Lake County, Part 3 of 4. . .
Gregory Graham is a no-shit kinda guy. . .okay?
He is the quintessential, no-pretense, no-hidden-agenda, what-you-see-is-what-you-get, it’s-my-way-or-the-highway, irrevocably driven winemaker.
He’s my kinda guy. . .okay?
None-the-less, I was a bit apprehensive about meeting him for the first time. Though Carpe Vino has successfully represented his brand by selling an enviable amount of his wine, Greg and I had never shaken hands. And then there was a sticky business issue that we had resolved, but I worried there might be residual feelings with which to deal.
The fact that Greg welcomed me to park my Airstream on his property for a few days helped mitigate my lingering apprehension, and after I arrived and finished setting up, he warmed up quickly. . .even though Moose—all 15 pounds of him soaking wet—was a knucklehead, attacking Greg’s boots and making a lunge for Rex, Greg’s sweetheart of a chocolate Labrador.
Greg is an accomplished and savvy winemaker who brings instant legitimacy to the Lake County AVA, a region that is a kind of awkward youth with boundless, raw energy and enthusiasm yet struggling for recognition in the presence of much more refined and proven siblings. Before launching his own label, he worked for 21 years for the Classic California Chardonnay Juggernaut, Napa’s Rombauer Vineyards, most of it as winemaker.
- Greg and Marianne Graham
A native of Ohio, he helped work his family’s Concord grape vineyard as a youth; before moving to California in 1980 he served in the military and graduated from Cleveland State University with a degree in mechanical engineering. Then it was on to U.C. Davis where he earned a B.S. in enology in 1983. After a successful career toiling for others, Greg and his wife, Marianne—an attorney employed by Marin County—purchased 13 acres of hillside winery property in Lake County in 2000.
At an age when many people start thinking about retirement, Greg built his a crush pad and winery building in 2006, and went full time on his own project in 2009. The estate, with the Crimson Hill Vineyard as its centerpiece, now encompasses 27 acres where Greg—who wears dual hats of viticulturist and winemaker—grows Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Zinfandel and Syrah.
Greg, who is fit and lean from a combination of laboring in the vineyards and riding his bike in the hills of Lake County, sells his Cabernet grapes to big dogs such as Stag’s Leap, Hawk’s Crest, Sutter Home and Rombauer. He reserves enough of his finest fruit and purchases a limited amount of grapes to produce about 3,500 cases of Sauvignon Blanc, Grenache, Zinfandel, Riesling, Syrah, Viognier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
The Graham’s personal residence sits atop the estate, at about 2,000 feet in the Red Hills AVA, which could be one of the hottest up-and-coming appellations in California, with soil so densely red it should be ground up as a pigment for artist’s paints. This stuff is volcanic, rocky and like a submissive, grape vines seem to beg to be abused by this rich but arid dominatrix of a terrior that peaks at about 3,000 feet.
- The view from near the top of the Crimson Hill Vineyard. . .it is a lot steeper than it looks!
Imagine looking out your front window every morning—as the Grahams do—and being greeted by a staggering view all around, 180° of lush vineyards, with mountain-clad Clear Lake in your front yard, so close it seems to be yours. Just beyond the base of the estate are never-to-be-developed McVicar Wildlife Refuge and Anderson Marsh State Historic Park. Still water backs up to the property in the form of Pinkeye Lake, a vernal pool that fills with seasonal runoff and is home to lake egrets and groves of walnut trees.
It seems that every component of the terrior is essential to developing the rich qualities of the fruit here, but it is clearly Clear Lake that makes all the difference. At 43,785 acres, this is the largest natural, freshwater lake wholly in California (Tahoe isn’t), 18 miles long and seven miles at its widest point, with 127 miles of shoreline.
You can almost hear the sucking noise as cool airs pumps across Clear Lake from the Pacific in what Greg calls “mistrals,” cold dry northeasterly winds, the kind that blow commonly in the south of France. In the evening, as I experienced during two nights of rocking in my Airstream, the wind can resolutely demonstrate its chilly will.
Unlike Napa, there is little fog in Lake County and temperatures can swing 50 degrees during the day. Relentless sunlight and UV rays call for a different kind of vineyard management, as Greg learned early on. “Initially, I tried to import the Napa footprint, but I’ve come to find it doesn’t work here,” he said. The issue is vertical shoot positioning exposes too much light to the fruit, encouraging it to ripen too early, resulting in unfavorable brix and PH levels. So, Greg has participated in a “Red Wine Working Group,” to develop vineyard management methods that are more protective of the fruit. This results in optimum ripening and development of phenolics and tannins—the components that influence color, flavors and mouthfeel of wine—especially in Cabernet fruit of which he cultivates 13 acres.
The winery is open only on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and there is no fee to taste. You can call ahead to make an appointment for a private tour of the estate, and you are welcome to bring your dog along when you visit.
Sometime soon the tour will include a look at the Graham’s guest house, which is in the final stages of remodeling. The house, which has a huge deck and spa with a stunning panorama of Clear Lake, will sleep eight people and features amenities that rival anything I’ve seen in Napa. It is sure to rank as one of the top accommodations in Lake County, and no doubt it will be heavily booked.
Let’s talk wine, okay? The first varietal we encountered was the Gregory Graham 2007 Zinfandel (Crimson Hill Vineyard), and it was an instant hit in Carpe Vino. Big raspberry flavor up front with dark chocolate and orange zest. It is priced nicely at $24, and a new vintage is in the batter’s circle.
The trend I observed across Lake County is that wines are priced fairly. Same at Grergory Graham where most wines are under $20. “Wine should not be a luxury,” Greg said. “People are starting to get it. . .expensive wines are not necessarily better.”
Here’s something cool. . .no wine before its time: Greg normally ages wine in the bottle for a full year. “Why sell the wine before it tastes good?” he asked. “I know you can drive the business based on the numbers, but we want to put quality wine out there.”
I sampled through Greg’s entire line-up in the tasting room, and I enjoyed a host of his wines at dinner in his home. Marianne made a delightful Cesar salad and an amazing risotto with sausage, peppers and asparagus that I enjoyed with Greg’s Pinot and Zin. It was a great evening of food, wine and wine talk.
Actually, I liked the wines so much, I pitched Greg and Marianne on doing a wine dinner with Carpe Vino, and they agreed. They’ll be joining us on Thursday, July 29th for a five-course dinner. Check the Carpe Vino web site for details.
This blog will follow my monthly trips into wine country across California, Oregon, Washington and, some day, around the country. As the owner of Carpe Vino, a wine shop, wine bar and fine dining restaurant in Auburn, CA, I have direct access to the leading wineries and winemakers in the business. I’ll be traveling the back roads of wine country to find the true gems, small production wines made by truly passionate people. In my nightly blogs on the road, I’ll tell their stories and describe what I’ve seen, learned and tasted.
