Mendocino Day 3: Coast and Knez

On our last day in Mendocino county, after exploring Heritage House Resort, our coastline retreat, we had lunch in the charming, quaint town of Mendocino and walked the dramatic cliffs over the ocean. Heading back to San Francisco, we happily took 128 back through the redwoods and Anderson Valley, stopping at Knez Winery's tasting room along the way. I had tried a couple of these wines at the SF Vintners Market also, so it was fun to taste the broader lineup. With around 2000 cases produced, all the wines are unfiltered, unfined and go through native yeast fermentation. The fruit is all estate-grown and farmed biodynamically. They have a super interesting white blend of Tocai Fruilano, Malvasia, and Pinot Grigio, which are all dry-farmed grapes that are picked at the same time, co-fermented in neutral oak and aged on the lees. The wine had a floral nose with orange blossom, gardenia, and anise notes. I also enjoyed their 2011 Cerise Vineyard Pinor Noir, which is a steep slope vineyard with a lot of iron in the soil. This translated into an earthy, meaty salinity in the wine that I really liked. 33% of the wine saw new French oak and 50% was fermented in whole clusters. This Pinot, being the Martini clone, is characterized by smaller clusters and thicker skins than other Pinot (which as a grape is known for having a thin skin). Very interesting and complex. A nice cap to an enjoyable weekend of wine and waves in Mendocino county.

Knez combines nature's vines with the ocean's creatures in their unique labels.

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.