~ June 2002 ~

Late Spring Greetings to You!
It's beautiful here in West County now--blue skies, light breezes, cool evenings...everything our grapes love. McDougall Ranch vineyard, now on its fourth growing season, promises to provide us with some fabulous fruit this fall. Mac McDougall walked his vineyard with Mark Pasternak, Dan and Valerie a week ago and showed us how much it's progressed with our recent burst of hot weather. Read below for more recent vineyard tour notes.

In the Vineyards
We've been touring the vineyards over the past month, checking on their progress and set. It's been a beautiful spring, with on and off rains--a tremendous growing year. The little bit of hail we had (yes, even here in California) didn't have an impact, so the vines are rolling along, basking in the California sunshine.

We're just through set in all our vineyards, right on schedule for this area, a little later than last year. The perfect weather has produced tremendous shoot growth and vine health, so Steve (prodded by a little whining from Dan) will be out doing his wonderful job of shoot and cluster thinning.

One of our first visits, and always a popular spot for us to take out-of-town guests, is the incredible Morelli Lane vineyard. It's the perfect vantage point to really get the lay of the land, with views of Mt. St. Helena, Geyser Peak, the coastal mountains and the bend in the Russian River around Guilder Ridge. You wouldn't believe how healthy the 120-year old Zin vines are, especially considering they're dry-farmed.

Next up was a trip to beautiful Devil's Gulch vineyard, located in Marin County and farmed by the inimitable Mark Pasternak. This young vineyard, which was planted in 1998, is one of the coldest of our vineyards (along with Freestone Hill). The dramatic steep terraces--60% grade in places--get more exposure than O'Farrell Street Theatre. Everything here is evening out beautifully, and the scent of Pinot bloom was in the air during our visit. Dan took advantage of the afternoon to bike home (and maybe find our next unique spot along the backroads...).

Our most recent trip was to McDougall Ranch, one of our new vineyards for 2001, just last week. We were once again smitten with this gorgeous site high above the Gualala River and the Pacific Coast (Dan's so taken with it that he and his family camped there Memorial Day weekend--when you're sleeping with your vineyards, have you gone too far?). At the north end of the Sonoma Coast just north of Hirsch and Flowers vineyards, it has the perfect southern exposure high on the hillside. Last year was the first harvest we had there, which produced a tiny crop that's waiting in barrels to be another of our sub-vineyard designate wines.

If any of you have ever ridden in a car with Dan at the wheel, you'll understand how happy Valerie was that he again decided to take the 45-mile bike ride home over the hills to Green Valley.

Wine Reviews and Press
The July 2002 issue of Wine Enthusiast Magazine includes reviews of two of our Pinots:

1999 Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir (93 points) - Fabulous, fun wine. The aromas are beautiful: cola, black raspberry, dark tea, vanilla, smoke and dusty spices. On the palate it's limpid, delicate. It seems to float, yet there's powerful fruit. Wonderful now and through 2003.

1999 Freestone Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir (92 points) - Only 120 cases of this wine from the Sonoma Coast, where cool weather limits ripeness. There are Burgundian aromas of grilled meat, raw meat and mushroom, with dark berries. Very dry, but with a glyceriney sweetness, it's light and supple on the palate.

The 1999 is all out in the market now, so if you still have it in your area, be sure to get some over to your favorite customers. In our humble opinion, the 2000 is an even better vintage, and our 2000 Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir is available now to ship out.

Quarterly Review of Wines Summer 2002 issue is just out with a nice two-page spread on Dutton-Goldfield. Writer Rich Hinkle had some great things to say about the winery, partners and wine ("coming together to grow and meld truly great Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs of deep and abiding character, texture, and distinctive, indeed singular, flavors"--let us know if you'd like to get the entire article). Some quick quotes: "the 2000 Zinfandel is vibrant, lively, lovely with zingy red cherry and raspberry fruit"...2000 Dutton Ranch Pinot: "ripe with fleshy black cherry, sweet mushrooms and hints of raspberry in the finish"...2000 Freestone Hill Pinot "is a gloriously juicy and voluptuous meld of black cherry and clove spiciness"...2000 Maurice Galante Pinot: "big, rich, ripe, muscular, black cherry flavors; long, whalloping finish--5 stars."

Laurie Daniel, Bay Area wine writer, wrote an article on Russian River Valley Pinot Noir in mid-May which has been picked up by several newspapers in the area. The Contra Costa Times version is entitled "Rush Out for Russian River Pinot Noir" and includes a review of our 2000 Freestone Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir: "full-bodied, with bright cherry and spice and some sweet oak. Lovely texture."