketing efforts as well as increased market valuation.  Just think about the reputation of Chablis due to the cheap stuff made here in America all those years under the same moniker.  Yuck.

The vines are getting pretty close to going completely dormant this time of year, as many have lost most of their leaves and those that remain are brown and yellow.  Nonetheless, this changing of the seasons doesn’t diminish the beauty of the valley on this crisp weekend in early December as I find myself making a quick weekend jaunt to the land of wine, specifically to attend a class about preparing vines for next year’s bounty.

But, that, my friends, is just where the story begins.  Having just flown from the east coast the night before, I find myself wide awake at 5 am Saturday morning and thinking about some brekky.  Knowing I’ll be walking some vineyards most of the morning, I’ll want to eat something fairly substantial, if not also to help soak up the impending imbibing of gameday beer and, of course, wine that most certainly lies ahead.  With the sun soon just barely rising on the horizon I reach for Twitter to see who might be awake in the area and offer some recommendations of decent restaurants nearby.  Right away I am greeted with two responses naming Gillwood’s Cafe in St. Helena from @TrevR (not even a mile north of my motel) as well as Auberge de Soleil from @pmabray.  Paul, what were you doing up so early?  Having brought mainly casual pruning attire, it didn’t seem Auberge de Soleilwas going to work out, so Gillwood’s it was and it was perfect.  Nice little joint right on mainstreet St. Helena, where the locals were getting their day started.  The service was excellent and the coffee hot and fast.  Finally, I settled into some biscuits, gravy, eggs and hashbrowns that warmed my soul.

After some vineyard walking, pruning and meeting some great people learning about wine, I headed to Paul’s to watch the SEC championship game that really disappointed as my Gators went down to the better team that day.  Paul and his wife were gracious to invite me over to their house on a weekend day realizing I was flying solo in town for the day and for that I am gracious.  Finn was a treasure, with his dad’s social skills, not shy a bit.  Additionally, I got to meet Clay Wallin, also a Vintank partner, not once but twice!  Not to be realized until after he showed up at Paul’s, but he and I shared a chat in the checkout line at Trader Joe’s about Papaya of all things, being both south Florida boys.

The evening ended, or should I say started (?), after an awesome meal at the new Cantinetta Piero Italian restaurant in Yountville, with another set of tweets as some “old” friends made from way back in the summer at the Wine Blogger’s Conference invited me up to Calistoga for a tractor parade and them some late night wine.  Many thanks to Andrew (@winesoiree), Jill (@jilldever) and Marshall (@mcoffy) for hanging out and sharing some great wines and great stories.  There was much rejoicing in “storming the castle!”

It was a great ending to a full and wonderful day in Napa Valley and I owe it to recent and new sociable friends for being open, friendly and helpful.  That’s what it’s all about.