Eight on Eighth Street East

Once synonymous with sprawling estates featuring almost everything from Tuscan architecture to lavishly landscaped courtyards, northern California wineries have spared no expense to create a memorable tasting experience for visitors. This image is being challenged, as iconoclastic winemakers have eschewed not only the pricey digs, but even public tasting rooms.
It’s a trend that can be observed from the light-industrial neighborhood on Santa Rosa’s west side to Sonoma’s east side. Probably the largest cluster of winemaking-only facilities in northern California is along Eighth Street East.
Whether motivated by economic factors or simple preference, the 15 or so wineries that have opened along Eighth Street East south of Napa Road in the past few years are located in warehouses. A far cry from traditional winery estates, these buildings look the same as those used for car parts and indoor soccer fields. But inside, winemaking equipment and thousands of wine barrels stacked on top of one another give the game away.
Opening a winery off the beaten path is often a matter of fiscal reality. A few of the Eighth Street facilities are used by large wineries who simply needed additional production space, but smaller producers often have to make hard choices about where to allocate their money. Faced with a decision between, say, building a winery or producing stellar wine, most of these pioneers have opted for the latter.
Without the fancy trappings, they and their fans keep the focus squarely on the end product. “Since they are definitely not coming for the view,” winemaker Steve MacRostie wrote in the Sun last year, “it is safe to say they are coming for the wines.”
Wine tasting is available at many of these wineries, but mostly only by appointment. By law, they are limited to four open houses a year. By custom, two of those are usually Carneros-based events.
On Saturday, Feb. 28, however, eight wineries are joining forces to present the first Eighth Street Wineries Open House. The one-day event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., will feature both current and new releases as well as library wines, barrel tastings and food pairings. For $20, guests can visit Anaba, Enkidu, MacRostie Winery and Vineyards, Parmelee-Hill Wines and Vineyards, Talisman Wines, Three Sticks, Tin Barn Vineyards and Ty Caton Vineyards.
Iconoclast winemakers are easy to identify – especially when the outgoing message on their company’s answering machine includes that day’s surf report. “Yeah, I like to surf,” said Don Van Staaveren, head winemaker. “But I only get to go maybe once a month.”
That’s because he’s too busy making wines from renowned Durell Vineyards, which bisects the Sonoma Valley, Sonoma Coast and Carneros appellations.
The 200-acre parcel is owned by Bill Price, who founded Three Sticks in 2002. In addition to Burgundian-style pinot noir and chardonnay, Van Staaveren has begun producing his specialty, cabernet sauvignon. A longtime winemaker and grower, he is still acclaimed for creating the 1996 Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cépages, named the “No. 1 Wine in the World” in the December 1999 issue of Wine Spectator.
Why is it called Three Sticks? “Because the owner’s name ends in III,” Van Staaveren said.
In the same complex, Anaba (owned by John Sweazey, who bought Castle) is named for a force of nature. The air currents that deliver cool breezes from the ocean and San Pablo Bay to the vineyards encounter steeper slopes and drift upward, becoming anabatic winds. Anaba make Burgundian-style chardonnays and pinots.
Tin Barn Vineyards was named for a road between Jenner and Fort Ross, according to winemaker Michael Lancaster, who launched the brand with friends in 2000 and was among the earliest winemakers to set up shop on Eighth Street.
By far the most intriguing nomenclature belongs to Enkidu. Winemaker Phil Staehle and his wife are students of history, philosophy and literature. The name derives from the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh and a pivotal character in it. So it’s not surprising to see some seriously dark wines: pinot noir, syrah and petite sirah were the inaugural varietals.
In all, these eight wineries produce some 17 varietals. Next weekend is your chance to taste them and meet their makers.

If you go….

Do some homework at the following Web sites to familiarize yourself with the Eighth Street wineries’ offerings. Visitors can pick up tickets (and a passport to be stamped at every winery and entered into a drawing for a mixed case of wine) at MacRostie Winery and Vineyards, the only participating member that is located on the west side of Eighth Street. (While you’re there, sample the pinot noirs and chardonnays, especially the chardonnay sourced from the Sonoma Coast vineyard.) If you want to sample other specific wines, be sure to pick up a map – or, most likely, you can just follow the crowds.

Anaba Winery
(address unavailable;
see winery map)
707.996.4188
www.anabawines.com;
inquiry@anabawines.com

Ty Caton Vineyards
(address unavailable;
see winery map)
707.833.0526
www.tycaton.com;
info@tycaton.com