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.

The Year of the Shepherd

Last March at the Rhone Rangers Tasting in San Francisco, a meeting of California wine producers making Rhone varietals - syrah, mourvedre, grenache, cinsault, roussanne, marsanne, viognier - I tried the wines of producer Two Shepherds. Winemaker William Allen is a software developer by day and a wine producer by night, as of about 3 years ago. He is my hero because he started as a wine blogger (SimpleHedonisms.com) and made wine in his garage. When enough people told him he was onto something he decided to rent space in a winery collective in Santa Rosa and now makes about 500 cases per year, starting with the successful 2010 vintage.  William works every night and weekend on his wine, and he focuses on the varietals of the Rhone region of France because he loves those unique varietals. He focuses on "making wines that 'shepherd' grapes gently into non-manipulated and balanced old world style wines, while also guiding consumers back to wines of authenticity and to the wonderfully diverse realm of Rhone wines."

William has turned me on to Grenache Blanc, a rich and refreshing white that he makes. Those grapes come from the Santz Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara county while most of his other grapes come from the Russian River Valley of Sonoma county, but if William finds a vineyard he likes elsewhere he'll figure out how to get the grapes. William is all about low intervention and letting the winemaking process happen naturally. He allows the wines to ferment spontaneously from their native, naturally present yeasts. All of his wines go through natural malolactic fermentation, a process that softens their acidity, yet they are all still crisp, refreshing, and creamy, with a great texture that William is known for. He doesn't filter his wines nor cold stabilize, so if you put them in the fridge they will throw tartrates (no harm in that). The reds are aged in neutral oak which helps round them out without imparting oaky flavor.

Two Shepherds wines are a refreshing departure from typical big California wines - they are crisp, with bright acidity, depth of flavor, and balanced alcohol (around 13%). On a visit to his Santa Rosa facility in June (which he shares with Sheldon Micro-Winery and Krutz Family Cellars) we tasted more of the 2011 vintage and ended up joining our first wine club. A note on wine clubs - I don't really like them, mostly because they lock you into a certain amount of wine at regular intervals throughout the year. In the nearly 3 years that we've lived in San Francisco and after visiting countless wineries we have never had the desire to join a wine club and commit to certain wines for a year. Until now. William's club is flexible, with options for 4, 6 or 12 bottles per shipment, at 2 shipments per year. Since he makes many different bottlings in small quantities, some are only available to the wine club. So we are now "members of the flock" and privy to special wines and special events.

Some notes from our recent tastings (all 2011 vintage):

Grenache Blanc: yeasty nose, nice minerality, crisp yet creamy at the same time.

Centime: an "orange" wine made from co-fermenting Marsanne and Roussanne in stainless steel on their skins to impart some of the color, which develops into a pale orange wine. Coincidentally there is orange blossom scent on the nose combined with citrus on the palate. The wine is fresh, rich and smooth. A true geek wine, I was so excited to try this (and purchase my 1 bottle limit).

Pastoral Blanc: a blend of Roussanne, Marsanne, Viognier and Grenache Blanc. Perfumey, flowery nose, deep flavor and great acidity.

Syrah: exactly the type of Syrah I love - meaty and spicy with black pepper but rose-y and pretty at the same time. Aged 10 months in neutral oak.

Grenache: beautiful fresh berry nose, nice structure and acidity. Crushed/de-stemmed and fermented in small open-top fermenter, aged in neutral oak.

William has a great sense of humor and makes these fun t-shirts:

Separately, my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby boy this past April - his name is Shepherd. Here's my nephew at 4 months old:

Perhaps a future wine lover? 

To Shepherds!