Wine Discovery
The next stop in our Artisan Wine Project is Lake County. This award-winning and relatively undiscovered wine region is located just two hours by car from the San Francisco Bay area or the Pacific Coast. It surrounds Clear Lake, California’s largest natural freshwater lake, and sits at the foot of Mt. Konocti, a dormant, volcano that forms a prominent and majestic landmark almost centered in Lake County. Included in California’s prestigious North Coast American Viticultural Area (AVA), Lake County has unique geographical factors, such as the microclimates, soil types, and Clear Lake, that all contribute to the growing of outstanding grapes. The first Lake County vineyards were planted in the 1870s. From less than 100 acres in 1965, vineyard acreage has grown to over 8,800 acres today and is expected to double in the next few years.
Nine years ago Greg Graham set out to produce world-class wines from Lake County. His hands-on approach to winemaking, complemented by 25 years of experience at Mondavi and Rombauer, has created fresh, structured, fruit-forward vintages that are reflective of this high quality winegrape growing region. The fruit for Greg’s first Riesling comes from the Roumiguiere Family Big Valley Vineyard. The Roumiguieres have been an established grower family for decades. The Big Valley Area is a lush area near Clear Lake, with favorable conditions of abundant sunshine and crisp mornings that are ideal for Riesling. Delicate selection of clusters by hand to avoid botrytis fruit produced a very fruit forward Riesling. Greg then used a low yielding, light pressing to increase liveliness, and cold fermentation in small stainless steel tanks to retain the fruit character. The “Stelvin” cap closure maintains that fruit character, as well as allowing us to use less sulfites at bottling. Total production is 630 cases.
As soon as the wine is opened there are aromas of green apple and lime, with a light touch of fresh mint. The wine is big on flavors of Pippin apple and citrus, with a lively zest from the crisp acidity. Enjoy the wine as the starter for any meal or with just about any light to medium fare. Try Greg’s Dry Riesling in your neighborhood Pasta P for a limited time only until our next Artisan Wine arrives!
