Notes from Taste Mendocino – April 27, 2019 in San Francisco

Taste Mendocino – April 27, 2019

I attended the Taste Mendocino event in San Francisco late last month, and wrote a report for the Grape-Nutz.com website. An abbreviated version of the report is below – there are more photos plus tasting impressions of over 20 wineries here: Taste Mendocino – April 27, 2019

Report on Taste Mendocino, held on Saturday, April 27th, 2019, at Gallery 308 at Fort Mason in San Francisco, California. The name of the event was changed from Taste of Mendocino to Taste Mendocino this year, and it continues to feature an extensive tasting of wines sourced from vineyards throughout Mendocino County.

Taste Mendocino was presented again this year by the Mendocino WineGrowers, Inc. and Visit Mendocino County organizations. This is more than just a wine tasting event – the event booklet describes it as having been “designed to evoke the spirit of our county, and to highlight the enthusiasm of its winemakers, artisans, hoteliers, farmers, and personalities.”

Alder Springs Vineyards – Natalie Holstine and Stuart Bewley

Mendocino WineGrowers, Inc. is a non-profit organization made up of Mendocino vintners and winegrape growers, and it seeks to “promote the premium quality of Mendocino County grapes and wines, and direct further interest toward our special part of the world.” Visit Mendocino County is the official travel and tourism organization of Mendocino County, offering information to visitors and working with county businesses to help promote awareness of the area’s attractions and support for tourism.

Mendocino County promotes itself as “America’s Greenest Wine Region.” The county features the nation’s first organic winery (Frey Vineyards), first solar-powered winery (McDowell Valley Vineyards), first carbon-neutral winery (Parducci), and first 100% “off-grid” winery (Philo Ridge). Over 20% of Mendocino’s winegrapes are grown in certified organic or biodynamic vineyards – one of the leaders in the country. In fact, over 30% of the total organic winegrape acreage in California is located in Mendocino County. The county’s wine history goes back to the 1850s, when the first vineyards were planted, and the first Mendocino County winery was established in 1879. Today, the county includes 11 separate AVAs (with two more AVA petitions now pending), and is home to over 100 bonded wineries and nearly 19,000 acres planted among over 550 vineyards.

Frey Vineyards

Overall Impressions
Taste Mendocino is a unique event meant to showcase the best of Mendocino County, bringing together not only wineries but representatives from many other businesses as well. A number of tables at the event featured food purveyors and growers – including producers of cider, beer, whiskey and other spirits, coffee, bread, cheese and other dairy products, olive oil, honey, pies, and chocolates – as well as hotels and restaurants, visitor agencies, and other local attractions and businesses. As always, the event was a terrific showcase for the diversity of Mendocino County.

The event was held once again in Gallery 308 at San Francisco’s Fort Mason. It’s an ideal location, easy to reach by either car or transit, and the space features a high ceiling and large windows along three sides. As it was last year, the event was sold out but the room never felt overly crowded, an issue I’ve experienced at a few other tastings.

Bee Hunter Wines – Alisa Nemo and J.J.

Taste Mendocino always attracts a fine cross-section of vintners from the county. Mendocino County is a particularly diverse winegrape-growing region, and I imagine that getting wineries from all over the county to participate is no small feat. The wines from areas closer to the coast such as Anderson Valley and Mendocino Ridge are quite different than areas further inland such as Yorkville Highlands, Ukiah Valley, Redwood Valley, and Potter Valley – and wines from all of those individual regions are distinct from one another too.

There were about 30 winery tables at this year’s Taste Mendocino among more than 50 exhibitors altogether. I tasted samples from 23 wineries at this year’s event, and found at least one noteworthy wine from nearly all of them. Though I focused largely on past favorite producers, I also made an effort to check out one or two places I’d missed during recent tastings and a few others that were new to me.

Navarro Vineyards

As has been the case at past Taste Mendocino events, my list of Favorites reflects the diversity of wines from Mendocino County, in terms of both wine regions and grape varieties. I didn’t include on the list a couple of good wines that sneaked in from outside the county, though they’re mentioned in the notes below. As usual, the wines listed in the “Others of Note” category were just a notch below the other Favorites listed, but still very much worth checking out.

A number of producers that have been favorites over the years stood out again, such as Alder Springs (probably my favorite group of wines at the tasting), Handley, Husch, Murder Ridge, Navarro, Pennyroyal Farm, and Waits-Mast. Others that I‘ve had more limited experience with also showed very well, including Bee Hunter, Fathers + Daughters, Frey, Powicana Farm, and Theopolis. And a couple of wineries whose bottlings I had never tried before – Artezin and Briceland – were notable too. Although there were two or three producers I’ve liked in the past that I felt didn’t quite hit the mark as well this time, overall I was impressed with the wines I tasted this year at Taste Mendocino – a strong group spanning vintages from 2013 to 2018.

Briceland Vineyards – Andrew Morris

Taste Mendocino is always a fun event, more low-key than many wine tastings, and with much more to check out than just wineries. It presents a good overview of the county’s many attractions in an intimate and relaxed format. There’s no better place than this event to sample such a broad range of Mendocino’s wine varieties, styles, and price ranges. Taste Mendocino continues to be an excellent showcase for Mendocino County. The sold-out crowd at this year’s event demonstrated that there’s great interest in what the county has to offer, and I highly recommend checking out next year’s Taste Mendocino.

Favorites
Whites and Rosés
Alder Springs 2014 “Apex 39”
Bee Hunter 2014 Greenwood Ridge Vineyard Dry Riesling
Briceland 2017 Spirit Canyon Vineyard Arneis
Handley 2016 Estate Chardonnay
Husch 2017 Dry Gewürztraminer
Murder Ridge 2017 Perli Vineyard Chardonnay
Navarro 2017 Estate Dry Gewürztraminer
Pennyroyal Farm 2018 Pinot Noir Rosé
Waits-Mast 2018 Rosé of Pinot Noir

Reds
Alder Springs 2013 “Kinesis”
Alder Springs 2013 Syrah
Artezin 2017 “Old Vine” Mendocino Zinfandel
Bee Hunter 2013 Oppenlander Vineyard Pinot Noir
Fathers + Daughters 2016 “Ella’s Reserve” Pinot Noir
Frey 2016 Organic Syrah
Handley 2015 RSM Vineyard Pinot Noir
Husch 2015 “Knoll” Pinot Noir
Murder Ridge 2015 Perli Vineyard Zinfandel
Navarro 2015 Mendocino Zinfandel
Powicana Farm 2016 Estate Petite Sirah
Theopolis 2015 Estate Petite Sirah
Waits-Mast 2016 Nash Mill Vineyard Pinot Noir

Theopolis Vineyard – Theodora Lee

Others of Note
Alder Springs 2014 Chardonnay
Briceland 2016 Dark Horse Vineyard Syrah
Fathers + Daughters 2016 Ferrington Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc
Frey 2017 Biodynamic Field Blend
Greenwood Ridge 2018 Mendocino Rosé
Handley 2017 Pinot Gris
Husch 2018 Chenin Blanc
McNab Ridge 2017 Napoli Vineyard Pinotage
Navarro 2015 “Méthode à l’Ancienne” Pinot Noir
Pennyroyal Farm 2015 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir
Powicana Farm 2017 Pétillant Naturel Petite Sirah
Scharffenberger NV Brut Rosé “Excellence”
Theopolis 2016 Estate Rosé of Petite Sirah
Waits-Mast 2015 Mariah Vineyard Pinot Noir

Waits-Mast Family Cellars – Brian Mast & Jennifer Waits

Hi Ken,

It was great to meet you at the TOM event. I am glad you got to taste a few of our wines.

Cheers!

Hey Andrew, it was great to finally meet you too! You poured a bunch of very nice wines at the event. In addition to the two standout wines listed above that were made from Mendocino County fruit (2017 Spirit Canyon Vineyard Arneis and 2016 Dark Horse Vineyard Syrah), there were two I particularly enjoyed from Humboldt County fruit - the 2016 Alderpoint Vineyard Pinot Noir and 2016 Humboldt Zinfandel.

One of these days I’ll have to make a trip up to Humboldt wine country - one of the few California wine regions I haven’t visited yet.

Cheers!

We will look forward to your visit. No big deal, but I think the Humboldt Zin you tasted was the 2015.

Thanks for the correction, Andrew - I’ll make sure that vintage gets changed on the Grape-Nutz site too.

Nice report, Ken. Lots of new folks up there I need to get familiar with. Casey keeps leaning
on me to come up for a visit.
Any idea how Stu’s Nebbiolo is doing?
Tom

Thanks, Tom. I missed connecting with Casey on my most recent visit to Mendocino wine country in 2017 - it would be good to head up there again before too long.

Didn’t think to ask about the Nebbiolo - should have done that.

Nice report, Thanks! I have really liked past vintages of Handley’s RSM Pinot and Navarro always makes a great Gewürztraminer. Looks like I should expand my search and seek out a few of the others. Cheers!

Fine report, Ken (surprised? not me!) Have had Handley, Husch, Navarro and Briceland wines before, but many others to look for from your list.

Maluhia

Mike

I had 2017 Husch Chardonnay [Mendocino] with a frittata this week. 13.9% abv, so I thought it would be a plumper, but its medium bodied. I realize this is basically a supermarket type of offering, but I still found it disappointing, and would give it a B- or so grade. For my mass market tastes, there are all kinds of embarassing Chard’s I would prefer over this. (Like when my wife explains to the bartender that the Bogle or KJ is actually for me and not her…) This Mendocino does have a little herbal, zippy note to it but I like that region (if not the precise AVA) better for sparkling. At the least the frittata turned out quite good, and the kids gobbled it up, when it was in fully fluffy mode. I should have taken a pic after it got flipped for serving though. The kids are suspicious of my spice cabinet, so just parsley, paprika, potatoes, pepper and random cheese odds & ends were the eggs complements.

That pan is actually from Valencia, but has a habit of warping under the high heat I like to cook at. So I don’t use it as much as I would like to.