Redwood Valley, a Undiscovered Gem in Mendocino County
Redwood Valley is located in the northern portion of Ukiah Valley in Mendocino County. Redwood Valley was first settled in the late 1800s by Italian wine growers from Pidemonte Italy. They settled in Redwood Valley because the landscape reminded them of the hills and the terrain back home. The wine growers in Redwood Valley sustainably farmed the land and sold the grapes to wineries with many of these growers pioneers in organic farming.
In the 1970s Fetzer Vineyards and Weibel Winery established wineries in Redwood Valley and sourced a lot of the grapes from the growers in the valley. In the 1980’s Frey Vineyard started and helped to promulgate the growth of organic and biodynamic wines and in the late 1990’s, many of the growers began to not only grow grapes for others but bottle and make their own wines.
Once a year, 8 of the wineries of Redwood Valley and 1 distiller participate in Taste of Redwood Valley. This is a fun laid back event that goes Saturday and Sunday of Father’s Day weekend and includes food and wine tasting for one low ticket price. The wineries that participate include Barra, Brown, Frey, Guiseppe/Neese, Graziano, Oster, Silversmith, Testa and Germain-Robin Distillers.
My favorite wines of the weekend included the Oster 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon a rich deep complex well balanced wine at $60 a bottle. The Testa 2010 Old Vine Zinfandel with a nice fruit and spice balance at $40 a bottle and the Barra Pinot Noir with big juicy red fruit flavors and a great value for Pinot of such caliber at $20 a bottle.
There are also some fun lesser known and more unique varietals grown in Redwood Valley including Carignan, Charbonno, CORO Mendocino and Muscat Cannelli, all of which are worth trying.
The pace in Redwood Valley is slow, the views are beautiful, the setting tranquil, the people laid back and friendly and the wines quite tasty and reasonably priced. I highly suggest a visit but make sure to check the hours of the wineries as many are only open on the weekend or by appointment, or if you can wait, plan to attend Taste of Redwood Valley next year. http://www.atasteofredwoodvalley.com/index.html
Tags: Brown Family Wines, Fetzer, Frey, Geramin-Robin Distillers, Graziano Family of Wines, Guiseppe/Nesse Vineyards, Mendocino, Oster Wine Cellars, Redwood Valley, Silversmith Vineyards, Testa, Vineyards Barra Vineyards, Weibel
