Great Wines from Small Wineries

This time of year we’re all full of plans for the New Year.  Instead of promising to floss twice daily or organize my closet, I’ve decided that in 2008, I’m going to do something easy and fun. I’m going to try to branch out a bit with my wine selections. Instead of reaching for my old favorites every time I shop for wine, I’m going to venture out of my comfort zone a bit more and make an extra effort to support the little guy with my wine purchases. Sure, you can’t go wrong with some of the bigger labels and of course I’ll continue to count on them, but I’ll also be experimenting with lesser known wines and varietals.
On “In Wine Country” we’ve profiled some smaller producers and found them to be hard-working and talented people who are passionate about creating their own wine any way they can swing it. Often it means moonlighting as winemakers, while keeping day jobs to pay the bills. For these smaller labels, the dream of making wine has almost always been realized at great personal expense. I guess that’s why these stories appeal to me because of the leap of faith required to go from winelover to winemaker.
Recently, “In Wine Country” was on a shoot in Oakland where despite a lack of vineyards, there is a thriving little wine community. On this day, we were following a harvest and crush at Adams Point Winery. Not a grape crush mind you, but a persimmon crush. I joined Adams Point owner, Bill Galarneau, for one of the most enjoyable shoots in recent memory, as we picked persimmons from a friend’s tree and then turned them into wine. We had a blast pulling the biggest Hachiya persimmons I’ve ever seen from an otherwise naked tree. Bill claims it was unintentional, but he even got me in the head with one ripe, jumbo persimmon as he pulled it from a limb. Stunned, but still standing, I managed to finish the harvest, laughing all the way.
From there, Bill showed me how he destems the persimmons, and turns the fruit into a delicious, light wine.  Because persimmons are not as sweet as ripe grapes, Bill does add some sugar to his wine, but the result is not super sweet or syrupy. Instead, the wine is more reminiscent of a fruity Chardonnay or Rosé. Bill says it’s very food-friendly, especially with Thai, Hawaiian and Caribbean dishes.  
Like most home winemakers, Bill says he started making wine in his Adams Point Oakland garage. When I asked him why persimmon wine, he told me he tried it when a friend was looking for someone to take some of the fruit from an abundant persimmon tree. The experiment was a good one.  Soon Bill’s home was so filled up with wine and winemaking equipment he was forced to move his operations to a warehouse space in Berkeley.    
Bill has won many awards for his Adams Point Persimmon wine and dessert wine, as well as his mango and papaya wines. He’s found a fun little niche in the local wine world.  You find Bill’s wine at www.adamspointwinery.com
Another one of my favorites was the story we did on Zayante Winery. It is owned Greg Nolton and his wife, Kathleen. Nolton is not only proprietor but also winemaker and vineyard manager. In addition to all of that, he is also a Santa Cruz County mail carrier. Greg works half days delivering the mail and then makes wine in his free time.
For Greg, the dream of owning a winery came long before his mail route. Greg fell in love with wine at UC Santa Cruz after taking a class in his senior year on winemaking and wine appreciation. That class changed Greg’s life.  
In the 1980 he bought a ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Grapes had grown there in the 1800s and it was Greg’s dream to replant the land to vineyards again. As we walked through one sloping vineyard, Greg told me he planted the first few of 17 acres alone, hammering in every single grape stake, stringing all of the trellis wire and planting each of the vines.
 He is still completely hands-on today, though he does get some help especially from wife Kathleen, their two children and Greg’s mother, Marion.
If you visit Zayante Winery, you won’t find a fancy tasting room or ornate buildings, but you will find some terrific wines including Chardonnay, Merlot, Zinfandel and Syrah. You can visit Zayante during Santa Cruz Mountains Passport days or schedule a private tasting.  You can reach them at www.zayantevineyards.com.
Another great “little engine that could” story is Pinder Winery in Campbell. Mechanical engineer John Pinder and his wife, Marie, a fifth grade teacher, started making wine in their garage to share with family and friends. Their “hobby” took on a life of its own until the Pinder’s outgrew their garage and became a bonded winery in 2001. They opened a winery, not in Napa or Sonoma, but in downtown Campbell.  
They purchase grapes from all over the state and make Pinot Noir, Syrah, Mourvedre, Cabernet, Syrah, Chardonnay and Viognier in limited quantities.
The Pinders are hands-on from crush through bottling, and once a week, you’ll find them running the tasting room at Pinder Winery. It’s only open Saturdays because the Pinders have kept their day jobs. They hope to focus on wine fulltime once they retire from teaching and engineering.
You can find Pinder Winery at www.pinderwinery.com.
These are just three of the many Bay Area mom-and-pop wineries that are worth supporting not only because of the blood, sweat and tears they’ve poured into realizing their dreams, but also because more often than not, they’re making fantastic wines. So do a little exploring off the beaten path in 2008. Look beyond some of the big names and you might find a great wine and a great story. Cheers to the little guy and his big dreams!