Supporting Local Wineries

Yesterday in her wine blog, Dr. Debs posted a great article titled "Living Not So Big Wine Life." In the post she listed five ways of making our wine purchases and drinking habits less about chasing numbers and pursuing the "best" wine and more about seeking wines that inspire us, that fit our life styles and are "sustainable in all the ways there are," such as the environment, your pocket book and local wineries. (If you haven't seen the post, check it out at Good Wine Under $20.)

I really liked what she had to say but the part about supporting sustainability made me a little nervous. As I understood the point, this meant supporting local wineries especially those that treat the environment respectfully. My fear was that my choices in wines would be limited. I recently went to a Portuguese wine tasting and really enjoyed the red wines made from the same grapes they use to make port. I love the earthy, dried cherry and spice flavors of a Tempranillo from the Rioja in Spain. And I've really been enjoying discovering white wines from Italy with their light but distinct flavors. Would I have to give all this up to support local wineries? It almost seemed a contridiction with another point made about being adventurous.

After calming down...and thinking...I realized that Dr. Debs article was not advocating drinking only what I could find locally. It meant making local more a part of my wine life. It meant not seeking those big, famous wineries that get all the scores to the exclusion of small, local wineries. Besides, there is a lot of variety, and the kinds of wines I've come to like, in my own backyard!

I did a quick search on Google maps to find out how many wineries are local to me. I searched in a 40 mile radius from my house. (If I had expanded the radius to 80 I would have included the Napa Valley wineries, but that would have defeated the purpose of this exercise.) The map to the left shows the partial results of the search, almost 40 wineries. Several of the wineries I have already visited didn't show up in the search and there may be at least a hundred wineries local to me. (Click on the map to see a bigger picture.) I know the message of the article was not to only drink from local wineries, but if I had to, I would still have a lot to choose from!

What's more important than the number of wineries is that these wine makers are growing some of the grapes I've come to love. The Sierra foothills is a great place to grow grapes for Rhone varietals. (Vinography recently said that the Granache from one of my local wineries, Cedarville Wineries, was one the best he tasted at the recent 2008 Rhone Rangers tasting.) Many growers in Lodi, Clarksburg and the Sierra foothills are growing traditionally Italian grapes like Sangiovese and Barbera or even lesser know ones like Primitivo and Vermentino.

You may not be as lucky as I am to live in an area so densly populated by wineries. But seek out local wineries. I was surprised when reading "Wine Across America" how many wineries there are all across the US. I used to envy the French and Italians because it seemed like every community had a winery associated with it. I know that that's not the case, but I'm not very far from having that situation myself! It isn't going to be very hard to support sustainability after all.

Here's an example of how I don't have to do without when drinking locally:

Tasting Notes:

2005 Bray Vinho Tinto: A blend of Portuguese grapes Touriga, Tinto Cao, Souzao and Alvarlhao grown in the Lodi area.

Color:  Deep ruby

Aroma:  Earthy, reminds me of a Rhone

Taste:  Just like a Portuguese red, but with less earthiness. Not a lot of fruit (just a hint of plum), but with a distinct, good flavor. Medium mouthfeel and tannins.

Finish:  Medium finish, tart with nice tannins

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Shenandoah Winery: Bray Vineyards

Last Friday I wrote about my recent trip to the Shenandoah AVA in the Sierra foothills of Amador County. Another winery I visited that day was Bray Vineyards. Bray Vineyards was started in 1996 when the land was purchased from an estate. The property sits on 50 acres of rolling hills ranging in elevation from 1100 feet to 1300 feet. The soil is heavy with decomposed granite and is very rocky in places. Bray Vineyards is one of the first wineries in the area if you are arriving from the south. It definitely was my favorite.

I got to meet wine maker John Hoddy. He poured for me and spent time talking about the wines and grapes. John started out making wine at home for fun. After a while he took winemaking classes from UC Davis extension. He got more experience working with local winemakers during harvest and finally started working with Bray in 2004.

What really impressed me about John were his friendliness and his attitude towards wine. If I asked a question about a flavor of a wine I tasted, he’d sample the wine and make comments. He took the time to explain about the grapes they were growing and gave me some history behind their chooses at the winery.

Bray Vineyards grows several grapes that the Shenandoah appellation is know for, like Zinfandel and Petite Sirah. They produce several nice wines from these grapes. But what really impressed me was the variety of grapes, especially Portuguese varietals. They grow Touriga, Tinto Cao, Souzao and Alvarelhao to make their own Vinho Tinto (a great earthy example with medium mouth feel and nice tart tannins.) They even have a white from Verdelho. Other grapes they grow are Sangiovese, Barbera, Black Muscat and Primitivo. Another of the favorites I tasted that day was their Tempranillo (it had faint fruit, light tannins and the flavor was very good.)

For this wine geek, their array of grapes was awesome. I don’t know if John Hoddy is pouring every day for visitors, but if you get a chance to talk with him it will be the highlight of your visit to the Shenandoah Valley.

I definitely want to make a trip back soon to buy some of the other wines I tried that day. According to the web site, many of their wines can be found in stores local to Sacramento (see their list.) However, their more obscure varietals like the ones from Portuguese grapes are available only on site. I bought one of them on my visit, the Verdelho.

Verdelho is both a grape and a style of Madeira, a wine from the Madeira Island off the coast of Portugal. The heavy wines of Madeira go through a process where the wines are fortified and then oxidized slowly over time. Verdelho Madeira is between off-dry and sweet, depending upon the age of the wine.

Still wines made from the Verdelho in Portugal in the Duoro Valley can be off dry and bland. But when grown in hotter regions like Australia or the Shenandoah Valley they are light and citrus like the one I had. I couldn’t decide if it was more citrus or peachy. The wine was a lot like a Gavi in both aroma and taste. It has a light mouth feel and light tannins. The first flavor was peach as the wine hit my tongue, but then it changed. This wine is a good sipper all by itself but it would probably be good with seafood or Asian dishes. (This grape is # 53 on my way to 100 grapes.)

Tasting Notes:

2007 Bray Verdelho (13.9% alcohol, $16.00)

Color:  Light yellow

Aroma:  Peach or citrus

Taste:  Like Gavi, peach at first taste then it changes. Light mouth feel

Finish:  Faint tannins with pleasant aftertaste