A Visit to Lake County, July 2011 – Part One

It’s that part of the job we really can’t complain about: winery trips (except when we have to get up before 3am to make our return flight, but even then…) This is our opportunity to really get to know the winemakers and the exact conditions under which their wines are produced. Since I’ve never visited Lake County, California, I was very excited to earn a trip to Shannon Ridge and Vigilance wineries.  Having visited Napa, Sonoma and even the Central Coast, I knew some of what to expect, but nearly 100 degree temps while north of both Sonoma and Napa was a surprise. I was also pleasantly surprised by the laid-back demeanor of the Shannon Ridge team, which seemed to be quintessentially Lake County. Owner Clay Shannon started in this business as a grape grower for other famous names like Guenoc (also in Lake County), Coppola, and Kenwood, and then decided to make his own wines at Shannon Ridge, on the north side of Clear Lake (the largest of California’s lakes and the oldest lake in North America).

Lake County reminded all of us of Napa and Sonoma twenty years ago, before the oenophile boom. Since it’s less convenient to San Francisco, it will never quite be Napa Valley pretentious. On our first day Clay, Mike Wood, his winemaker, and Chris Baker, Eastern Regional Manager, took us on a tour of the Vigilance vineyards, a more recent addition to the Shannon Ridge team, with a subtext of “sustainability.”

Wikipedia defines sustainability as “the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain divers and productive over time... For humans, sustainability is the potential for long-term maintenance of well-being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions.”

Vigilance puts it right on the front label with a small picture of their Anatolian sheepdogs and sheep. Part of their process is to use sheep to keep the vineyards tended, to keep the weeds under control, and to eat any leftover grape harvesting debris, all of which is transformed into beneficial sheep manure. Clay affectionately calls the sheep “wooly compost machines.” Obviously the sheep are not in the vineyards while grapes are on the plants, so they do their work from October to April, and then spend time in some of the clover-laden pastures Clay maintains, with his 80 head of Angus cattle, west of the vineyards. They use sheepdogs to keep away coyotes, bears and bobcats, like ancient European shepherds. They are looking back to ancient techniques that can still work for us today, and therefore they do not need to use herbicides in the vineyards, nor use laborers to clean up the leavings after grape harvest in October.

 In addition Clay gets some delicious grass-fed sheep, which they sell at both tasting rooms. “Wine, Wool and Lamb” is their reusable credo, since all three are renewed every year. By treating the entire vineyard like an organism, he knows the vineyards will last, will be sustained, without use of harsh chemical fertilizers or herbicides. Lake County uses the least pesticides of any California county, therefore less man-made gunk goes back into the ecosystem. As a long-term grower, this all made a lot of sense to Clay. He’ll admit it’s harder for him to prune the vines of excess grape clusters (part of canopy management to get more intense wines), than it is to commit to sustainable farming practices. The proof that they are doing it right is in the bottle.

As Clay put it, being in the vineyards gives us “a sense of place,” and Vigilance sits on the south side of Clear Lake, just south of a large, protected, buffering wetland, Anderson Marsh sanctuary. We sampled some of the 2010 Vigilance Sauvignon Blanc, amongst the vines, with its typical gooseberry nose and aromas and flavors of tart, green apples. Loads of citrus come across on the palate with real mineral notes. The mineral qualities come right from their volcanic soil, well drained, in the Red Hills appellation. This is almost a French style Sauvy, clean and bright, to go perfectly with chevre and mixed greens or seafood in a cream sauce. In July the grapes are tiny and don’t yet have that special Sauvy aroma, but there is plenty of work to be done, trimming and pruning to allow for the right amount of air and light for optimum ripening.

 Most of the vines were planted in the late 80’s with warm weather-loving varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Syrah, all part of the Vigilance Cimarron “field blend.” We sampled the 2009 Cimarron while surrounded by Zinfandel plants. Red cherry comes across first, braced with nice acid structure and hints of black pepper and spice on the finish. This is a great wine for barbecue or grilled meats, or even stewed beef, though it paired perfectly with the grass-fed lamb they served us on our second night of the trip. At our Vigilance dinner they also treated us to the Vigilance Petite Sirah, which is already sold out in the current vintage, but we made our case to get some to our stores next year. Yes, it was that good. Luckily the Cabernet Sauvignon has about 9% of the Petite Sirah blended in, so between the Cimarron and the Cabernet, we can get a taste of their deliciously intense Petite Sirah here in good old Florida. Come by any ABC store and embrace sustainability in a wine glass. It tastes great!

Daniel Eddy, Fine Wine Consultant for ABC in Gainesville, Florida

Read more of Dan's wine/food writings; he also writes as the Wine Pairing Examiner for Examiner.com in Gainesville at http://www.examiner.com/wine-pairing-in-gainesville/daniel-eddy