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Pioneering at a Leisurely Pace SONOMA Pioneering at a leisurely pace Sonoma may seem the country cousin next to glitzy Napa, but over the past few decades it has been quietly experimenting, developing and growing. Elin McCoy meets the pioneers of this county’s wine industry and considers the varieties shaping its future EVERY TIME I drive west over the Mayacamas Three times bigger than Napa, Sonoma is also mountains from Napa into Sonoma, I feel I’m more heterogeneous and sprawling, a leaving behind glitz, glamour and grand estates and 400,000-hectare patchwork of hillsides, ridges, entering – with relief – into a slower, more rural meandering rivers and pastoral valleys with wildly wine world. Populated by farmers in jeans, the varied microclimates and soils. Cool nights and descendants of Italian grape-growers, and vintners daily fogs moderate the summer heat. Sonoma’s obsessed with Pinot Noir, the byways of laid-back layered past, complex topography and proximity to Sonoma remind me of Napa before the mega-rich the Pacific Ocean define its wine styles, just as arrived in their Lamborghinis. dozens of colourful pioneers shaped its wines. This is where the northern Californian wine rush began 200 years ago, when Russian fur traders In the beginning planted vines near coastal Fort Ross in 1812. Its Take the mysterious Hungarian wheeler-dealer and wine history lives on at still-thriving, century-old self-proclaimed count, Agoston Haraszthy, who stone wineries and in veteran gnarled vines that established California’s oldest commercial winery new pioneers strive to preserve. Sonoma’s Buena Vista in Sonoma Valley in 1857. A keen winemakers make more great Pinot Noir than any promoter of the county as a viticultural paradise, other region in California, as well as exciting he kickstarted the industry by bringing back Chardonnays and Zinfandel – field blends that 100,000 vines of some 400 grape varieties from a ‘The story of capture Sonoma’s history in a glass. European trip. Before he went bankrupt and So why has its reputation lagged behind Napa? disappeared in Nicaragua (eaten, legend has it, by a Sonoma’s last Both regions stalled during Prohibition, but crocodile), Haraszthy introduced gravity-flow Sonoma’s wine industry didn’t recover as quickly winemaking and the ageing of wine in redwood 35 years is after Repeal, and went into a long, bucolic sleep. barrels, and created Sonoma’s first sparkling wines. The county exploded into a serious wine region in As with so many of Sonoma’s early wineries, fractionalisation; the 1970s, when dozens of ambitious winemakers Buena Vista’s fortunes rose and fell. It flowered burst on the scene. But it lacked a signature grape again briefly in the 1980s and is in the throes of a focus on like Napa’s glossy Cabernet, a perpetual booster another revival since its purchase in 2011 by like Robert Mondavi – once Napa’s one-man public Burgundy négociant Jean-Charles Boisset. ‘I’m sub-regions and relations machine – and a cohesive, alluring image. taking it back to its beginnings,’ he says. ‘With ‘The story of Sonoma’s last 35 years,’ says historic labels and a wide range of wines.’ which vineyards winemaker Joel Peterson, who founded Ravenswood The vineyards planted by the wave of late-19th Winery in 1976, ‘is fractionalisation; a focus on which and early-20th century Italian immigrant farmers, are right for sub-regions and vineyards are right for which grapes.’ who turned their Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and other Some 350 wineries make wines from 50 grape varieties into rustic jug wines, inspired some of the which grapes’ varieties in 15 confusing, overlapping sub-regions. pioneering winemakers of the 1970s. The quality of Joel Peterson, Ravenswood 4 8 | M a y 2 0 1 4 • DECANTER their grapes convinced ‘Godfather of Zin’ Peterson state – and made cuvées from each, which he Above: the Simi vineyards that Zinfandel had serious fine wine potential. labelled with the vineyard name. (Peterson sold his in Sonoma’s Alexander ‘Sonoma is relatively cool, so its Zins are dark-fruit winery to Constellation Brands in 2001 but remains Valley. One of Sonoma’s driven, brighter in acidity with moderate structure the winemaker.) pioneers, it was founded and a baking spice character,’ Peterson says. He ‘I was on the cusp of change,’ he says. ‘Sonoma here in 1876 sought out century-old vineyards – Sonoma has had a long history of bulk wines. Putting a vineyard more than 100, the largest concentration in the name on the label was a way to signal that each ➢ Sonoma: a timeline 1812 1850 Russian fur California becomes traders plant vine the 31st state; cuttings from Peru Sonoma’s at Fort Ross population is 560 1823-1824 1857 Mission San Francisco Solano de Agoston Haszrathy Sonoma, established by Father founds Buena Vista Junipero Serra, plants vines winery ➢ DECANTER • May 2 0 1 4 | 4 9 SONOMA one would taste different. And of course you could get a higher price.’ His wines helped solidify old-vine Zinfandel as one of Sonoma’s specialties. Single-vineyard wines have played a key role in Sonoma’s rise since the 1970s, encouraging an early focus on terroir by shifting attention from winery to vineyard. And since growers far outnumber wineries in Sonoma, it’s been easy for young experimental winemakers who can’t afford to buy land to get into the wine game by buying grapes. A surprising number of the wineries established more than a century ago – including Martinelli, Pedroncelli, Foppiano, Gundlach-Bundschu, Korbel, Simi and Seghesio – still flourish, some in family hands, others in corporate portfolios. Simi, founded in Alexander Valley in 1876, has been producing wine in the same stone cellar since 1890. Its 1935 Zinfandel and 1941 Cabernet were the first great old Sonoma wines I tasted, and on a recent visit the Above: Jean Arnold Sessions (right) president of Hanzell ‘Sonoma’s 1974 Alexander Valley Cabernet impressed me, too. Vineyards with the estate’s wine educator Gary Saperstein Most of them were grape-growing farmers until wine industry the 1970s when the fourth and fifth generations embraced ‘the kiss of French oak’, and changed the saw a future in creating their own wines. They make style of American wine. is all about good mid-range, value wines, but rarely rise to the It took a couple of decades to find Sonoma’s top heights of Sonoma’s boutique labels. Martinelli and Pinot Noir spots. Pioneers Joe Rochioli and Joseph renegades’ Seghesio are exceptions. After putting the family Swan found one further north in the late 1960s. Jean Arnold Sessions, name on the label in 1983, the latter made great ‘When God invented Pinot, he put his thumb down Hanzell Vineyards Zinfandel and Dry Creek Valley synonymous. firmly here in the Russian River Valley,’ insists Bob Cabral, winemaker at Williams Selyem winery. Burt Focus on Pinot Williams and Ed Selyem, the original owners, If Zinfandel is Sonoma’s link to its past, Pinot Noir produced their first wines in a garage in 1979 with and Chardonnay are the varieties the county is purchased grapes. When they released their first most known for today. The obsession with both Rochioli cuvée, it catapulted them to fame, put goes back to 1957, when paper magnate and Russian River on the map, and popularised their Burgundy lover James Zellerbach established garagiste model. Williams Selyem became the first Hanzell Vineyards on slopes overlooking the town cult-status Pinot producer. of Sonoma, when the grapes were barely known. Swan, too, created a stir with his intense and ‘People thought Pinot was too finicky to be compelling Russian River Zinfandels and Pinot commercial,’ explains Hanzell’s president Jean Noirs made by old-fashioned Burgundian methods Arnold Sessions. ‘But Zellerbach was a Burgundy that included whole-cluster fermentation and lover. What made the wines even more unique was manual punch downs. His clone of Pinot, known as that they were aged in French oak barrels imported the Swan clone, remains in high demand. from Burgundy instead of the white American oak In 1980, David Hirsch ignited interest in a new others used.’ The subtle flavours they imparted location: the rugged high ridges of the remote and impressed winemakers like Robert Mondavi, who challenging Sonoma coast. His domain on the ➢ Sonoma: a timeline (continued) 1872 1933 The Korbel brothers move At Repeal, fewer than 50 to Russian River, build wine 1920 Sonoma wineries remain ➢ cellars in the 1880s, and There are make sparkling wine by the 256 wineries Champagne method in Sonoma 1920-1933 Prohibition. 1873 Gargling with hot ‘claret’ Phylloxera outbreak becomes the popular begins destroying cure for sore throats vineyards 5 0 | M a y 2 0 1 4 • DECANTER SONOMA A taste of Sonoma: McCoy’s best buys Hanzell, Chardonnay, Littorai, Hirsch it aims to represent the Russian balanced, food friendly and Sonoma Valley Vineyards Pinot River terroir as a whole, and has supple than most from 2009 18/20 (93/100) Noir, Sonoma Coast an lovely hint of earth and dried California. Whatever the vintage, £42 Goedhuis 2009 18 (93) cherry. Drink 2014-2020 Alc 14.5% Jordan’s Cabernet is amazingly Creamy and intense, £64.99 (2010) Halifax, consistent. The 1976 is still this round, rich wine Hedonism Ravenswood, drinking beautifully. is wonderfully fresh Ted Lemon’s vibrant, Teldeschi Zinfandel, Drink 2014-2025 Alc 13.5% with a polished dazzling, biodynamic Dry Creek Valley minerality and a long cuvée is one of the 2009 17 (90) Seghesio Family finish. All Hanzell’s most powerful, £25 The Wine Palate, Vineyards, Zinfandel, wines age brilliantly. intense, masculine We Are the Wines Sonoma County 2010 Drink 2014-2023 Alcohol 14.5% wines in his line-up.
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