Guy Davis and his wine-making family were all out late last Sunday night even though they knew they needed to get up by 3 a.m. to pick ripening syrah grapes from their vineyard.
But, if ever anyone had a good excuse for late Sunday night partying, it was the Davis’ because they were being honored with this year’s this year’s Sonoma County Harvest Fair white wine sweepstakes prize for their 2016 Russian River Valley Chardonnay.
“It (gala awards night) was a real happy event,” said son Cooper. “Our while family was there. It’s a real honor to be part of a community of so many makers.” The rest of the Davis family includes wife and mother Judy and Cooper’s brother Cole, the cellar master.
The sweepstakes-winning chardonnay was grown on the first vineyard Guy Davis purchased in 1996, which he named Soul Patch. It is located on an eastern-facing slope near the Laguna de Santa Rosa on Laguna Road.
“It was an abandoned old vine zinfandel vineyard when my dad found it,” said Cooper. “It’s actually in one of the coldest pockets of the Russian River Valley and we typically harvest very late compared to others.”
Grapes for the 2016 Davis Family Vineyards Russian River Valley Chardonnay were picked on Sept. 25, 2016. The wine is a blend of both barrel-aged and stainless steel fermented grapes. Only 400 cases of the sweepstakes wine was made.
“We still have some available,” said Cooper. “The best bet would probably be to come to our tasting room.” Davis Family Vineyards is located at 52 Front Street in Healdsburg, on the Russian River near Memorial Bridge.
Across the county, On John Balletto had 100 tons of grapes to harvest from his vineyard. By 10 a.m. the dusty deed was done and the Sebastopol winery owner took a well-deserved rest after also being at the late-night Harvest Fair gala awards night. Balletto’s 2014 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir won the fair’s red wine sweepstakes.
“Most of the time we are working hard but we had a great party and it is a special honor to be part of an industry with so many great people,” said Balletto, whose winery also won three best of class and 11 gold medals.
The Sonoma County Harvest Fair sweepstake award is viewed as a top prize in international wine judging and adds quite a wallop to a winery’s marketing position and overall reputation.
Gloria Ferrer won the sparkling wine sweepstakes honor.
The public gets to taste the sweepstakes winners along with 400 other medal-winning wines at this weekend’s 43rd annual Sonoma County Harvest Fair (Oct. 6-8) at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. Besides wine tasting, the fair offers beer, cider and professional chef food tastings. General admission is just $5, with admission to the Grand Tasting Pavillion $65 extra and for adults 21 and over only.
The Balletto 2014 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir was crafted by winemaker Anthony Beckman from eight different vineyards owned by Balletto. Most of the vines are 14-19 years old. The wine retails for $30 a bottle and Balletto said 8,280 cases were produced.
“It (2014) was a perfect year for us,” said Balletto, who has been farming for 40 years and almost before he had graduated from Analy High School. “The weather was a big factor. It produced a really nice crop and we were able to harvest everything just when wanted to. After that, it was left up to our winemaking team led by Andy.”
Last Sunday’s gala Awards Night was held in the midst of the ongoing 2017 winegrape harvest which is about 85 percent complete across the Balletto vineyards, John reported.
Unlike the 2014 season, Balletto said this year has been the “craziest weather year” of his whole career. A Labor Day heat spike with temperatures over 110 degrees even in the cooler regions of the Sebastopol hills of the Russian River Valley appellation, forced most grape vines to “shut down” and blocked their sugar levels.
Balletto and other growers began to water their vines and also took maneuvers to avoid sunburn to exposed grape clusters. But then a freak late summer thunder storm dumped .2 inches of rain over the county and the mature vines became more confused.
“It’s been very frustrating,” said Balletto. “We work hard and we don’t mind when sometimes we can get a little good luck.”
This year’s Harvest Fair proceedings began almost a month ago, when a large panel of 20 professional wine judges convened to sample and rate 1,016 entries. All of the wines must be produced from grapes grown in Sonoma County. (Blends with grapes from other locations are allowed.)
Wines are judged in categories divided by varietal and price range. Winning wines are awarded gold, silver and bronze medals, with some wines earning double gold and best of class.
The fair opens at 4 p.m. on Friday and runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. A series of world champion grape stomps take place over the weekend and the fairgrounds is also the site of live music, harvest-time displays, chef demonstrations, art chow and a classic car exhibition.
Amateur contests in food and wine divisions also were held and some of the top prize winners will be on display.
All of the medal-winning professional wines will be available for retail sales at the Harvest Fair.
