“Location, Location, Location” If it’s true for home purchases it’s doubly so for grape purchases. Residential listings hawk the “desirable west side”, and wine labels trumpet “vinified and bottled in the Napa Valley”. In France, if a wine does not meet the government’s criteria for its region’s appellation d’origine controlee, it becomes a “vin déclassé”. How gauche. With over 3,000 wineries in California alone, it is imperative to distinguish yourself and many start by clarifying their vineyard’s pedigree by pinpointing and promoting its Location, Location, Location.

For vineyards not yet a member of an exclusive AVA, creating one requires a protracted audition with the Alcohol & Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB): the American Idol of the wine industry. To enter the competition you submit a petition listing the boundaries of your proposed AVA and a moniker likely to sport high brand recognition. The petition must also highlight distinctive talents in the various genres of geology, soils, physical features and elevation. After advancing to the next round, the petition is released for public opinion. Wine industry audience members are invited to comment and, if they concur, the AVA is approved, often prompting tears of pride from those who “believed in it when no one else did”. Accolades follow as the AVA begins appearing on wine labels. Demonstrating Steven Tyler-like largesse, the TTB recently approved two new California AVAs, both of which host Failla vineyards.

After languishing in bureaucratic purgatory for 8 years, the new Fort Ross-Seaview AVA prevailed in December 2011. It is named for a Russian fur trapping outpost, set up 65 miles north of San Francisco 200 years ago, on the shore below the mountain community of Seaview, once a busy stagecoach stop. Encompassing 27,500 acres ranging in elevation from 920’ to 1,800’ along the Sonoma Coast, Fort Ross-Seaview is distinguished by cool temperatures from the Pacific but lies above the fog line, allowing for extended sun exposure. None of this is revelatory to followers of the West Sonoma Coast Vintners’ efforts to promote the area’s inimitable terroir. However, many local growers find it a satisfying coda to a lifetime spent advocating for official recognition. We planted our estate Syrah and Chardonnay here in 1998, joining others like David Hirsch who believed this region promised vinous nirvana.

The new Coombsville AVA is the 16th to be carved out of Napa County, and lies east of the city of Napa. Eastern mountains surround the growing area like a horseshoe, offering shelter from the wind and fog common in southern Napa.  This proximity to San Francisco Bay also means that it is significantly cooler than other Napa AVAs, with a longer growing season but conversely less extreme winter temperatures.  Always a fan of old-vine vineyards, Ehren fell in love with the knarled head-trained vines on the property purchased by the Haynes family in 1885 from Nathan Coombs, founder of the city of Napa.  Once Ehren heard that local lore suggests those vines can trace their origin to Louis Latour’s Corton Charlemagne vineyard in Burgundy, he couldn’t accept fast enough when offered fruit in 2011.

2011 Estate Vineyard Chardonnay, Fort Ross-Seaview (240 cases produced)

Dry-farming, steep slopes, rocky soils, and cool-temperatures all conspire to restrict yields in our estate vineyards to 1-2 tons/acre, and deliver intense complex fruit. These grapes were whole-cluster pressed directly into a combination of French oak barrels, 1/3 new, and a concrete egg fermenter. The nose combines apricot, citrus blossom camomile, and honey etched with Classic wet stone minerality. The palate’s pretty, floral quality and soft round mouthfeel transition smartly to finish with crisp acidity.

2011 Hudson Vineyard Chardonnay, Napa Valley (400 cases produced)

Arriving in early September from the rolling hills north of San Francisco Bay, this fruit was whole-cluster pressed into mixed-age French oak with about 25% going into a concrete egg. The concrete is an excellent foil to the barrel ferments, rounding texture and emphasizing aromatic purity. Bursting from the bottle, a mélange of asian pear, honeysuckle, lemon curd and wet stone announces the 2011 vintage. The palate opens with a fresh, crystalline quality redolent of spring greens, before the arrival of a creamy mid-palette. Nervy, structured acidity makes for length and dimension on the finish.

2011 Haynes Vineyard Chardonnay, Coombsville (400 cases produced)

One of the oldest continuously producing Chardonnay vineyards in Napa, the Haynes Vineyard was planted in 1966 by Pat and Duncan Haynes and sits in the shadow of Mt. George, the once-active volcano responsible for Coombsville’s distinctive layer of volcanic soils. Acid retention is higher in older vines, allowing us to let the fruit hang until fairly late in the growing season for full ripeness. For our inaugural offering of Haynes, we fermented the fruit completely in oak, 1/3 new. Classic Wente-clone overtones of honeysuckle are joined by aromas of vanilla, white rose and orange blossom. Mouth-coating viscosity balances the chalky acidity, the finish confirming the wine’s intense yet lean structure.

2011 Alban Vineyard Viognier, Edna Valley (1 barrel produced)

Never a heavy-bearing site to begin with, the Alban Vineyard was ravaged by frost during the Spring 2011, yielding so little fruit that we actually foot-pressed it before fermenting it in one of our oldest barrels. Laser-focused aromas of white tea and honeysuckle etch a broad waft of caramelized pineapple. Mouth-watering acidity is joined by a hint of lemon oil viscosity for a glycerin-like finish.

2011 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir (900 cases produced)

This cuvée is always a blend of young-vine blocks from our multiple Sonoma Coast appellation sources. Vinified in the same manner as our vineyard designated Pinots, this vintage was aged in French oak, about 20% new. Cool tones of kirsch, balsam, marzipan and savory herbal notes underscore the classic aroma of cherry. Sinewy tannins integrate well with fine acidity giving structure to the red berry palate.

2011 Pearlessence Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast (90 cases produced)

2011 was the coolest vintage on record for Pearlessence, one of our coolest vineyards. We fermented the fruit in an open top vessel, for ease of daily manual punchdowns, before aging the wine in French oak, roughly 25% new. Charmingly rustic aromas of frais de bois, dusty rose, white tea and rhubarb. Well-integrated tannins and bright acid support pomegranate on the palate. Will age well for 7-10 years.

2011 Keefer Ranch Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley (800 cases produced)

As always, the fruit was destemmed into open-topped fermenters and punched down twice-a-day, before aging sur-lie in French oak barrels, 1/3 new. Likening this vintage to Eliza Doolittle after her My Fair Lady Makeover, we feel this is the most elegant Keefer we’ve made. Briary berries and griotte mingle delightfully with sarsaparilla and briny olive. Firm tannins provide structure to the typical Keefer lushness and juicy black cherry palate. Will age well for 7-10 years.

2011 Whistler Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast (200 cases produced)

The coastal ridgetop site of Whistler Vineyard lies in the northern-most reaches of Sonoma County, and its high-density vine spacing mimics the vineyards of Burgundy. As with all of our pinots, this wine was aged in 1/3 new French oak. During fermentation, we layered in whole-clusters to concentrate white pepper aromatics which marry romantically with scents of anise, brandied plums and dutch licorice. A resiny, concentrated palate plays off mouth-watering tannins for a wine worth cellaring 7-10 years.

We’ve got quite the spring tour coming up, so check the events page on www.FAILLAWINES.com for details on the following and more. Ehren goes bi-coastal in February with participation in the intimate tastings/seminars of In Pursuit of Balance in San Francisco and LA followed by the West Sonoma Coast Vintners first WOW/NYC event. We’ll stay put in March and April for World of Pinot Noir in Shell Beach and Charlie Palmer’s Pigs & Pinot in Healdsburg, followed by a Dry Creek Kitchen winemaker dinner in Healdsburg. In May, we mosey out to The Ranch at Rock Creek in Montana for their inaugural Winemaker Cattle Call pairing glamping, roping, fly fishing, and skeet shooting with gourmet food and wine. We have been invited back to McMinnville, OR in July for the 27^th Annual IPNC, an international mecca for lovers of Pinot Noir and Northwest cuisine. August finds us in Sebastopol to welcome back the WOW food and wine festival to its roots on the Sonoma Coast.

For the best chance at receiving your full order, please return the enclosed order form by February 28th. As always, we invite you to pick up your spring wine order and taste current as well as library wines at our Spring Pick-up Party on Saturday, April 27^th from 11am to 3pm. Please be sure to RSVP to Kathy@faillawines.com.