I’ve previously blogged about the intimate and friendly Route 128 tasting room and the wines from the Opatz Family Winery.  Their tasting room is in the Alexander Valley, the vineyards just north of there in the Yorkville Highlands AVA, and the winery is near Hopeland in Mendocino County.

We wandered into the tasting room recently and noticed cases of wine in a corner and labeled “Fire Sale – $50 / case”.  Our kind of price.  Lorna poured their 2008 Pelu Rouge red which is a hearty blend of Viognier, Zinfandel and Syrah.  Except this time there was an additional dimension – smoke.

On June 24th 2008 a lighting storm ignited over 1,700 wildfires in California.  This overwhelmed even international wildfire fighting capacity and the fires burned for up to two months.  The smoke blanked vineyards in over a dozen California wine regions.  Many vintners tried to salvage the vintage in various ways but many ended up dumping the wine.  Pete Opatz didn’t.

We enjoyed the smoke with an excellent wine and bought two cases.  We like it even better now and have paired the wine with a variety of meals but mostly red meats and sausages.  It is a bit of an acquired taste but if you like smoked cheese, salmon, ham, etc. then try a 2008 wildfire smoked wine wherever you can find them.  While Route 128 will probably be sold out by the time you read this Heller in Carmel Valley, Monterey wine region, may have some left.

We also brought home a bottle of Route 128 2009 High Five Bordeaux blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, 5% Malbec, 3% Petit Verdot.  It is a big and interesting wine with not much of a tannin bite.  No nearby wildfires in 2009

- Jim

The Opatz family harvests their grapes from their vineyard in the Yorkville Highlands on Route 128 north of the Alexander Valley.  As we have seen a lot of recently they are growers who turned to wine making and eventually opened their own tasting room.  Their tiny Route 128 Winery tasting room is located off the main street through Geyserville, Route 128 also, and is always a delight to visit.  This is a vintner-pours tasting experience and a mom and pop operation.  The tasting room has seating and the hospitality begs you to hang around a while.

We love all their wines.  They are typical of that area – big flavors, medium acidity, and a lot for the taster to explore.  In this post I want to point out their Viognier.  The grapes come from their Yorkville Highlands vineyard which is at a much higher elevation than nearby Alexander and Dry Creek Valleys.  It has the bigger Viognier flavors with little grassiness.  We served it on our patio with shrimp on a warm summer afternoon and tasted the wine blossom during and after the snack.  We tend to drink whites a bit warm for the bouquet.

We believe that terroir matters and the Yorkville area wines are a real treat.  The combination of the soils plus the shifting cool and hot weather gives the wines a different experience than their lowland cousins.

- Jim

Chuck Meeker’s tasting room is in little Geyserville in California’s Alexander Valley. Geyserville is one of our favorite wine country hangouts but avoid the place at night if you want action. In the evening it is a place for quiet conversations with the local winery folks at the restaurants and that is about it.

However, during the day the little agriculture town is booming with several quality restaurants, four tasting rooms, and now art galleries. One of those tasting rooms is in an old bank building and that be Meeker.

Meeker doesn’t make soft wines with taste that disappears when you swallow. His Syrah is a fine example. It doesn’t burn going down but it is robust, fruity, lots of nose, and a delight to drink if you really want to taste wine. We found it much more interesting than most of the Syrah we drink.

Now back to the tasting room. They retained the bank’s caged off interior and vault. Of course they still have the vault. They would have to blow up Geyserville to remove it. Anyway, Meeker’s “hand painted” bottles are a treat in vintner art and decorate the tiny tasting area. The tasting room is also one of the few “party” T/R’s in California.

The tasting room staff is a joyous bunch and it gets infectious. By afternoon the place is packed with tasters and no one is in a hurry to leave. During region events it is packed all day and tasters are having FUN! If Chuck Meeker is pouring then the decibels are ramped up a bit.

While all the other tasting rooms in the beautiful Alexander Valley are wonderful to visit, go to Meekers for a more social experience, and you’ll leave with good wine at a good price.

- jim