Porter Creek Vineyards

​The picture above is a topological map of the Sonoma wine growing regions.  For our first day of barrel tasting we headed into the Russian River region, somewhat in the southwestern part of the county.  To the northwest is the Dry Creek region, and to the north the Alexander Valley region.  The Pacific coastline runs somewhat northwest to southeast, putting the Russian River area closer to the very cold ocean than the other two.  The hills along the coast are also lower in the Russian River region.  These two facts lead to a cooler climate like the Burgundy region of France.  Now in Burgundy you can only grow two grapes – Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  All red Burgundy wines are made from Pinot Noir grapes and only Pinot Noir grapes, and all white Burgundy wines are made from Chardonnay grapes and only Chardonnay grapes.  Ergo, it stands to reason that wineries in the Russian River region of Sonoma would do well growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes.  Porter Creek Vineyards, our first stop in the Russian River region, got the message in spades….
When we first arrived at Porter Creek, the weather was not so bad, and the small tent where they held the tasting mostly empty.  It turns out we were the vanguard, as within twenty minutes or so the tent was crowded, as was the small tasting room.  The weather shortly thereafter turned very nasty – cold and rainy.  Being a complete wimp when it comes to cold, damp weather, I only came out of there with two pictures.  But I did manage to taste most of their wines.

​As one might hope, they produce some very nice Pinot Noir from their estate grown grapes.  Porter Creek places a great deal of effort into the growing of the grapes without any synthetic chemicals, and extends this requirement to the growers that provide one-third of the grapes it uses.  This extra effort to protect the environment also seems to lead to better wine.

​Now, as one is in a nice region for growing two of the most popular grapes in the world, it came as a bit of a surprise that they offered wines made from other grapes – Zinfandel, Viognier, Syrah and Carignane, bringing in grapes from other Sonoma vineyards as well as vineyards in Mendocino County.
I should add that I learned two things about Carignane in preparing this blog.  First, while the grape is grown in Bordeaux to blend with Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Merlot, its origin is Spain.  Second, it can be spelled with or without the “e”….