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If my recent wine tasting trip is any indication, biodynamic winemaking is alive and well in the historic wine growing regions of Sonoma County and the Napa Valley.  As of November, 2008, there are at least six Demeter-certified biodynamic wineries in either Sonoma or Napa counties; Benziger Family Winery, Grgich Hills Estate, Puma Springs Vineyards, Quivira Vineyards, Porter Creek Vineyards, and Robert Sinskey.  During our trip we spoke to several others who may also be pursuing biodynamic certification, including Truett-Hurst, which is run in conjunction with Paul Dolan, a longtime California winegrower and author of True To Our Roots: Fermenting a Business Revolution, a 2003 book advocating organic farming practices. 

Quivira, Puma Springs, Porter Creek, and Truett-Hurst, along with CCOF-certified organic winemakers Michel-Schlumberger and Preston Vineyards, all hail from the Dry Creek Valley, a relatively small appellation that comprises approximately 9,000 of Sonoma County’s 60,000 acres of vineyards.  This collection of wineries form an up-and-coming hub of organic and biodynamic winemaking that serves as a nice complement to Sonoma’s biodynamic counterparts in Napa, such as Sinskey, Grgich Hills and Benziger. 

As one of the true pioneers of the grape responsible for putting California wine on the map, Mike Grgich of Grgich Hills is known throughout the valley, often wearing his signature beret.  As we stopped in mid-day to sample wines from his Rutherford tasting room, Sinskey himself appeared briefly from the back room, where we were told a VIP tour had wrapped up just minutes earlier.  While there, we were given an excellent overview of Grgich’s wines by Hank, who intertwined stories about Grgich, a longtime friend of fellow wine pioneer Robert Mondavi, with food pairings for many of the wines we tasted.  After fielding several of our questions his eyes lit up as I asked the differences between aging biodynamic wines, which contain no sulfites, versus ones that do.  After joking that sulfite-free wines will not give you nearly the hangover of their sulfite-ridden counterparts (a claim that has many other believers, if a recent Google search is any clue), he suggested that biodynamic wines are like a living organism, and will frequently change complexion over time.  He referenced Grgich’s Merlot, of which some tasting room visitors have reported taking on certain properties of a fine Cabernet upon aging. 

Starting our own tasting experience, we began with a wonderfully crisp Fume Blanc, which Hank assured us was a terrific seafood pairing, adding, “anything you can serve with a lemon, this wine will work.”  We then tried a nice ‘06 Chardonnay that even my wife, who typically dislikes Napa-made Chardonnay (usually too much oak), especially enjoyed.  After moving into the Reds, we tried a Zinfandel much smoother than its 14.9% alcohol might suggest, and the aforementioned Merlot.  We ended on an actual Cabernet, then promptly left with a bottle each of the 2006 Grgich Napa Valley Chardonnay, and the 2006 Grgich Napa Valley Zinfandel, both of which are certified biodynamic.

Moving along on our trip, we visited Healdsburg-based Quivira, another biodynamic producer whom we had visited on our wine trip a year earlier.  Amongst the items for sale in their solar-powered tasting room were organic cotton t-shirts, estate olive oils, and natural fig jams (the latter made from the signature tree of their Fig Tree Vineyard).  Our tasting experience was led by Rod, Quivira’s Hospitality Manager, who eagerly shared with us details of Quivira’s farming efforts upon learning about DrinkTheEarth (he also issued to us our first challenge – to research where Rudolf Steiner himself learned the biodynamic farming techniques he first espoused in the early 1900’s). 

Highlights of our 2^nd-ever Quivira tasting room visit included sampling a nice, dry Rose, a relatively low-production wine with only 446 cases produced, along with another lower-production wine, their Petit Syrah, which Rod explained can be aged for up to 20 years.  We were also told about their Steelhead Wines, named in honor of the wild trout that return to Wine Creek on the Quivira property each Spring.  Supporting Trout Unlimited, a donation is made for every bottle sold.  Before leaving the tasting room we bought a bottle of the 2007 Quivira Grenache Rose, and later followed Rod’s advice and picked up a bottle of the 2006 Steelhead Zinfandel from the Safeway in Santa Rosa (it is also available in various Vons locations).

NEXT UP: Part II, detailing our tasting room experiences at Robert Sinskey, and Porter Creek Vineyards.

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