Mendocino Day 2: Wine and Waves

Last weekend I went up to Mendocino county to check out the wine and waves. In doing my research I realized that Mendocino is both a town and a county - a large county. North of Sonoma, the county stretches out to the California coastline and is named "America's Greenest Wine Region" since many wineries are organic and biodynamic. The main wine areas are the Upper Russian River Valley and Anderson Valley. On day 1 we focused on the Upper Russian River Valley with our visit to Campovida and the surrounding Hopland area. On Day 2, after enjoying the Campovida property, we drove through the mountains to Anderson Valley. First stop was lunch at Roederer Estate, California's outpost of the Champagne producer Louis Roederer. Roederer uses traditional Champagne winemaking methods including Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes, which are all estate grown. We had pre-ordered a picnic lunch and enjoyed it on their patio with two glasses of sparkling wine. The lunch basket was filled with delicious local cheeses, bread, onion jam, almonds, clementines, and dark chocolate for dessert.

Roederer Estate Brut MV (Multi Vintage) is a wine made in the traditional non-vintage style of Champagne, with each year's wine layered on top of the previous. The idea is to have a consistent "house" wine each year. This wine, aged two years on the lees, was crisp and refreshing with bright toasty pear notes.

Roederer Estate L'Ermitage 2004, with 4% reserve wine aged five years in oak, spent additional aging time on the cork before release. More complex and toasty, this wine was creamy and nutty with subtle apple and butterscotch.

There is nothing like sparkling wine and flavorful cheese on a sunny afternoon. We had to pull ourselves away to get to our appointment at Navarro Vineyards, just down the road on Highway 128.

I'd learned about Navarro via my cousin, one of their club members, who had shared a bottle of their Pinot Noir with us about a year ago. What I didn't realize was that Navarro focuses on wine varietals that hail from Alsace, France: Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Pinot Gris in addition to Pinot Noir. In fact, Gewurz and Pinot Noir make up the majority of their production and were the first grapes they planted on the property in the early 1970s. An old sheep farm, the property also includes goats, llamas and quail, and they make and sell goat cheese. During our vineyard tour we got close with one of the llamas.

I haven't had much California Gewurztraminer so I happily inhaled the floral bouquet and tropical, spicy flavor that I enjoy in this type of wine. Navarro Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris were all approachable and refreshing wines. Pinot Noir was earthy and spicy with pleasant red fruit and rose petals. Late Harvest Riesling, made from grapes "kissed with the noble rot" and coming in at 7.5% residual sugar and 12.5% alcohol, was luscious and complex with that botrytis spice that helps balance the honey-like sweetness. Navarro sells all of their wine direct to consumer at reasonable average prices around $20-$30.

After a pleasant afternoon in the Anderson Valley we decided to head to the coast and spend a night near the town of Mendocino. Back on Highway 128 heading north, driving along the Navarro River until it opens into the Pacific Ocean, we found ourselves in the Navarro River Redwoods State Park with the tall trees hugging the road and creating a canopy over us. A magical ride, the highway then meets up with Highway 1, and suddenly, we were at the edge of the continent. The coastline rose to greet us as we continued north to our destination, The Heritage House Resort. Every room has a view*, and after sunset and dinner the sound of the waves lulled us to sleep.

*Not the view from our room

Mendocino Day 1: Campovida

I discovered Campovida at the SF Vintners Market, a large wine tasting in San Francisco that I attended last November. Owner Gary told me about their property in Mendocino county, and I made a mental note to visit on my next wine country trip.  I had been hearing a lot about Mendocino, so the recent three-day weekend seemed like the perfect time to check it out. I made arrangements to stay on the Campovida property, which is beautiful and expansive, with vineyards, a large garden, bocce ball courts and old barns that have been converted to various event spaces as well as the winery and sleeping rooms. Campovida would be the perfect place for a destination wedding or a weekend retreat. The property has a long history going back to the Pomo Indians, but probably most interesting (at least for purposes of this blog) is that it was an old hops ranch and then was bought by the Fetzer family, a large winemaking family that had a big commercial presence in the 1980s. In the early 1990s, the Fetzers sold the brand and this property to Brown-Forman while retaining all of their other vineyard properties; 5 of the 11 Fetzer children went on to manage the different properties and even start new wine labels (including Saracina Vineyards, which we also visited). In 2010, Anna and Gary purchased the organic property from Brown Forman and made it Campovida.

The winemaking style at Campovida is minimalistic, using native yeast, natural fermentation and neutral oak. Production is around 3500 cases and the goal is to stay below 5000 cases. The wine is sold direct to consumer with some restaurant sales. The focus is on Rhone varietals with some experimentation in northern Italian white varietals like Arneis and Tocai Fruilano and Italian reds like Sangiovese, Nero D'Avola and Negroamaro. We did some barrel tasting with the winemaker, Sebastian Donoso, who has been there about a year and a half; he was previously assistant winemaker at Saracina and is originally from the Talca region of Chile.

We tasted Arneis first, which had slight orange reflections in the color and pretty herbal notes of anise and lanolin. Grenache Rosé is made in the French style, which means it is picked and vinified with the intention of being a rosé wine (read: high acidity), not an afterthought or by-product of a red wine. Extra time on the lees (dead yeast cells) gives it complexity and body, and the crisp citrus and white flower were very refreshing. Tocai Fruilano was reminiscent of a Sauvignon Blanc (not shocking since they are related genetically), with gooseberry and passion fruit. Roussane had a pretty honeydew melon quality that was very unique. Viognier was spicy with basil and ginger. Sauvignon Blanc was tropical with gooseberry and lychee but austere like the French Sancerre style.

Later on we tried some of the reds, including the aforementioned Nero D'Avola and Negroamaro, which had great acidity and complexity. The Negroamaro was very unique with a fresh black pepper quality. Their red blend, Campo di Rossa, was bright, easy to drink and had great red fruit.

Campovida also farms two types of olive trees - Italian and Spanish - and makes olive oil from both. The Sevillano oil made from the Spanish olive trees brought me back to the delicious fresh green olives that we ate in Spain during our honeymoon. We bought a huge bottle of it (a 750 mL wine bottle, of course), and I can't wait to be brought back to both places each time I have some. And as if it couldn't get any better, Campovida also makes delicious honey from the bee hives on the property.

Conveniently, Campovida also owns a property a mile away in the tiny town of Hopland (population 817), which contains a pizzeria and hotel. I finally got the lunch thing right at Piazza de Campovida, with delicious pizza to fuel the rest of our day, and then we ended up having dinner there too, with Gary and Anna.

Pura Vida is Campovida's wine loyalty program, and with options for 3, 6 or 12 bottles every quarter plus olive oil and honey, I couldn't resist, so we joined our second "wine club."

Our hosts were extremely gracious, welcoming and fun. Ever since we left I have been trying to think of an excuse to go back. Thank you again, Anna, Gary and Sebastian!

For the Bay area locals, Campovida will be hosting the North Coast Rhone Rangers Tasting on February 8th at their Oakland location. More info and tickets HERE.

Happy New Year!

Hermann J. Wiemer

Blanc de Noir 2003

Finger Lakes, New York