In My Glass - The wines of Dry Creek Valley American Vitacultural Area

of Taste The Best

Some wines just taste better on their home turf

BY » Trevor Burton | PHOTOGRAPHY BY » Trevor Burton

Dry Creek Valley, in Sonoma County and just over the hill from Napa Valley’s Saint Helena, is home to “America’s Grape”— Zinfandel. That’s the real Zinfandel, a deep-bodied, complex red wine, not White Zinfandel, the pinkish stuff you often see on wines-bythe-glass lists in restaurants.

The Dry Creek Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a great place for exploring and tasting. It’s small and compact. It has more than 9,000 vineyard acres and over 70 wineries, one deli, and no stoplights in an area only 16 miles long and two miles wide. The valley consists mostly of family-owned vineyards and wineries best known for their robust Zinfandel wines. It’s still a tight-knit agricultural community and many newly-built wineries are owned by the descendants of immigrants who farmed here in the 1800s. And that’s what I like.

Other, more famous, California wine regions feature huge operations and you’re lucky to talk to anyone but a tasting room manager. In Dry Creek Valley you get to meet with an owner, someone who’s responsible for the vineyards, for the winemaking operation— for the whole shebang. When you’re on a mission of wine exploration, that’s what you want. Not some young thing who’s straight out of school and whose main accomplishment has been memorizing a marketing brochure.

A little background. The Dry Creek Valley community was founded by Italian immigrants who planted crops on the valley floor. To meet their personal needs, they planted vines on the hillsides, especially on Bradford Mountain. What’s interesting is their choice of vines. Being dirt poor, they could not afford expensive trellising for their vines, they needed vines that could stand up straight, like bushes, all by themselves. Obviously, they also needed vines that could flourish in Dry Creek Valley’s environment. A vine that checked both boxes was Zinfandel. And so began the journey of the great Zinfandel wines that come from the valley.

Up and down the valley you’ll see lots of very old vines. These are the guys that produce some super intense wines. A place not to miss is Talty Vineyards and Winery

on Dry Creek Road. Driving up to the winery, you pass his estate—head-trained and dry-farmed Zinfandel vines that are more than 50 years old. Without getting too technical, dry farming is important because it adds more character and complexity to a wine. Personable and welcoming, Michael Talty is a gifted wine artisan. Just a few years back, a noted wine publication picked his wine as the country’s “wine of the year.” Not the best Zinfandel in the country, the best wine in the country!

Another experience that you shouldn’t miss is lunch. Stop by the Dry Creek General Store, also on Dry Creek Road. Established in 1881, the store offers a whole host of goodies. My wife, Mary Ellen, and I stop by for a couple of delicious sandwiches and then head on up the road. And I do mean up the road. We head up to Gustafson Family Vineyards which is at the highest elevation in Dry Creek Valley.

There you might run across Vineyard Manager and Winemaker, Emmett Reed. He’s another wine artisan. He makes a much wider range of wines. Pick out one of his wines and head up to the picnic area. Inevitably, you’ll be followed by the vineyard’s dog, hoping to share in your lunch in the form of scraps. Nibble on an amazing sandwich, paired with a glass of Reed’s wine, while you look down at panoramic views of Lake Sonoma, Dry Creek Valley, and the Mayacamas Mountains, a distance of thirty miles to the east. It’s pretty special.

For a great way to end the day, head on down to the main town of Healdsburg. On Healdsburg Avenue, you’ll find the Baci Cafe and Wine Bar. The food is phenomenal and Baci’s wine list is its equal. Baci’s wines are predominantly from small family owned wineries, most of them located in Sonoma County. The wine list is extensive, yet affordable— wines are priced similar to retail. What is fun is that many of Dry Creek Valley owners, winemakers and their families dine at Baci on a regular basis. Order a wine and its winemaker could be sitting at the next table!

I’ve only scratched the surface of Dry Creek Valley. This is a special place with special wines. And what a perfect place to test my hypothesis that wines really do taste better on their home turf. Cheers.