Sonoma Cty. | Russian River Valley AVA | Biodynamic Overview

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Location

• Sources its five estate wines from its 17 acres of Biodynamic estate vineyards in Santa Rosa as well as grapes for one wine from a local biodynamic grower; most of its production comes from grapes from dozens of non-organic growers 

• One of its wineries is located on the Santa Rosa site 

• The tasting room is on the winery and vineyard site in the Russian River Valley, surrounded by fruit and vegetable gardens

Best known for 

• Powerhouse Pinot Noir producer owned by the Burgundy based Boisset Family Estates, France’s third largest wine producer (with 25 brands in the USA and more in France)

• Makes six small lot wines from organic and biodynamic vines ($30-90) with its highest rated 95 pts.

• Originally founded in 1975 by the DeLoach family, DeLoach was one of the earliest wineries in the region; in 2003 the Boisset family bought the  brand and, in 2008, began converting the vineyards surrounding the tasting room and winery to organic and biodynamic practices

• Today proprietor Jean Charles Boisset and his wife Gina Gallo are forging a new Franco-American wine dynasty spanning the globe; at home they reside with their twin daughters in a modern art filled estate (formerly the home of Robert Mondavi) overlooking Napa Valley

• Overall Boisset owns 31 brands including JCB in Sonoma and Raymond Vineyards in Napa; in Napa, he's converted 111 acres to organic and biodynamic farming and certification

• The Frenchman attributes his love of biodynamic farming to childhood walks with his grandmother in France, picking herbs and flowers and learning about plants

• DeLoach's estate vineyards are located on clay loam soils in the Olivet Bench near the Russian River; cooling fog rolls in, promoting slow ripening of the grapes and enhancing flavor development 

• The estate wines come from diverse clones, including La Tache, Calera, 23, Swan, Mt. Eden, 828, 115, and 777

• DeLoach's Maboroshi Pinot Noir is a perennial standout, as is its name; the word Maboroshi is Japanese for  "whimsical dream"

• The winery has taken a pro-active approach to growers in becoming certified sustainable; it also pays higher prices for certified organic grapes

• Boisset, a debonair entrepreneur, also shares his love of luxury with his JCB lifestyle brand of accessories and in his opulent book about wine called  The Alchemy of the Senses ($395)

• The vintner's also helped Demeter USA's scholarship fundraising efforts, donating a dinner and auction night at DeLoach to raise money for the nonprofit; he also spoke about his passion for biodynamics as the keynote speaker at the 2018 Biodynamic Wine Conference in San Francisco

• The winery has been a Wine & Spirits Top 100 Winery 12 times

• DeLoach's 2015 La Bienvenue Estate Pinot Noir scored 95 pts. from the Wine Advocate

Organic and biodynamic vineyard case production

1,500 cases (out of 150,000 cases total)

Certified

• Vineyard, organic, 2008, CCOF; biodynamic, Demeter USA, 2010

• Winery, organic, 2015, CCOF; biodynamic, 2016, Demeter USA

The winery offers a wide variety of tasting experiences that change seasonally. Not all experiences include the organic and biodynamically grown wines. The experiences below do.

$35

Estate tasting with cheese and nibbles (by appt.)

$50 

Estate tour and tasting with cheese and nibbles (by appt.)

$NA

Private tours are available that showcase the winery's biodynamic program

DeLoach Vineyards

1791 Olivet Lane

Santa Rosa, CA 95401

707.755.3300

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Location

• Sources its estate wines solely from its 18 acres of certified organic and biodynamic estate vines

• The wines are made on site

• The tasting room is a table outside overlooking the vineyard

Best known for

• Growers to the stars who also make small lots of their own estate wine

• The Porter-Bass family sells top quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes to sommeliers' favorite winemakers (think Littorai and Ceritas) and bottles small lots of their own wines

• Makes three estate wines from certified vines ($36-50)

• The Porter Bass family purchased what was then a rundown 25 acre vineyard site in 1980, selling grapes; in 2001, they began reserving a small percentage of their grapes for their own Porter-Bass estate wines

• Winemaker Luke Bass and his mother Susan Bass manage the vineyard, growing six acres of Chardonnay, five acres of Pinot Noir and four acres of Zinfandel

• The vineyard lies in a clearing deep within a redwood fir forest; it was first planted to vines in 1915

• The soils are Hugo-Josephine series with shallow (2-3 feet), weathered sandstone interspersed with veins of clay

• Under the Littorai label, the single vineyard designate from Porter-Bass is called Mays Canyon; it's one of Littorai's most celebrated wines

• At Porter-Bass, Luke Bass makes the wines; his background includes an internship under Greg LaFollette at Flowers, followed by stints abroad in South Africa and Chile, and then back in Sonoma County at Hirsch

• Bass also makes a second label, Poco a Poco, from both estate and purchased (non-organic) grapes 

• Luke's sister Phoebe Bass is also in the wine business; with her husband John Raytek, she has her own label Ceritas and makes limited production, single vineyard designate wines, including two from her family's vineyard

• Three quarters of the Porter Bass property is left wild and uncultivated

• Pigs, sheep and chickens have a place on the land; the pond here attracts ducks, frogs, geese, and herons

Organic and biodynamic vineyard case production

600 (out of 600 total)

Certified

• Vineyard, organic, 2009-2017, Stellar Certification Services; biodynamic, 2009-present, Demeter USA

• Winery: biodynamic, 2016, Demeter USA

EXTRAS

• Video

$15

Owner vineyard tour and tasting (by appt.)

Porter-Bass

11750 Mays Canyon Rd.

Guerneville, CA 95446

707.869.1475

Website      |      Email

Location

• Sources its estate wines from its 21 acres of vineyards in Sonoma's Pinot heartland—on Westside Road in the Russian River Valley; it also buys grapes from other (not certified) growers for some of its wines

• The winery and tiny, rustic tasting room are on the vineyard site in Healdsburg

Best known for

• A legendary, under the radar Russian River winery that quietly produces acclaimed biodynamic Pinots

• Makes five certified wines from organic and biodynamic vines (91-93 pts., $42-76)

• Biodynamic since 2003, it's known for its non-interventionist winemaking approach

• Proprietor and founder George Davis purchased the 40 acre estate property in 1977, just a few years after a portion of it was planted to Pinot Noir vines; he planted 10 additional acres of Chardonnay and bonded the winery in 1982, making the wines himself until 1997

• His son, proprietor and winemaker Alex Davis, grew up in the vines where he learned to prune and, while he was in high school, won the statewide pruning contest; after high school, he studied viticulture at Fresno State

• In his 20's, Davis traveled to Burgundy, Dijon and the Rhone to learn about old world winemaking; he worked harvest in some of Burgundy's grand cru vineyards (Domaine George Roumier [Bonnes Mares and Musigny] and Domaine Michelot in Mersault)

• Davis also studied viticulture at the University of Dijon for two years, and then worked at Guigal in the Rhone before returning to the family vineyard in 1997 to become the winemaker

• Porter Creek's Hillside vineyard Pinot Noir vines, planted in 1973, are some of the oldest in California

• As wine critic Jon Bonné put it, the winery’s approach is “nuanced, pure in its fruit and informed by Alex's time in some of Burgundy's greatest cellars...has a following among advanced placement Pinotphiles”

• In 2019, Slow Wine awarded the winery a prestigious Snail award, the international organization's highest honor 

Organic and biodynamic case production

1,500 (out of 4,000 total)

Certified

Vineyards and winery, organic, Stellar Certification Services, 2003-2018, CCOF 2018 through present; biodynamic, 2003, Demeter USA

$20

Flight of wines (walk in)

Porter Creek Vineyards

8735 Westside Rd.

Healdsburg, CA 95448

707.433.6321

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