Wine Guerrilla, Forestville: Former art gallery full of style

...As soon as the gallery owner retired in 2013, Patch pounced, made only the slightest logistical revisions, and opened his own showpiece last August. Now, lined with glittering wine bottles, the space still acts as an art salon, featuring oversize prints of Wine Guerrilla labels.

...The vibe: Tiny, rural Forestville disappears as soon as you step into the shop, eclipsed by chic structure and walls lined with the oversized renditions of Wine Guerrilla's labels. An Adel's Vineyard Zinfandel print shows a milky white nymph musing under the moonlight in a dark forest, while another, the label for the signature Rebel Cru blend, depicts a band of fanciful "guerrilla" soldiers in a mystical garden.

Read full review on SFGate.com

Tasting the wines from our Winemakers to Watch

You may have read about our Winemakers to Watch for 2014, but what about the wines?

Here’s a sampling of bottles from each of them. Many of these are in limited supply, but can be found in local retail shops or by contacting the wineries directly....

Megan and Ryan Glaab, Ryme Cellars

2012 Ryme Hers Las Brisas Vineyard Carneros Vermentino ($24, 11.2%): Not to overlook the His (it was in last year’s Top 100 Wines), but the Hers shows a nuanced side: Douglas fir, bright mineral, lemon confit and a slight lanolin aspect, with peachy fruit to round it out.

Ryan and Megan Glaab of Ryme Cellars, at the counter of their Forestville winery facility. (Photo: Lacy Atkins/The Chronicle)

Read full article at SFGate.com

Celebrating America's cornucopia of wine

Up and down the West Coast, there is quality as never before in iterations both old and new: wines like the [Forestville's] Lost & Found Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley, which taps the old Jackson clone for a very new wine; or Analemma's Gewurztraminer from the Columbia Gorge, through which Steven Thompson reinterprets that grape in one of Washington state's oldest vineyards, located in a long-forgotten notch of the Cascades.

Read full article at SFGate.com

(Via Farmhouse Inn)

Bask Festival debuts in Forestville

The brand-new Bask Music and Arts Festival makes its debut Friday through Sunday, July 20-22, at Hilton Park Campground, 10750 River Road, Forestville.

The festival offers music by more than a dozen live bands, plus local artists, and food and drink from local restaurants, wineries and breweries.

Read full article at the 707 section of the Press Democrat

Swindle Rig

The Food section of the LA Times last week had an article about in expensive artisan wines or as they put it

wines that possess an artisan's touch at a fraction of the price you'd pay for their loftier bottlings. Call it the everyday artisanal. Winemakers are taking advantage of the soft market for grapes, or are repurposing fruit left out of more expensive bottlings. Most are working on a shoestring budget, or renting space in other people's wineries, with just themselves or their families employed.

Check out the last paragraph of the piece, because it relates to Forestville:

Swindle Rig: Swindle Rig once was the name of the Sonoma County town, now known as Forestville, where Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Lee Roberts, of the small artisanal winery Arnot-Roberts, are based. They make just two wines for this offshoot brand, a Sauvignon Blanc from 100% Napa Valley fruit, and a rosé of Grenache. Both are fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks and handled minimally. Meyers and Roberts wanted to make a wine that was "crispy" (read: not overripe) and inexpensive. "We wanted to make an easy drinking and low-ish alcohol wine," Meyers says. They sell Swindle Rig for $20 or less. That's for a liter bottle, which gives you an idea of how the wine is meant to be enjoyed — in generous pours, on late-summer afternoons, with friends.

I really liked the photo they picked for their website (which only contanis that, their contact ifo and a two page PDF fle about them and their wines), see below.

Emtu Estate Wines & Labyrinth Foundation for Disaster Relief

Emtu (Russian River Valley) Estate Wines is an organic winery headquartered in Forestville. They are "Dedicated to organic farming, great wine and improving lives in communities worldwide." This last aspect grabbed my attention and soon learned  from their website that the winery's profits go to the Labyrinth Foundation for Disaster Relief. Here is part of the introduction to the Foundation:

The cycles of farming and winemaking have natural periods of decreased activity during the winter months. The grapevines are dormant and the wine is ageing in barrels. This creates an annual opportunity to work wherever we identify a need which matches our skills & where we believe we can make the most difference. The Labyrinth Foundation gives us the freedom to work independently or in cooperation with other aid organizations. The mission is to improve the living conditions of people and communities worldwide. This foundation is funded by the profits of Emtu Estate Wines as well as by grants and donations.

And the philosophy of the winemakers

We believe in the interconnectedness of all things.  What we do affects the lives of others and how we farm affects our environment.  Since we live within the vineyard, we have developed a heightened sense of awareness to  seasonal changes, the fauna and flora  essential  to creating  a vibrant and diverse ecosystem, and of our place within it.
Soil, wind, rain, and sunlight combine to create fruit that morphs into wines of distinction.  Wine, work,  and commitment combine to create a business model that  supports our needs and  the needs of communities around the world.

Visit them, purchase their wines or follow the Winery and the Foundation on Facebook

Bergman Euro-National

Bergman Euro-National is "a wine country real estate brokerage that specializes in vineyards, vineyard land, wineries, estates, residential homes, and investment properties in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino Counties."  The two people running it are John Bergman and David Ashcraft. Their website's contact page shows that they operate locally, hence the mention on this website. I learned about their existence from today's press release announcing that John Bergman joined the "Cambridge Who's Who Network".

Russian River Vineyards discounts

From the Facebook wall of the Russian River Vineyard:

We have some special discounts for the month of September to celebrate the upcoming harvest: purchase any 6 bottles of our award-winning wines and receive a 10% discount or purchase 12 bottles or more and receive a 20% discount!

The Tasting Room is open from 11:00 to 5:00 daily so come by before this deal, and Summer are over!

About wine judges

In a Contra Costa Times article about the new generation of wine judges a Forestville person was quoted:

"They (the judges) seemed to be looking for juicy, thirst-quenching examples," says Burrows, who works for Forestville's Farmhouse Inn and consults at Boot & Shoe Service in Oakland, where he lives. Burrows, 35, started judging in his mid-20s at the Concours Generale d'Agriculture wine competition in Paris.

"Millennials are risk takers who understand that without trying something new by experimenting and listening to advice, we will always be drinking the same overpriced, 94-point cabernet sauvignon from Napa Valley," he says.