DrinkTheEarth.com Blog

The other night, my wife & I enjoyed a great organic Sauvignon Blanc from McFadden Vineyard of Mendocino County, California.  They’re a small producer known more for selling their fruit to other wineries including Robert Mondavi, Chateau Montelena, Navarro, Fetzer, Piper Sonoma and several others.  We bought a bottle of their 2005 Sauvignon Blanc (the first year they made one) on a wine trip a couple of years ago without knowing much about them.  Mendocino is quickly becoming another hub of small organic producers, similar to the Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma County.  A couple of months ago MSNBC.com published an article reporting the rise of organic winemaking in Mendocino, giving recognition to both McFadden Farms and Sterling Vineyards, the latter being another large wine label that buys some of its grapes from McFadden.

We definitely plan to replace our ‘05 as soon as possible, which at $16, is only slightly more expensive than similar large-production wines you can get in your local grocery store.  We enjoyed our bottle with a variety of cheeses, including brie, goat, sharp cheddar, and beemster, as well as some roasted garlic.  The wine seemed to hold its own relatively well with all of them, but was an especially good pairing with the brie and roasted garlic together.