Dry Creek Valley's Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon is perhaps the most famous red grape. Its home is Bordeaux where it is was created as a cross between Cabernet Franc (red grape) and Sauvignon Blanc (white grape). Since then its popularity has spread and it is grown all around the world. It prefers warmer climates to ripen fully and even in Bordeaux some years it does not ripen. That is why Cabernet Franc is also used in Bordeaux blends as it ripens faster. What makes Cabernet so popular is not its bouquet, which can range from blackcurrants to cigar box, but its structure, typically having both tannins and acidity to create a smooth feeling in the mouth. The structure allows the blending with other grapes, perhaps the most famous pairing is Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot where the Cabernet provides the structure and the Merlot gives the wine the soft, rounded feel in the mouth. Recently Cabernet has been mixed with Sangiovese (Chianti's grape) to create the SuperTuscans.
Sauvignon Blanc
Grassy and herbaceous, with the characteristics of gooseberries, nettles and cat�s pee � this can only be referring to one grape variety: Sauvignon Blanc. The grape has its origins in Bordeaux but is now widely cultivated over France and around much of the world. Think of Pouilly-Fume and Sancerre from the Loire � both these wines are made from Sauvignon Blanc and are, probably, the grape in its purest form: crisp, dry, aromatic and unoaked. In Bordeaux, it�s blended, particularly with Semillon, for the dry whites there, but it�s also an ingredient for the region�s luscious dessert wines, such as those of Sauternes and Barsac. On the other side of the world, however, New Zealand has also virtually made this white variety its own, giving the wine a screwcap along the way. Yet this fashionable grape does have its faults. For one, unblended, it doesn�t age. Wines made from Sauvignon Blanc are generally meant to be drunk young, but then that can also be a bonus � as soon as you�ve bought a bottle, you can just chill this zesty little number and enjoy it! On the growing front, it�s susceptible to botrytis, oidium and black rot and will also rot if grown on fertile soils, preferring gravelly or sandy loams, or chalk in parts of the Loire. It also tends to be very vigorous and if it�s allowed to become over-productive on heavy soils, then the characteristics of the wines will be much diluted. Sauvignon Blanc goes by a few other names, the most common probably being Fume Blanc, as it�s known in California.
Zinfandel
Zinfandel has all the potential to be a high-quality grape but it�s also California�s most common variety and ends up being used to produce a wide range of different wine styles � everything from red, white and rose to fortfied port-style wines, sweet wines and even sparklers. It yields lots of grapes with reliably high sugar and performs best in warm rather than hot areas on well-drained hillsides. Its problems are that it can ripen unevenly and tends to raisin if the conditions are too hot. At its best and grown in the right places, it produces still dry red wine with relatively high alcohol, lots of extract, reasonable acid and bramley fruit flavours that can develop into rich and spicy wine with age. Of European origin, this black grape is rarely seen outside of California and Southern Italy, where it�s been proved to be the country�s Primitivo.
Dry Creek Valley
Key Grape Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel
Dry Creek Valley is an AVA (American Viticultural Area) in Sonoma, California. It stretches northwest for about 13½ miles from southern Healdsburg to Warm Springs Dam and at
its widest is just three miles across. In fact, the island of Manhattan would fit snugly into this warm inland valley, with its hot summer days and marine influences that keep the nights cool.
Winemaking began in Dry Creek in 1870. The first settlers were farmers not winemakers - many of them Italian - who started by just making wine for their table. However, they soon found that the valley’s rocky hillsides were ideal for grape growing and they planted Zinfandel, which has proved to be a real success here, producing wines with marked ripe raspberry flavours and satiny textures.
More than 36 wineries now exist in this rural valley and close to 300 vineyards. Today as much Chardonnay and Cabernet as Zinfandel is grown and there are also substantial plantings of Rhone varietals, such as Mourvedre, Syrah and Carignan.
The AVA tag on a bottle means that 85 per cent of the grapes must come from Dry Creek Valley or a minimum of 75 per cent if the varietal is named on the label.
