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Feature Article
Tale of Two Valleys
Alexander Valley’s history, like its geography, splits down the middle
by
Thom Elkjer
October 4, 2005
Imagine a valley with just one side. It’s impossible of course, because valleys are one of nature’s most elegant symmetries. But people are another matter. The early settlers of Alexander Valley clearly saw their “valley” as the western flank of the Mayacamas mountains, where the benchlands rolled down to meet the Russian River.
What, you might wonder, did they consider the other side of the river?
It, too, slopes up into low mountains, and the Italian Swiss Colony had more than 200 acres under vine there as early as the 1880s. To early settlers, however, the west side was “the plaines” or “the ranchos.” The notion that “Alexander Valley” was only half of the real valley persisted for generations, and it still hasn’t given up the ghost.
The entire valley received official status as an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in 1984. The definition conforms closely to the watershed which frames the Russian River as it runs southeast from the Mendocino County line down to Chalk Hill. At that point, hard by the city of Healdsburg, the river doubles back on itself twice before deciding to head southwest through Russian River Valley. The 22-mile-long Alexander Valley AVA also includes the west-side towns of Cloverdale and Geyserville, yet long-time valley vintners sometimes have to remind themselves mid-sentence that those towns are included in their AVA (not to mention their valley).
The oldest vineyards go back to 1843, when Cyrus Alexander sent an assistant out to Fort Ross, on the Pacific coast, to collect cuttings from vines abandoned by departed Russian colonists years earlier. Numerous other vineyards and small wineries popped up along the eastern benchlands, and by the 1880s, the newspapers in Healdsburg, Santa Rosa, and San Francisco were cataloging vintners and acreage and praising the wine – the Zinfandel in particular.
Still, the valley was best known for the natural geysers and hot springs in the mountains above it, and for the nearby veins of quicksilver (mercury) that caused a brief mining boom. The fact that both the mines and the geysers were on the east side seems to have cemented the separation of the valley into two halves. Then another sort of separation occurred, a temporal one, which altered the course of winemaking in the Alexander Valley.
The break began when phylloxera swept into Napa, devastating vineyards there. Napa wineries quickly took the shortest route they had to healthy vineyards: through Knights Valley to the eastern side of Alexander Valley. The winegrowers there could just have easily sold their grapes to the wineries across the river in Healdsburg and Geyserville. But old notions die hard, and the growers sent their grapes to Napa Valley instead. Then phylloxera came to their vineyards as well, and by the time they had replanted and were thinking about building their own wineries, prohibition and two major wars came along to complete the break. Many farmers replaced their vines with fruit trees, and the valley passed into rural anonymity.
It still has that character today, despite the fact that vines now cover more than 14,000 acres of the valley’s 75,000 total acres. This is farm country, with almost no trace of urbanization in the vinelands. The river and the proximity to the ocean conspire to keep the air moist much of the time, so the valley often appears wrapped in a nostalgic haze that softens edges and evokes intimacy. Many families have been here for generations, and you can understand why.
The valley’s second chapter in wine began in 1963, when the Sonoma County Farm Advisor convinced one of the valley’s leading orchard owners, Robert Young, to plant premium grape vines. There were still few wineries in Alexander Valley, so Young sold grapes outside the AVA as his predecessors had. One of the wineries that bought the Chardonnay was Chateau St. Jean in Sonoma Valley. A young winemaker there named Richard Arrowood produced such a standout wine from the Young Chardonnay that the owners decided to do something completely new with the 1975 vintage: put the name of the vineyard on the label. What caused a commotion then is commonplace today.
Arrowood eventually built his own winery in Sonoma Valley, but he still sounds like an enthusiastic booster of the valley where he began his illustrious career. “Alexander Valley has so many marvelous microclimates and exceptional vineyards,” he says. “When we started the single-vineyard wines in the 1970s, it wasn’t about money or convenience, because it took more time and money than making just one blend. We did it because the grapes were so good.”
The first comprehensive tasting of the AVA which I did in 2002 turned up just 36 wines with the appellation on the label -- a surprisingly low number for a region with (at the time) 150 growers. Furthermore, a good number of the best bottlings came from wineries outside the valley. The number of farmers has swelled somewhat since then, but the number of AVA-designated wines has hardly moved. The reason is simple: There are only 45 bonded wineries in the AVA, according to the Alexander Valley Growers Association. Napa Valley alone has more than ten times as many.
Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon are still the best-known varietals, but there is comparable acreage of Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, and Zinfandel. Because the valley’s emphasis is selling grapes, not making wine, crop loads tend to be higher on average than in other marquee areas. Flavor development, possibly as a direct result, tends to be a bit less ripe.
The valley’s few wineries separate into two clear categories: the smaller, heritage properties line the eastern edge of the valley, while the larger, corporate-style wineries are all west of the river. Many visitors hop off the highway to hit Chateau Souverain, Clos du Bois, Geyser Peak, and Jordan, completely unaware of the history and authenticity that lie just a few miles away, across the river. This split extends to the valley’s largest city, Healdsburg, which is west of the river and thus is historically more aligned with Dry Creek Valley and Russian River Valley. Never mind that most Alexander Valley wineries have a Healdsburg address. When renowned chef Charlie Palmer opened his much-heralded restaurant in town, he called it “Dry Creek Kitchen.”
East-siders don’t mind this, actually. They’ve had their own unofficial capital since 1893, when James (“Jim”) Patrick opened a mercantile store on the busy road from Geyserville up to the geysers in the eastern hills. Soon a blacksmith set up shop next door, and valley residents built their first permanent church nearby in 1896. Patrick’s store was the east side’s only post office until 1904. Its designation in postal directories was “Alexander Valley, Calif.,” though everyone knew it as “Jimtown.”
Today, the Jimtown Store is still a general mercantile outlet, albeit one with a quirky charm that captivates visitors of all ages. It appears that everyone who lives or works in the area stops by for a bite to eat or a few groceries (you can tell the vintners by the cell phones on their belts). “Jimtown Store is the clubhouse for the community, and that started long before we got here,” says Carrie Brown, who bought and reopened the store in 1991 with her late husband, John Warner. “This is a cozy, rural, farming valley, even if the farming is about wine, and that’s what we’re set up to serve.”
Jimtown is right on State Route 128, one of California’s most atmospheric back roads. To drive this road is to understand why “Alexander Valley” traditionally meant the first few terraces up from the valley floor toward the Mayacamas. The route is actually a sequence of original wagon routes, country lanes, and property boundaries, giving you a distinct feel for how the area developed. The roadbed is also placed at the ideal elevation: high enough to give you the occasional valley view, but low enough to keep you on intimate terms with the vineyards, small family-run wineries, and Victorian farmhouses you pass along the way. It’s a sharp contrast with the grand, sweeping views from the big wineries on the west side of the river, which seem to be not only in another appellation, but in another century.
My favorite way to see Alexander Valley is to head for Geyserville on U.S. 101, then cross Russian River heading east on 128. Almost instantly, you’re in lovely, unpretentious wine country where time seems to stand still. Murphy-Goode and deLorimier are on your way toward the area Cyrus Alexander first settled in 1843, where historic properties still evoke the past. These include Hank and Maggie Wetzel's Alexander Valley Vineyards as well as Sausal Winery, White Oak Winery, Hanna Winery and Field Stone Winery, the latter with stone-lined caves and century-old Petite Sirah vines. When you get that far, you’re just outside Healdsburg, where the Seghesio family is going strong three generations after their winemaking forebears arrived in the valley. Simi Winery is another historic stop in town, and Trentadue has its tasting room there. North of Healdsburg near U.S. 101 are the larger, Napa-style operations of Chateau Souverain, Clos du Bois, Geyser Peak, and Jordan. Chateau Souverain is one of the few wineries in California with a restaurant, and it’s a good one. Book ahead at (707) 433-3141.
For lodging and dining almost everyone turns to Healdsburg, which is also convenient to Russian River Valley to the southwest or Dry Creek Valley to the northwest. If you want a more authentic experience with no loss of convenience, head for Geyserville and Hope-Merrill House, one of the most Victorian of B&Bs anywhere. In the 1880s, when the geysers above Alexander Valley were a nationally known tourist attraction, visitors came to Geyserville by stage coach before making day trips to the hot springs. Hope-Merrill House was where they stayed, and you can relive their experience among the fringed, carved, and lace-covered décor of the inn’s two mansions. Be sure to ask about events at the nearby Cloverdale fairgrounds and other venues. Would-be winemakers, take note: the inn’s owners, Ron and Cosette Scheiber, offer a special package that includes two weekends at the winery, picking grapes and making wine, winery tours, meals, and more. 21253 Geyserville Avenue, Geyserville, 95441, (800) 825-4233; www.hope-inns.com.
Just down the road are two good restaurants: Santi is clean-lined and understated, with adroitly updated traditional Italian fare. 21047 Geyserville Avenue, (707) 857-1790. Geyser Smokehouse serves up serious Texas-style barbecue in an old-time western saloon. 21021 Geyserville Avenue, (707) 857-4600. Across the street is Bosworth & Sons General Merchandise, where you can find quality western wear, garden hardware, and tack for your horse.
Take a break from wine-tasting (and everything else) at the Jimtown Store, where you can easily while away an hour among Americana, antiques and artifacts of all descriptions. You can also get a tasty breakfast or lunch. They’ll happily box it up for you, but you’ll have more fun sitting at a formica-topped table or the tin-covered counter in the front window and watching the valley roll by. 6706 State Highway 128, Healdsburg, 95448, (707) 433-1212; www.jimtown.com.
What, you might wonder, did they consider the other side of the river?
It, too, slopes up into low mountains, and the Italian Swiss Colony had more than 200 acres under vine there as early as the 1880s. To early settlers, however, the west side was “the plaines” or “the ranchos.” The notion that “Alexander Valley” was only half of the real valley persisted for generations, and it still hasn’t given up the ghost.
The entire valley received official status as an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in 1984. The definition conforms closely to the watershed which frames the Russian River as it runs southeast from the Mendocino County line down to Chalk Hill. At that point, hard by the city of Healdsburg, the river doubles back on itself twice before deciding to head southwest through Russian River Valley. The 22-mile-long Alexander Valley AVA also includes the west-side towns of Cloverdale and Geyserville, yet long-time valley vintners sometimes have to remind themselves mid-sentence that those towns are included in their AVA (not to mention their valley).
The oldest vineyards go back to 1843, when Cyrus Alexander sent an assistant out to Fort Ross, on the Pacific coast, to collect cuttings from vines abandoned by departed Russian colonists years earlier. Numerous other vineyards and small wineries popped up along the eastern benchlands, and by the 1880s, the newspapers in Healdsburg, Santa Rosa, and San Francisco were cataloging vintners and acreage and praising the wine – the Zinfandel in particular.
Still, the valley was best known for the natural geysers and hot springs in the mountains above it, and for the nearby veins of quicksilver (mercury) that caused a brief mining boom. The fact that both the mines and the geysers were on the east side seems to have cemented the separation of the valley into two halves. Then another sort of separation occurred, a temporal one, which altered the course of winemaking in the Alexander Valley.
The break began when phylloxera swept into Napa, devastating vineyards there. Napa wineries quickly took the shortest route they had to healthy vineyards: through Knights Valley to the eastern side of Alexander Valley. The winegrowers there could just have easily sold their grapes to the wineries across the river in Healdsburg and Geyserville. But old notions die hard, and the growers sent their grapes to Napa Valley instead. Then phylloxera came to their vineyards as well, and by the time they had replanted and were thinking about building their own wineries, prohibition and two major wars came along to complete the break. Many farmers replaced their vines with fruit trees, and the valley passed into rural anonymity.
It still has that character today, despite the fact that vines now cover more than 14,000 acres of the valley’s 75,000 total acres. This is farm country, with almost no trace of urbanization in the vinelands. The river and the proximity to the ocean conspire to keep the air moist much of the time, so the valley often appears wrapped in a nostalgic haze that softens edges and evokes intimacy. Many families have been here for generations, and you can understand why.
The valley’s second chapter in wine began in 1963, when the Sonoma County Farm Advisor convinced one of the valley’s leading orchard owners, Robert Young, to plant premium grape vines. There were still few wineries in Alexander Valley, so Young sold grapes outside the AVA as his predecessors had. One of the wineries that bought the Chardonnay was Chateau St. Jean in Sonoma Valley. A young winemaker there named Richard Arrowood produced such a standout wine from the Young Chardonnay that the owners decided to do something completely new with the 1975 vintage: put the name of the vineyard on the label. What caused a commotion then is commonplace today.
Arrowood eventually built his own winery in Sonoma Valley, but he still sounds like an enthusiastic booster of the valley where he began his illustrious career. “Alexander Valley has so many marvelous microclimates and exceptional vineyards,” he says. “When we started the single-vineyard wines in the 1970s, it wasn’t about money or convenience, because it took more time and money than making just one blend. We did it because the grapes were so good.”
The first comprehensive tasting of the AVA which I did in 2002 turned up just 36 wines with the appellation on the label -- a surprisingly low number for a region with (at the time) 150 growers. Furthermore, a good number of the best bottlings came from wineries outside the valley. The number of farmers has swelled somewhat since then, but the number of AVA-designated wines has hardly moved. The reason is simple: There are only 45 bonded wineries in the AVA, according to the Alexander Valley Growers Association. Napa Valley alone has more than ten times as many.
Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon are still the best-known varietals, but there is comparable acreage of Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, and Zinfandel. Because the valley’s emphasis is selling grapes, not making wine, crop loads tend to be higher on average than in other marquee areas. Flavor development, possibly as a direct result, tends to be a bit less ripe.
The valley’s few wineries separate into two clear categories: the smaller, heritage properties line the eastern edge of the valley, while the larger, corporate-style wineries are all west of the river. Many visitors hop off the highway to hit Chateau Souverain, Clos du Bois, Geyser Peak, and Jordan, completely unaware of the history and authenticity that lie just a few miles away, across the river. This split extends to the valley’s largest city, Healdsburg, which is west of the river and thus is historically more aligned with Dry Creek Valley and Russian River Valley. Never mind that most Alexander Valley wineries have a Healdsburg address. When renowned chef Charlie Palmer opened his much-heralded restaurant in town, he called it “Dry Creek Kitchen.”
East-siders don’t mind this, actually. They’ve had their own unofficial capital since 1893, when James (“Jim”) Patrick opened a mercantile store on the busy road from Geyserville up to the geysers in the eastern hills. Soon a blacksmith set up shop next door, and valley residents built their first permanent church nearby in 1896. Patrick’s store was the east side’s only post office until 1904. Its designation in postal directories was “Alexander Valley, Calif.,” though everyone knew it as “Jimtown.”
Today, the Jimtown Store is still a general mercantile outlet, albeit one with a quirky charm that captivates visitors of all ages. It appears that everyone who lives or works in the area stops by for a bite to eat or a few groceries (you can tell the vintners by the cell phones on their belts). “Jimtown Store is the clubhouse for the community, and that started long before we got here,” says Carrie Brown, who bought and reopened the store in 1991 with her late husband, John Warner. “This is a cozy, rural, farming valley, even if the farming is about wine, and that’s what we’re set up to serve.”
Jimtown is right on State Route 128, one of California’s most atmospheric back roads. To drive this road is to understand why “Alexander Valley” traditionally meant the first few terraces up from the valley floor toward the Mayacamas. The route is actually a sequence of original wagon routes, country lanes, and property boundaries, giving you a distinct feel for how the area developed. The roadbed is also placed at the ideal elevation: high enough to give you the occasional valley view, but low enough to keep you on intimate terms with the vineyards, small family-run wineries, and Victorian farmhouses you pass along the way. It’s a sharp contrast with the grand, sweeping views from the big wineries on the west side of the river, which seem to be not only in another appellation, but in another century.
My favorite way to see Alexander Valley is to head for Geyserville on U.S. 101, then cross Russian River heading east on 128. Almost instantly, you’re in lovely, unpretentious wine country where time seems to stand still. Murphy-Goode and deLorimier are on your way toward the area Cyrus Alexander first settled in 1843, where historic properties still evoke the past. These include Hank and Maggie Wetzel's Alexander Valley Vineyards as well as Sausal Winery, White Oak Winery, Hanna Winery and Field Stone Winery, the latter with stone-lined caves and century-old Petite Sirah vines. When you get that far, you’re just outside Healdsburg, where the Seghesio family is going strong three generations after their winemaking forebears arrived in the valley. Simi Winery is another historic stop in town, and Trentadue has its tasting room there. North of Healdsburg near U.S. 101 are the larger, Napa-style operations of Chateau Souverain, Clos du Bois, Geyser Peak, and Jordan. Chateau Souverain is one of the few wineries in California with a restaurant, and it’s a good one. Book ahead at (707) 433-3141.
For lodging and dining almost everyone turns to Healdsburg, which is also convenient to Russian River Valley to the southwest or Dry Creek Valley to the northwest. If you want a more authentic experience with no loss of convenience, head for Geyserville and Hope-Merrill House, one of the most Victorian of B&Bs anywhere. In the 1880s, when the geysers above Alexander Valley were a nationally known tourist attraction, visitors came to Geyserville by stage coach before making day trips to the hot springs. Hope-Merrill House was where they stayed, and you can relive their experience among the fringed, carved, and lace-covered décor of the inn’s two mansions. Be sure to ask about events at the nearby Cloverdale fairgrounds and other venues. Would-be winemakers, take note: the inn’s owners, Ron and Cosette Scheiber, offer a special package that includes two weekends at the winery, picking grapes and making wine, winery tours, meals, and more. 21253 Geyserville Avenue, Geyserville, 95441, (800) 825-4233; www.hope-inns.com.
Just down the road are two good restaurants: Santi is clean-lined and understated, with adroitly updated traditional Italian fare. 21047 Geyserville Avenue, (707) 857-1790. Geyser Smokehouse serves up serious Texas-style barbecue in an old-time western saloon. 21021 Geyserville Avenue, (707) 857-4600. Across the street is Bosworth & Sons General Merchandise, where you can find quality western wear, garden hardware, and tack for your horse.
Take a break from wine-tasting (and everything else) at the Jimtown Store, where you can easily while away an hour among Americana, antiques and artifacts of all descriptions. You can also get a tasty breakfast or lunch. They’ll happily box it up for you, but you’ll have more fun sitting at a formica-topped table or the tin-covered counter in the front window and watching the valley roll by. 6706 State Highway 128, Healdsburg, 95448, (707) 433-1212; www.jimtown.com.
