I recently had the honor of being among 15 attendees at the 2023 Alexander Valley Cabernet Academy in Alexander Valley, California. It was a three-day journey into what makes Alexander Valley one of California’s most unique growing regions. From the valley floor to the highest elevation, the people of Alexander Valley strive to make great wines.
The Alexander Valley is home to 32 wineries and 77 vineyards. The climate of the southernmost point is quite different from the north giving the growers the ability to produce wines from all your California-centric varietals: Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel. While there is an abundance of wine in the Alexander Valley it appears that the winemakers and growers of the valley have ownership of the land and want to see it succeed as an AVA (American Viticultural Area). To them, the focus is more on the land and the grapes, with the wine being a product of that good stewardship.
We began our adventure with a dinner hosted by Denise Trione. We dined at Hazel Hill, where Chef Jason Pringle created amazing dishes like Liberty Farms Duck Breast with Valencia Orange Compote on Barley and Sauce Bigarade and a Saffron Chitarra that melted our minds (so much so, we ordered another round once we destroyed the first). We rounded out the meal with Mini Doughnuts and a Brooklyn Blackout Cake.
The next day started our journey into what makes the Alexander Valley a great place to grow grapes. We began the day in the shadow of the old Alexander Valley schoolhouse with a seminar on weather and microclimates.
Alexander Valley Schoolhouse
The one-room schoolhouse has now been restored and serves as a guesthouse for Alexander Valley Vineyards guests. The building was built in 1868 and was a perfect setting to kick off a few days of wine education. The morning temperature was cool, but as the sun burned off the coastal fog, we saw firsthand what our initial seminar was about. Harry Wetzel IV, head of operations at Alexander Valley Vineyards, and their winemaker, Kevin Hall, who has been with AVV for 25 years, kicked it off. Harry and Kevin’s years of experience in the vineyard shined when they explained the weather and climates controlling the Alexander Valley. The Valley is cooled from the south to the north by the marine air moving in from the ocean. While the afternoon heat helps ripen the grapes, the coolness of the marine fog helps preserve the acidity and freshness. It gives the winemakers the keys to great wine quality.
While we tasted a myriad of cabernets, the one that stood out to the group was the 2019 Alexander Valley Vineyards 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, Single Vineyard Selection. The wine is cave-aged for 32 months in 100% new French Oak barrels. The acidity in this wine shows that it can be aged for a few years but will only get better with time. Acidity is one of the main components in the ability to age wines.
After Diavola fed us a great lunch of wood-fired pizzas, a crispy rice-beet salad, and a radicchio-preserved lemon salad hosted by Trione Vineyards and Winery, we dove into the soil and geology of the Alexander Valley, literally. Kris Hicks, Trione’s Vineyard Manager, and husband of Denise Trione dug a trench next to some vineyards to see the soil makeup firsthand. Upon further inspection, we could even see the roots of some of the established vines poking through the soil, searching for water.
John Duckett, Trione’s new winemaker, and Alice Sutro, owner of SUTRO Wine, guided us through the geology of the Alexander Valley. We learned how the Russian River shaped the valley floor over eons, and even volcanic activity contributed to the soil makeup. More than 100 soil types are making up everything under your feet as you travel the Alexander Valley. Some soils, like sandy loams and gravel, lend to grape growing, while others, like serpentine, are only used as pastureland for cows. If you ever find yourself driving around a wine-growing region and wonder why there aren’t vines everywhere, it’s probably because the soil is inhospitable to the vines.
The standouts from the tasting for that seminar were the 2018 Trione Block 21 Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2019 SUTRO Warnecke Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon. While Trione’s Block 21 showcased a higher-elevation growing area with notes of green peppers and a long smooth finish. On the other hand, SUTRO’s had myriad flavors like black tea, baking spice, and herbs, possibly due to the use of Hungarian oak barrels. Both wines greatly represent what Alexander Valley offers when it comes to Cabernet Sauvignon.
We ended the evening at Alexander Valley Vineyards for a California-style BBQ of Smoked Tri-Tip, Grilled Corn, Potato Salad, and Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies. The sun set as we reflected on our first day in the valley. As the fog began to roll in, we talked about the wines, the people, and the slight chill in the air. While we all chose something other than a cabernet to sip on (big reds had bombarded our palates), it was easy to tell that the Alexander Valley had already made a positive impression on us. We had no idea what was in store the next day.
Our second day saw our little tour bus climbing and climbing and climbing. Our chauffeur dodged roaming cows and rows of vines as he drove through the morning fog to an elevation of 2,200 feet high on Monument Ridge in the Mayacamas mountains. We plateaued on a flat gravelly lot for our next seminar about, you guessed it, Topography and Elevation. Stonestreet’s winemaker, Kristina Shideler, and Certified Sommelier, Craig Ellick, began the class to a thick, dense fog backdrop.
They talked about how the harder the vines must work to find water, the more concentrated the juice in the grape can be. They spoke about how UV light causes thicker grape skins which can, in turn, add flavor, color, and structure to the wines. For a brief moment during the discussion, we thought we made out a tree on a ridge in the distance, but the thick fog quickly took it out of our sight. We began tasting this seminar’s round of Cabernets, and as we wrote down our tasting notes, the fog broke, and we were rewarded with a view of the entire Alexander Valley below us. The group hiked to an overlook above Stonestreet’s Rockfall Vineyards. The high elevation, the soil, and the geography of the vineyards showed us firsthand why Stonestreet holds this wine with such regard. Baking spice, blueberry, and toastiness with a tannic backbone show that 2017 is perfect for enjoying now or age for years to come.
We descended the mountain in our bus and talked more about the industry and our roles in it. A chef, three sommeliers, three wine buyers, two writers, a wine shop owner, and two large operation beverage managers discussed the pros and cons of wine ratings, how we approach wine lists, and our favorite wines and wine regions. The bus conversations were just as enlightening as the seminars.
Our final seminar was at Rodney Strong Vineyards. Andrea Card, Senior Winemaker of Francis Ford Coppola Winery and Justin Seidenfeld, Senior Vice President of Winemaking and Winegrowing of Rodney Strong, talked about the importance of blending to create balance, the ability to age, and consistency across vintages. Some wineries strive for consistency so that the wines, regardless of the year the grapes in the bottle were grown, taste the same. Other wineries take a different approach and want the vintage to speak for itself, not the label on the bottle. The standouts from this seminar were the 2018 Symmetry from Rodney Strong, and the 2018 Archimedes, which had notes of fig, unripe plum, and cocoa with a tannic balance. The 2017 Cyrus, Alexander Valley Vineyards Bordeaux blend was an amazing wine but, in my opinion, will get better with age. We had the fortune of tasting the 2006 Cyrus at a lunch high on the mountain, and you could see how time in the bottle brought the blend into harmony.
1978 Sin Zin from Alexander Valley Vineyards
We wrapped everything up with a great dinner of Beef Tenderloin with King Trumpet Mushrooms, and Chamomile brined Chicken Breast with strawberry harissa, and a medley of sweet treats. The greatest treat from the dinner, and possibly the trip, was that an unopened bottle of 1978 Sin Zin from Alexander Valley Vineyards appeared right next to me. On one of our bus trips, someone asked if anyone had ever had a wine from their year of birth. I thought about some of the greats I’d had, but a 1978 was not on the list. My fingers were crossed that the wine was still good after all these years. The cork looked gnarly and aged after uncorking with the Ah-So wine opener. Everyone was concerned about the quality of the 45-year-old wine. Harry Wetzel IV poured the first taster and almost jumped out of his seat when he found it was still good. We quickly passed around the bottle and tasted the rare treat. Ruby port in flavor but still with enough body, I was humbled to have the opportunity to taste a wine for the year of my birth. Truly amazing.
As I packed the next morning to begin my journey home, I thought about all I had learned, the people I had met, and how the 2023 Alexander Valley Cabernet Academy only solidified something I already knew. While California has some great wine-growing regions, the Alexander Valley produces some of the state’s most unique and nuanced wines. You can always find Alexander Wines on my wine list. I challenge you to explore this northernmost region of Sonoma County, California, and see for yourself.
