Yolo wine comes into its own
A quiet revolution is under way as region grows into destination
If you think you’ve never had Yolo County wine, think again.
You’ve probably had Bogle, which is well made, has true varietal character and is a great value, maybe the only wine you can drink at your parents without a clash between your appalling snobbery and their tiresome thrift.
If you drink sparkling wine (and lots of others but definitely sparkling) you have obliviously tasted and likely enjoyed fine Yolo County grapes with a Napa or Sonoma label.
So while grapes have been and continue to be big business here, 15 years ago, if you were talking wine made in Yolo County out of Yolo County grapes, you were pretty much talking Bogle. This is no longer the case — it’s fair to estimate that 25 Yolo County vineyards are growing Yolo County fruit and bottling it with a Yolo County label.
“It’s so exciting now that the area is growing as a wine destination, with other local farmers and families starting wineries,” says Jody Bogle. “We love that more and more people are discovering the great wines that are produced in Yolo County.”
You can cover all of Yolo County in a one-day wine tour, but it will be a long one; the county is large and its wine regions are spread out. For a simpler experience, zoom in on one or two of the four distinct regions. It helps to look at a map, because it’s truly an odd shape, a bit like a poorly made cleaver, with Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta-cooled Clarksburg at the bottom of the handle, and Winters — with a touch more elevation, and the cooling influence of Lake Berryessa — along the bottom of its sloping, oversized blade. The top of the blade is hilly and also on the dry side, with Dunnigan Hills to the east and the Capay Valley to the west.
Bogle’s a nice place to start any Yolo County tour. Their vineyard is a beautiful spot, a miraculous few minutes from Sacramento.
Drive along the blue ribbon of the Sacramento River from Bogle to the Old Sugar Mill, which was built in 1935 and found new life as a wine tasting room in 2005. Eleven wineries have tasting rooms in this lightfilled, lofty brick space, and most make their wine from grapes grown in Yolo County.
I liked the 2011 Chenin Blanc VS at Clarksburg Wine Co. VS means it was made it the style of the Vouvray region in France, so it’s aged, and has a little more acid than most California Chenin Blancs — and I totally brake for acid. Heringer’s 2012 Teroldego (a varietal that’s common in Italy but rarely found in the United States) was appealingly dark and had nice chocolately flavors, but I wanted it to have a longer finish and more delicacy. I felt the same way about the 2011 Tempranillo — I enjoyed it, but I wanted to feel more manically driven to take another sip.
I indeed felt this drinking Todd Taylor’s captivating 2012 Tempranillo. Taylor makes wine from grapes all over Northern California, but this had been dry-farmed in Clarksburg and aged in new oak barrels, and it was so rich and inky, with a nice, light finish contrasting its dark fruit. A friend of mine said it had too much oak, which I totally get, but I also felt that in this particular case it was like saying a party was too much fun. I felt like Taylor’s wine was an example of what Clarksburg
wine — traditionally successful due to big yields — could achieve with more focus and expert farming. But I will go to the Old Sugar Mill again. It pays homage to Clarksburg’s sugar past while celebrating its hopeful wine future, and I’m into that future.
On to Winters, a cool town, with symmetrical walnut orchards, solid old three-story brick buildings and a big metal water tank looming over the town labeled “Winters.” Wine tasting is big here. Berryessa Gap and Turkovich have their own tasting rooms, and RootStock pours from all over Yolo County, including the Capay Valley and the Dunnigan Hills.
Nicole Salengo is making some very good wine at Winters’ Berryessa Gap. Her 2014 Sauvignon Blanc is fragrant and bracing, and her 2014 Albarino is zesty, with summery citrus. Not one of her reds had that canned, overripe quality that can occur in heat; every last one of them (and there are a lot) was nuanced and delicate.
Across the street at RootStock I enjoyed, but did not love, the wine from Route Three. Their 2013 Albarino had an interesting hit of passionfruit right out of the gate, and with a crisper finish it would have been perfect. My favorite offering of theirs was called 2014 GdT (short for an Italian grape Greco di Tufo), which smelled, not unappealingly, of candy, and was fragrant and fruity but not too sweet.
Also at RootStock, Capay Valley’s Casey Flat Ranch was astonishingly good. Their 2014 Sauvignon Blanc was heavier than Berryessa Gap’s, with more tropical fruit, but nice bracing acid. Their 2012 Open Range Red, a delicious red blend of Syrah, Petite Sirah, Merlot, Mourvedre and Cabernet Franc, is $18 and might be one of the biggest wine bargains I’ve ever seen — but it does mix Napa and Yolo County grapes. The 2012 Estate Red Blend of Cabernet, Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Viognier is a well-made, satisfying big wine, the sort you can drink alone and almost chew, but not at all too overpowering for food.
Touring Yolo County made me a huge fan of some of its wines and a total believer in their potential. The region isn’t exactly a brand that makes people reach for their wallets. “But neither was Lake County 15 years ago, and look at them now,” Casey Flat winemaker Laura Barrett says.
“This is just the beginning for boutique wine in Yolo County.”