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Anderson Valley in The News

Wine Spectator

California's Hidden Wine Country : Anderson Valley Pinot Noir breathes new life into Mendocino County

By James Laube, May 14, 2013

Mendocino is full of dreamers, carving their own paths in this wild and remote corner of California wine country where the pace of life is set by the seasons rather than by tourist hordes or marketing gurus. There's little glamour or notoriety here, far from the beaten paths of Napa Valley to the southeast or even neighboring Sonoma County. It's a bit of old California that still survives, prospering in its own tranquil rhythm. Wine Spectator's James Laube explains.

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The Examiner.com

Five great reasons to attend the Anderson Valley Pinot Festival 17-19 May
By John Compisi, May 1, 2013
 
The 16th Annual Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival kicks off in about 2.5 weeks with a weekend filled with wine, food, music and wine appreciation. This wonderful festival is hosted by the Anderson Valley Winegrowers' Association and its member growers and vintners. This year will witness a special farewell to one of the family, Londer Vineyards.
 

 

Twoguysfromnapa.com

Fête du Vin! The 2013 International Alsace Varietals Festival

January 17, 2013

 

The 8th annual International Alsace Varietals Festival is coming to Mendocino County on February 9th and 10th this year. This festival celebrates varietals such as Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, and Muscat and is organized by the Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association. If you enjoy white wines more than red, or are just a fan of the Alsace varietals, you should seriously think about attending.

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The Daily Sip

Autumn in Anderson Valley

October 15, 2012

 

New gems to taste from Anderson Valley

For pinot noir lovers, a visit to Burgundy is something of a bucket list trip. But for a pinot adventure that’s deliciously rewarding and very doable, consider the drive up to Anderson Valley in Mendocino County. Just 2.5 hours north of San Francisco, Anderson Valley has a cool climate and terrain that’s perfect for growing pinot noir.

If you’re lucky, you’ll time your visit to coincide with Winesong Charity Auction & Tasting in September or the late spring Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival. After just a couple days in the country, you might find yourself discussing the nuances of fruit coming from particular vineyards or debating where the “Deep End” of the valley starts

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Examiner.com

Indian Summer Getaway: Anderson Valley

by Melissa McArdle, September 24, 2012

With the arrival of September, Northern California residents begin to shed their layers and soak up the golden warmth of the much anticipated Indian summer through the month of October. It's when San Francisco locals remember why they live here and begin to indulge in beach time, drive over the Golden Gate Bridge for something other than a fog-filled hiking adventure, and travel north knowing they can stick more than just their big toe into the water holes and rivers.

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San Francisco Chronicle

2012 brings a healthy crop of options
by Jon Bonne, September 21, 2012
 
It's been a couple of crazy years out in the vineyards. It was cold in 2010, except when the sun came out to roast the grapes. It was even chillier in 2011, with no heat wave for offset.
Is it possible that in 2012 everyone can breathe again?
Sure seems that way. "There's a ton of optimism," says Paul Ardzrooni, a top vineyard manager in Mendocino's Anderson Valley.
 

 

San Francisco Chronicle

A clash of style in Anderson Valley

by Jon Bonne, September 14, 2012

It has been tough to get my head around Anderson Valley.
This region in western Mendocino has long been a little-known sweet spot for Pinot Noir and a few other projects like hearty Gewurztraminer. But fame of sorts arrived for Anderson Valley as it was traversing a weird progression of vintages (go to: sfg.ly/QCXeMM).
The 2008s were largely hobbled by nearby wildfires, which rendered many wines not only smoky but ashy; the buoyant 2009 vintage brought a great passel of wines but also some signs that the stylistic muddle that had taken place in other Pinot regions - Sta. Rita Hills, Russian River Valley - had also arrived in the environs of Philo.

And now we have the 2010s, a colder and more difficult year than '09 - with a few hot days that led to a lot of uneven flavors.
 

Read more...


New York Times

Pinot Hunting in the Anderson Valley

by Eric Asimov, September 14, 2012

On the map, at least, Mendocino doesn’t seem so far away, a mere three hours from San Francisco, just north of Sonoma County. Yet, something about Mendocino feels isolated and desolate, powerfully so, inspiring feelings of awe, eeriness and even a bit of menace. Impending doom? A fanciful notion, perhaps, but not inappropriate for pinot noir, the proverbial femme fatale of grapes...

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The Daily Sip      

Wine adventure in the Anderson Valley

by The Daily Sip, August 17, 2012

Located northwest of Napa and Sonoma in Mendocino County, the Anderson Valley is a hidden gem for wine lovers. Known for pinot noir and varietals like gewürztraminer and riesling, the Anderson Valley is the perfect place for a wine-filled weekend getaway.

The Anderson Valley offers high-quality wines combined with an intimate tasting experience. We at the Daily Sip recently visited a variety of wineries, and at each we were able to sit down and talk directly with the winemaker, winery owner, and sometimes both. Highlights included talking to winemakers at Handley Cellars and Claudia Springs. Similarly, the friendly owners of Balo Vineyards and Bink Wines were happy to show and tell us their processes for making great wines. This kind of personal attention is rare in higher-profile wine regions.
 

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Press Democrat

Big wine, beer in tiny Boonville
August 12, 2012


At one time it was so isolated local farmers and loggers developed their own language — Boontling — that a few old Boontners still speak today.

 

A day trip or weekend away in Boont, as it was known in the native patois, can still feel like you're heading out into the deep woods without straying too far off Highway 128.

Tiny Boonville, with slightly more than 1,000 inhabitants, is the commercial hub of the Anderson Valley and a central place to stay and eat while exploring the wineries, farmstands and parks of this pastoral stopping point between Cloverdale and the coast.
 

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Harold Bear Wine

Anderson Valley - A Relaxed Paradise, June 10, 2012
Named after Walter Anderson whose sons first viewed the valley in 1851, it is bifurcated by Highway 128 that wends its picturesque, two-lane way northwest from Cloverdale in northern Sonoma County to the Anderson Valley and then to the Mendocino coast. This fairly narrow valley is hemmed in by steep evergreen covered hillsides...
 
Click here to read the entire article
 
 

Examiner.com

Exploring Wine Country : Anderson Valley in Mendocino County

by Karla Erovick, June20, 2012

Driving along winding country roads in search of fabulous Pinot Noir, sparkling wine and Alsace varietals has taken me into the rural roads of Mendocino County. The hillsides are a combination of terra cotta punctuated by dark green trees and shrubs. Emerging into the valley, vineyards and farms are in evidence. The temperature begins to drop, closer to the coast and the lush vegetation of leafy vineyards can be seen along the road and clinging to the hillsides...

Click here to read the entire article

 

PinotFile

Anderson Noir Valley : the festival
by William Rusty Gaffney, June 24, 2012
 
The 15th Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival was held on June 18-20, 2012. Sponsored by the Anderson
Valley Winegrowers Association, this event originated 20 years ago with winery open houses, but was
formalized into a festival in 1997. The popularity of the festival has paralleled the rise in quality and notoriety of
Anderson Valley Pinot Noir, and offers a casual, country fair atmosphere accompanied by a cadre of
enthusiastic Pinot Noir winegrowers and winemakers. All Pinot Noir is from grapes grown exclusively in the
Anderson Valley...

Click here to read the entire article
 

Examiner.com

Best of Pinot at the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival,
by Steve Ferree, May 8 2012
 
The Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival on May 18-20 brings together some of the best Pinot Noirs from one of the best Pinot Noir regions.  This festival has something for everyone from technical sessions to winemaker dinners to winery open houses to a Grand Tasting with wines from 40 producers from around California.  This is a festival not to be missed by Pinot Noir lovers.       
 
Click here to read the entire article
 
 

Vinography

15th Annual Anderson Valley Pinot Festival: May 18-20, Philo, CA
by Alder Yarrow, May 2 2012
 
California Pinot Noir lovers take note. Wine lovers with a free weekend, listen up. It's Spring, and the wine events are coming fast and furious. It seems like every week there's a new wine tasting to go to. But some are more worth paying attention to than others.

Anderson Valley is known for two things in California, and not coincidentally, it has more or less two major wine tasting events per year. The first, the International Alsace Varietals festival took place a few months ago.

Click here to read the entire article

 

Pinotfile

Anderson Noir Valley, February 2012

Anderson Valley wine producers are relatively isolated, do not have a prominent public marketing campaign, and lack a significant tourist influx due to a paucity of infrastructure, but the Pinot Noir from this bucolic valley is exceptional, perhaps unrivaled by any other Pinot Noir growing region in California. Anderson Valley first achieved validation as a premium grape growing region in the early 1980s when Roederer Estate established extensive plantings of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and made sparkling wines of the highest caliber. In the last two decades, the region has placed an emphasis on still Pinot Noir. 

 Click here to read the entire article

 

Cervins Central Coast

Alsace in America : Mendocino Memories

by Michael Cervin February 22, 2012

So, what if there were a wine festival which was unpretentious, fun, not the least bit crowded, where international winemakers and their wines congregated together, all set in beautiful surroundings and was, well, just way cool? Well there is. The International Alsace Varietals Festival arrives each February in Mendocino (slightly north of Sonoma), and with it, a die-hard contention of Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Muscat, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris enthusiasts. And we’re not talking flabby sweet wines which taste like packets of Equal mixed with water. We’re talking serious non-sweet, semi-sweet and luscious sweet white wines which will literally change your mind about what a white wine can be...

Click here to read the entire article

 

Vinography

2012 Anderson Valley Alsace Varietals Festival: February 18, Boonville, CA

by Alder yarrow, February 10, 2012

Enter what may be the most unique wine festival in California and perhaps the country. Some of the most under-appreciated and least consumed wines in the state are those made from grapes like Gewurztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Riesling. There aren't a lot of places in California where these grapes thrive, but the Anderson Valley, three hours north of San Francisco, is the de-facto home for growing and making wines from these varietals in the style common to the French border region of Alsace.

California-grown Alsace-style (don't call them Alsatian, that's a dog) wines are not plentiful, nor are they particularly well publicized, but that seems to suit both the winemakers of Anderson Valley, and the folks who have been happily buying their wines for years. But in the interest of spreading the word, and the love, a couple of years ago all the winemakers who produce these wines decided that they needed to get together to showcase and celebrate their shared passion.

2012 marks the 7th Annual Anderson Valley Alsace Varietals Festival. The event continues to draw a loyal following of wine lovers as well as those curious (and lucky) enough to make the trek into the idyllic green of Anderson Valley in February....
 

Click here to read the entire article

 

Two Guys From Napa

Favorites in Anderson Valley, January 2012

Anderson Valley may be the best known wine-growing region in Mendocino County. Located near the Pacific Coast, this 15 mile long valley has a wide diurnal range, in that the daily high and low temperatures can be up to 40 or 50 degrees apart. The appellation also ranges in elevation from sea level up to 2500 feet.

The climate and geography here create an excellent growing region for Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, and the Anderson Valley is well known for those varietals as both still wines and sparkling wines. Riesling and Gewurztraminer also grow well here...

Click here to read the entire article

 

Wine Country This Week

Alsace Varietals Festival Showcases International Whites

January 2012

For the seventh consecutive year, the Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association will host the International Alsace Varietals Festival – an event that has become a popular showcase for Alsace-style white wines from around the world. The 2012 festival, to be held February 18-19, will also feature a celebrity chef cooking demonstration and a New Zealand Riesling challenge.
Producers from both near and far will pour five highlighted varietals during the two-day celebration: Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Muscat. Festival events will include a technical conference, a cooking demonstration by Food Network star chef Beau MacMillan, a grand tasting, a group winemaker dinner and winery open houses.

click here to read the entire article
 

Examiner.com

International Alsace Varietals Festival February 18

By Steve Ferree, January 2012

There is only one wine festival dedicated to Alsace-style wines and the Anderson Valley wineries are hosting the event, the 7th Annual International Alsace Varietals Festival, on February 18. This unique and exclusive wine tasting event will feature a celebration of Alsace-style wines, local foods, entertainment and more with wineries from around the world participating...

Click here to read the entire article

 

Via Magazine

California's Highway 128
By Chris Colin, October 2011
 
Look closely as you travel on Highway 128, the winding ribbon connecting Highway 101 with California’s coast, and you’ll notice Bay Area drivers slapping their foreheads: How have I never been here? Anderson Valley works hard to preserve the feeling of seclusion responsible for its peaceful, timeless vibe—the town of Boonville even had its own language for a while. But once you’re here, the vineyards, teeny towns, and rolling hills deliver a thorough welcome. A tour of the region’s trees alone is worth it, as palms give way to lichen-draped oaks, then ghostly eucalyptus and finally massive redwoods—all in 60 miles. The so-called “tunnel to the sea” that winds through misty old-growth forest? Says Pat Daniels, the longtime tasting-room manager at Navarro Vineyards: “For me, that’s church.”...
 
Click here to read the entire article
 
 

Bloomberg

Wild West Pinot draws Banker to vineyards among cannabis crop

By Elin McCoy, October 24, 2011

... With its marginal climate of warm, sunny days, cold foggy nights, long growing season and steep hillsides, this remote 15- mile-long valley in northwest Mendocino has become the spot for classic, balanced pinots with lively acidity and lower alcohol.Think rose-and-spice scents, subtle crushed-cherry and plum flavors, silky richness, and Burgundy-like complexity.

Click here to read the entire article

 

SF Chronicle

As Pinot Noir evolves, Anderson Valley grows up

By Jon Bonne, October 9, 2011

Philo, Mendocino County -- Anderson Valley was once California's little secret, a remote Mendocino nook protected from the sea but still drawing in the coastal chill.

From the 1970s it was home to a handful of back-to-landers, labels like Navarro and Lazy Creek, that showed a fondness for Alsatian varieties like Gewurztraminer plus the occasional Pinot Noir or Chardonnay. Then sparkling winemakers like Roederer Estate and Scharffenberger came calling. If grapes might not always ripen for still wine in the persistent fog, they'd thrive as a base for bubbly.

When Pinot did ripen, it gave Anderson Valley a reputation for wine that showed the purest qualities of that grape: bright red fruit, heady scents of earth and forest, a mineral tension that was increasingly rare in California wine. As Pinot elsewhere grew burlier, Anderson Valley was the loyal opposition. That suited its reputation as an insular spot - one whose residents of the village of Boonville once devised their own language, Boontling, to rebuff outsiders...
Click here to read the entire article

Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 

By Jon Bonne, October 9, 2011

It's wonderful to see Anderson Valley back in form.

Among nearly 40 bottles tasted, there was a clear division of styles (see cover story), but wines from a number of familiar names show both the complexity and subtlety that brought the area attention in the first place. These aren't wines that do a Salomé dance of immediate allure; they're often slightly shy and restrained at first, needing time and air to show their full depths.

But that's what Anderson Valley has always been able to provide, in the tradition of the finest Pinot. With 2009 it's clear that its innate potential is as strong as ever.

Click here to read the entire article

Secondact.com

What's your favorite wine getaway
By Russ Parsons, September 22, 2011
 
"After 25 years of writing about food and wine, I don't really take 'wine vacations' any more. But I do quite often wind up vacationing at places where wine is made. Probably my favorite is Mendocino County [in Northern California]. There are a lot of really good, very individual wines coming out of there right now. My favorite part is the Anderson Valley, which lies between Ukiah and the Pacific, along Highway 128. You climb up through the Yorkville Highlands, which is really coming into its own, pass through Boonville, and then hit the wine trail...
Click here to read the entire article
 

Huffington Post

The top Ten Off the beaten path wine country experiences
By Tom Wark, September 15, 2011
 
Wine Country beckons to Bay Areans looking for a nearby getaway. But if you are like most visitors to Grapeland, your weekend will have you lined up elbow-to-elbow at well-traveled winery tasting rooms, browsing and buying grape-shaped trinkets and eating at the same fancy Wine Country restaurants as the couple that muscled by you at the bar at the last tasting room you visited that day.
The solution is to get off the beaten Wine Country path and experience the Wine Country less traveled. Here are my top 10 ways to create a unique wine country experience.
1. Find the Less Traveled Wine Valley -- Anderson Valley
Located about 100 miles north of San Francisco in Mendocino County between Highway 101 and the Pacific Coast, Anderson Valley is an isolated, bucolic, narrow wine region that has a host of tasting rooms that aren't crowded and deliver some of the finest Pinot Noir and delicate white varietals in the land. Anderson Valley is strewn with small B&B's, small hamlets and, most important, a lack of crowds...
Click here to read the entire article
 

Los Angeles Times

Traveling north: Mendocino, Part I                 
By Russ Parsons, August 15, 2011
 
...The airline schedule has changed, but now a much earlier flight gets us to the Anderson Valley at almost exactly the same time. The Anderson Valley is one of the most picturesque wine regions in California, a state lousy with them. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the drive along Highway 128 west from Cloverdale to the coast is one of my favorite road trips in the state as well.You climb corkscrewing through the Yorkville Highlands, pass through the determinedly quaint town of Boonville and then comes the wine country, punctuated by majestic allees of redwood trees...
Click here to read the entire article
 

Wines and Vines

Wineries Promote Isolated Anderson Valley
By Paul Franson, August 9, 2011
 
Anderson Valley, Calif.—It’s not often that much news originates from sleepy Anderson Valley in California’s Mendocino County, but this week, there’s a flood.
To start, four tasting room/wineries have formed the Wineries of Downtown Boonville to promote both local wines and the town. The name is a bit tongue in cheek, as anyone knows who has visited the hamlet: Downtown Boonville is about two blocks long...
Click here to read the entire article
 

Napa Valley Register

Mendocino offers friendly, informal tastings and fine wines
By Paul Franson, August 4, 2011
 
Though Napa and Sonoma get most of the attention, other counties in California have their winemaking charms, too.
One county that gets little attention is also one of the most interesting. Mendocino County lies north of Sonoma along the wild and cold Pacific Coast....Anderson Valley is one of my favorite wine-growing regions, pinot noir one of my favorite wines and Mendocino one of my favorite places to visit, so attending the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival in June is an easy decision for me...
Click here to read the entire article
 

PinotFile

Andersonoir Valley Pinot Noir Festival
By William Rusty Gaffney, July 1, 2011
 
... Veteran Anderson Valley winemaker, Bob Klindt (Claudia Springs Winery, Harmonique), called 2009 “a typical growing season in the Anderson Valley.” Larry Londer of Londer Vineyards said, “The quality of the 2009 vintage in the Anderson Valley parallels the 2007 vintage, and may surpass it.” Winter rains were lighter than usual, and a mid-May heat wave brought high temperatures for the second consecutive year. Bud break was late and spring was generally cool but not accompanied by frost. The summer was moderate and relatively cool allowing slow ripening and a prolonged harvest which began in mid-September and finished the last week of October. A late September heat wave brought grapes quickly to optimum ripeness and a large October storm provided a challenge that most vintners avoided...
Click here to read the entire article

Serious eats

Digging deeper into Pinot Noir : Mendocino County, California
By Maggie Hoffman, June 28, 2011
 
... Over the past few months, I've tasted an assortment of pinots from Mendocino County, an area a few hours north of San Francisco and west of Sacramento in California. Many of the wines we tried were from Anderson Valley along the western edge of the county...              Click here to read the entire article
 

Simple Hedonisms

Highlights and top picks of the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival
By William Allen, June 12, 2011
 
May 20-22nd was the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival. It was a busy wine weekend, with overlapping events including Taste Alexander Valley. I had missed the last few years Anderson Valley Pinot Festival due to similar conflicts, and decided to prioritize the event this year. I headed first to Scharffenberger Cellars , who hosted a media tasting, then over to Goldeneye for the walk around tasting. The day prior was a series of technical seminars and tastings, I unfortunately missed, a mistake I will not repeat in 2012.
I will gush in more detail about both, but this is not to be missed event for Pinot-philes...
Click here to read the entire article
 

Wine Spectator

Arguing Pinot Noir on the Road to Anderson Valley
By Tim Fish, April 12, 2011
 
Quarreling over Pinot Noir styles is a favorite pastime for wine lovers who have more spare time than I do. It's basically an Old World versus New World argument, the classically graceful reds of Burgundy against the boldly flavored Pinots of California. For those of us who manage to love both, the whole thing seems like nonsense.
That may be why I like the Pinot Noirs (and most of the other wines) of Anderson Valley in Northern California's Mendocino County. At their best, the wines balance elegance and a sense of place with rich and complex fruit, a satisfying reconciliation of the Old and New Worlds.
Click here to read the entire article 
 

Planet Grape.net

International Alsace Varietals Festival
By Terah Bajjalieh, Mar 1, 2011
 
This was my first visit to the Mendocino wine growing region. I was very surprised at how beautiful this region is – rural forests with vineyard-filled rolling hills. The area is situated right on the Northern coast of California, so you can drive through forests for miles and then find yourself looking over at the sea. The sites are quite stunning and dramatic...
Click here to read the entire article   
 

Unfiltered, unfined

Wine on the road in Mendocino County
By  Ben Weinberg, Feb 22, 2011
 
Mendo is full of laid-back farmers, an impressive green movement, and a whole lot of wine grapes.  This time I was the guest of the Mendocino Winegrape and Wine Commission, and after we toured a bunch of wineries I ended up at the Alsace Festival in Boonville (more on that later)...The next morning, Saturday, we all gathered at the Alsace Festival, headquartered at the Mendocino County Fairgrounds.  Don’t ever call these wines Alsatian, which technically refers to a type of dog!  Speakers included wine writer Dan Berger, who predicted big things for wines made from Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewurztraminer and the like, and sommelier Chris Sawyer, who lauded Alsace’s predilection for pairing wine with spicy foods.  Wines were sampled from all over the world, the only qualification being they had to be made with grapes native to that part of France...
Click here to read the entire article 
 
 

Vinography.com

Thoughts on the wines of aslace and their cousins
By Alder Yarrow, Feb 21, 2011
I was in the valley for the International Alsace Varietals Festival -- a celebration of the wines made in (and in the style of) France's Alsace region. That means wines made of Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, and various combinations thereof. Anderson Valley has been producing wines of these varieties for many years, and with much (but often overlooked) acclaim. Every Spring, the region celebrates its heritage, and these wines, by holding a series of events, including a tasting of wines, a technical conference, and a series of dinners for wine lovers, the trade, and the press. 
Click here to read the entire article 
   

Luxist.com

Alsace Wine Festival Brings European Taste To Northern California
By Deidre Woollard, Jan 17, 2011
  
Northern California's Mendocino County offers a different wine profile than you can get in other places in the state. In many ways it is similar to Oregon with cooler weather that is favorable to pinot noir and to riesling and other aromatic whites. The Anderson Valley growing region will celebrate Alsace-style white wines next month in an decoration: underline;">Alsace Wine Festival weekend event February 12 and 13 that brings together a variety of different white wines including Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Muscat. The event includes a technical conference where participants can interact with winemakers and wine experts from around the globe and discuss the trends. This year's topic is Old World/New World and includes a discussion of Alsace wine and the wines of Germany as well as a look at Anderson Valley wines and the white wines of New York's Finger Lakes region.
Click here to read the entire article 
 

The New York Times

California Farmland, Known for Its Drinks
By Freda Moon, October 13, 2010
 
Cradled between ridges of coastal redwoods and inland oaks, and laced by the narrow, meandering Navarro River, Anderson Valley is a two-hour drive from San Francisco in Mendocino County’s under-appreciated interior. ...Here, there are no tour buses shuttling visitors from winery to winery; no posh spas or chi-chi restaurants with multimonth waiting lists. ...Though Anderson Valley is an easy overnight trip from the Bay Area, it seems far removed — both in geography and in time. But that remoteness is an attribute, a full-bodied gasp of air. ...
Click here to read the entire article.
 

The Napa Valley Register

Anderson Valley is Pinot Territory
By Kip Davis, May 21, 2010
 
Laurie Gepford didn’t seem to mind manning a busy tasting table ... far away from the pleasant Rutherford tasting room he manages for Cakebread Cellars. Gepford was pouring Cakebread’s Anderson Valley pinot noir to a sellout crowd at the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival May 15. “We love our Anderson Valley pinot,” Gepford said. “They are great wines. You get lots of layers, a lot of complexity … the fruit is so rich.” ...
Click here to read the entire article.
 

Zester Daily

Alsace in Wonderland
By Virginie Boone, May 7, 2010
 
Looking for high-quality, affordable white wines? Mendocino's Anderson Valley can't be beat. ...
Click here to read the article.
 

Vinography.com

2010 Anderson Valley Alsace Festival: February 20-21, 2010
By Alder Yarrow, February 10, 2010
 
With all the fanfare surrounding Cabernet and Pinot Noir coupled with the obsession this country seems to have with Chardonnay, it's sometimes hard for people to remember that California produces a lot of other different kinds of wine. It's even harder, it seems, to get people to drink some of it.
Enter what may be the most unique wine festival in California and perhaps the country. Some of the most under-appreciated and least consumed wines in the state are those made from grapes like Gewurztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Riesling. There aren't a lot of places in California where these grapes thrive, but the Anderson Valley, three hours north of San Francisco, is the de-facto home for growing and making wines from these varietals in the style common to the French border region of Alsace. ...
Follow this link to read the full article.
 

Wine Spectator Magazine

Anderson Valley & Mendocino Rugged beauty and eccentricity amid the California redwoods
By Tim Fish
 
On the long and winding road to Anderson Valley and the Mendocino coast, even grown men ask, "Are we there yet?" California wine country doesn't get farther from the beaten path. There's a stubborn, undomesticated beauty here, from the high rocky bluffs of the coast to the charismatically rustic landscape of the valley. ... But if you like visiting folksy little wineries, drinking unfussy and fruit-forward wines, having dinner by a fire and getting some peace and quiet, this is your wine country. ...
Click here to read the article.
 

Budget Travel

4 Wine Country Contenders
By Alison Rohrs, September 1, 2009
 
Twisting from Cloverdale, California, to the Pacific Ocean, a 16-mile portion of Highway 128 passes through the organic apple orchards, olive groves, and redwood forests of Anderson Valley. Some of the more than 20 vineyards along the way supply pinot noir grapes for famous wineries in Napa and Sonoma, but you can taste similar vintages at the farm-style Anderson wineries -- minus the popped-collar crowds. ... Read the full article here.
 

The San Francisco Chronicle

Gewurztraminer's passionate California devotees
By Steve Pitcher, August 2, 2009
 
Gewurztraminer occupies a special niche in California. Its fans are enthusiastically loyal. It's often as expensive as some other top whites - in the $16 to $27 range - which makes selling it to the uninitiated a daunting effort. The Teutonic name leads to an erroneous suspicion that the wine is always sweet.
Yet Gewurztraminer producers persist in their efforts. It can only be attributed to a labor of love. ...
Follow this link to the full article.
 

San Francisco Examiner

Anderson Valley: the other wine country 
By Lisa Alpine, July 14, 2009
 
Wisps of river fog, rising from the Navarro River, veiled the Anderson Valley as we descended along the narrow ribbon of Highway 128. The valley opened as  vineyards climbed their way up the gentle folds of tawny pelt-like hills.  ...We felt transported to an earlier and slower paced era in California’s history as we walked up the creaky wooden plank steps of the Boonville Hotel . ... Were we somehow transported to rural France or Italy? No, Boonville, a quaint and curious remnant of old California just three hours north of San Francisco. ...
Click here to read the entire article.
 

Wine Review Online

The Pinot Noirs of Anderson Valley
By Ed McCarthy, May 26, 2009
 
Exciting Pinot Noirs are emerging from several different wine regions in California today, as well as from Oregon.  But a region we hear little about might be one of the best:  Anderson Valley. ...
Read the full article here.
 

San Francisco Examiner

You don't have to go far for pinot noir
By Deborah Parker Wong, May 21, 2009
 
Pinot noir fans in Nothern California don't have to go far to enjoy the wealth of wine styles and price points available from Anderson Valley producers.  The expressive and well-crafted pinots from this coastal valley and it's surrounding sub appellations make experimenting with several producers a low-risk proposition. ...
Find the full article online, here.
 

Wine Enthusiast Magazine

Anderson Valley's Surprises

By Steve Heimoff, December 29, 2008

It's far better known for the caliber of its Pinot Noirs, but little Anderson Valley—the fourth-smallest American Viticultural Area in California at only 600 acres—has been quietly turning out some of the most interesting and affordable white wines in California. ...
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