White Wines Emerging In Red-Wine Territory

Went to Amador County the other day just to taste white wines. Yes, that’s heretical, I recognize.

Since the start of the modern wine era in the Sierra Foothills half a century ago, Amador County has been identified almost solely with husky red wines, Zinfandel in particular.

White wines were an afterthought, something to have on hand in winery tasting rooms for tourists who feared red wine would give them a headache. In short, a white wine on the menu was akin to the obligatory vegan dish at a steakhouse.

As a consequence, when you ventured into Shenandoah Valley or Fiddletown you would find a Chardonnay here, a Sauvignon Blanc there, and that was about it. Chardonnay never much got established in the area, though Sauvignon Blanc now and then shines.

And that’s what vintners have coasted on for the past 50 years, for the most part. But that’s changing, starting about a decade ago.

Driven by curiosity, climate change, and a compulsion to diversify their portfolios, winemakers of Amador County today are turning out glassy, acute and refreshing white wines, most of them relatively new not just to the foothills but to California generally – varietal wines like Vermentino, Albariño, Roussanne, Marsanne, Viognier, Semillon, Arinto, Grenache Blanc, Greco di Tufo.

Regardless of a wine enthusiast’s focus – white, red, pink, dry, sweet, sparkling, still – this is a pretty exciting time to venture into the foothills with an open and exploratory mind.

My destination was just one winery, Bella Grace Vineyards, but its confidence in white wines in red-wine territory is growing, with its lineup of whites industrious and expansive. Bella Grace has two tasting venues – a cave at the estate itself in the middle of Shenandoah Valley, and a grand old home built in the 1850s in the middle of Sutter Creek.

In keeping with California’s endless winter, I met Steve Havill, the winery’s sales and product manager, in the cool and drippy cave.

Steve is one of the three sons of Charlie and Michael Havill, who founded Bella Grace Vineyards in 2006, starting with the purchase of 50 acres in Shenandoah Valley, 20 of them planted to grapevines. Two other sons also are involved in the spread – Jess, general manager of operations, and Robert, chef and cellar worker.

Michael Havill is the winery’s original winemaker, today assisted by lead winemaker Moises Acevedo Flores and consulting winemaker Joe Shebl, both longtime presences on the foothill wine scene. Michael Havill continues to play a role in determining wine style, which overall emphasizes forward aromas, transparent flavors and substantial builds offset by keen acidity.

It’s a busy crew, turning out between 10,000 and 12,000 cases per vintage. Their current list of available wines runs to some 30 choices, from sparkling wine to brandy. Anyone who shops at Costco in the Sacramento area will know Bella Grace, given that the chain stocks a whole lot of Bella Grace’s Sauvignon Blanc and Barbera.

About 60 percent of Bella Grace’s production is in red wine, largely Zinfandel and Barbera, but also Grenache Noir, Primitivo, Mourvedre and Cabernet Sauvignon.

By foothill standards, the 40 percent given over to white and pink wines represents an unusually high portion of a winery’s output, but the Havills are vested heavily in whites and look to expand releases, especially of Sauvignon Blanc and Vermentino. Their white-wine lineup also includes Grenache Blanc and Viognier.

Why is the family so confident in white wine for the foothills? Their curiosity was piqued by results of the 2012 California State Fair commercial wine competition, where the Bella Grace 2011 Amador County Grenache Blanc was declared the “best other white varietal wine” in the state. (At the same competition, the Bella Grace 2010 Amador County Barbera was acclaimed the best Barbera in the state.)

Since then, they have become even more convinced of the region’s suitability for green grapes. “Let’s do more,” Havill recalls his parents declaring as they found their Sauvignon Blanc, Vermentino and Viognier more and more impressive. (An exception was Roussanne, wines from which didn’t measure up to their standards, so they grafted the block to Albariño, using cuttings from Bokisch Vineyards of Lodi, long at the forefront of cultivating Iberian grape varieties in California.)

Their confidence that white wines do have a place in the foothills has been reinforced by other high awards on the wine-competition circuit. At the 2019 California State Fair commercial wine competition, the Bella Grace 2018 Amador County Grenache Blanc replicated the performance of the 2011 by being elected the best take on the varietal in the state. What’s more, in the same competition the Bella Grace 2018 Amador County Viognier was named the best example of the varietal.

Despite the success of their Grenache Blanc, the popularity of their Sauvignon Blanc, and the fun they are having with Viognier – more about that in a moment – the white wine that looks to excite them the most is Vermentino. They are ramping up its production, joining other grape growers and winemakers in Amador County who also are enthused about the variety’s potential in the foothills. (The family’s assurance in Vermentino was fueled in part by the Bella Grace 2016 Shenandoah Valley Vermentino, which was endorsed by judges at the 2017 California State Fair commercial wine competition not only as the best “other white varietal wine” in the judging but as the best white wine to come out of the entire Sierra Foothills American Viticultural Area.)

The Bella Grace Vineyards 2022 Amador County Estate Vermentino ($30) articulates clearly not only the variety’s thirst-quenching charm but the overall arc of the Bella Grace style – assertiveness in aroma, richness in flavor, luxuriousness in texture, and the unmistakable tracks of a grape’s fully realized expression. As with all their green grapes, the Bella Grace team gently presses the Vermentino by the whole cluster, thereby preserving the wine’s sweet fruitiness.

The most intriguing white wine in the Bella Grace lineup is Viognier. Make that Viogniers. They make two of them, each distinctive in its own way. The Bella Grace Vineyards 2022 Amador County “Vennell” Viognier ($38; very limited) was fermented and aged in new 500-liter puncheons of French oak, and stirred on its lees, giving the wine a round and substantive body, an intimation of smoke, and notes of vanilla, earth and spice. Viognier’s customary honeysuckle and peach are downplayed here in favor of an interpretation that could fulfill foothill aspirations to produce a traditionally hefty California Chardonnay without depending on Chardonnay. The “Vennell” represents an homage to the family’s French heritage.

In contrast, the winery’s other take on Viognier, the Bella Grace Vineyards 2022 Amador County “Cracked Egg” Viognier ($40), delivers a veritable arbor of honeysuckle and an orchard of peaches, with edgy acidity and a streamlined structure that gets right to the point of what the wine is all about. If there’s a thread of minerality to the wine, credit the concrete egg in which it was fermented and aged.

The “Cracked Egg” of the wine’s unusually artful label – designed by local artist Gigi Jones – is a joshing reference to a crack in the 420-gallon vessel, the consequence of being dropped by Charlie Havill as he took delivery and began to unload the egg with a forklift. Once patched, the egg fulfilled its mission to produce a Viognier citric and agile.

As to other white wines in the fold, the Bella Grace Vineyards 2022 Amador County Estate Grenache Blanc ($29) is as lemony as Buddha’s Hand citron in aroma, equally citric in flavor, and sturdy in body, making for a white wine of unusual spunk, weight and layering; the Bella Grace Vineyards 2022 Amador County Albariño ($30) is no less compelling for its generous fruit, solid build and vibrant energy; and the Bella Grace Vineyards 2022 Amador County Sauvignon Blanc ($25) is a riper, richer, sweeter and heftier interpretation than usual for the winery, but with a well-proportioned build and enough acidity to make it as appropriate at the table as it is on its own as a cocktail wine.

Charlie and Jess Havill attribute Bella Grace’s success with green grapes and white wines to the similarity in terroir between Amador County and European regions where the likes of Vermentino, Viognier and Albariño long have been well established

And Steve Havill adds: “The ‘proof is in the pudding.’ For more than 15 vintages…we have seen how they are received. We have customers ask every year when the new vintages are coming so they can stock up, because they all sell out.”