I realize that I might be the only boozer at Roaring Shark, but I’ve decided in the name of eclecticism to write a post on one of my newish interests – California wine.  It will come as no surprise that California is by far the largest wine-producing area in the U.S., and one of the major players in global winemaking.  While other states may specialize in one or two wine styles (for example, Riesling and Gerwurztraminer in the Finger Lakes), California is large and geographically diverse enough to grow basically the full range of grapes and styles, from delicate Sauvignon Blancs to robust Cabernet Sauvignons.   If you buy wine grown in the U.S., there’s a very good chance it comes from somewhere in California.

Though California growing regions like Napa and Sonoma are well-known as winemaking and tourist destinations, it surprises many people – as it did me when I moved out here – that a good deal of the California wine consumed in the U.S. is grown and/or produced in places other than Napa and Sonoma: value-brand wine giant Bogle, for example, is based in the Sacramento Delta (literally down the road from my house), while a lot of Zinfandel is grown in Lodi, in California’s Central Valley.  Beyond quantity, there’s a lot of really great wine produced outside California’s marquee growing regions – a fact that I’ve tried to reflect in this list of five of my favorite red wines from California:

August Briggs 2007 Napa Valley Pinot Meunier – approx. $40-45 through August Briggs’ wine club

OK, August Briggs is technically located in Napa Valley, but this small family operation is based in the town of Calistoga, near the valley’s northern tip, and a good deal up the road from most of the Napa Valley players.  Joe Briggs is a respected winemaker who lends his services to vineyards across the state – the wines sold under the label Castle Rock (which makes some solid, well-priced Pinot Noirs) are made by Mr. Briggs.  August Briggs is the winemaker’s own outfit, and they make some great wine.  While nothing sold under the August Briggs label is anything approaching sub-par, they’re particularly strong in Pinot Noir, the silky and sometimes temperamental red popularized by the character Miles from the movie Sideways.  August Briggs also excels at Pinot Noir’s lighter cousin Pinot Meunier, which is widely grown in France but is seldom found stateside.  Their Pinot Meunier is smooth and delicious, with a very light red color – about as light as you’ll find in a red wine.  One of my favorite wines of all time.

Breggo 2007 Anderson Valley Ferrington Vineyard Pinot Noir – approx. $50 at the winery

Moving north from Calistoga to Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley, we arrive at Breggo Cellars, an exceptional operation that makes, simply put, some of the best wines I’ve ever tasted.  Like August Briggs, you pretty much can’t go wrong with Breggo wines – their Chardonnay (which I normally dislike) is great, their Syrah is also excellent, and their Pinot Noirs, which are lighter in style and more Burgundian than their Napa cousins (due to Anderson Valley’s cooler climate), are delicious.  Of the two Pinots I’ve tasted at Breggo – the 2007 Donnelly Creek and the 2007 Ferrington Vineyard, my favorite is the Ferrington, which gives the August Briggs Pinots a serious run for their money.  The price tag may seem exorbitant, but to paraphrase both Blackstreet and Smoove B, this is wine on another level.

Boeger 2007 Primitivo – approximately $15 at the winery

If you’re feeling broke and Pinot-ed out after August Briggs and Breggo, head southeast to the Sierra foothills and El Dorado County (curiously, the center of the California gold rush), where some very good Zinfandel is grown.  For decades Zinfandel was synonymous with California red wine, which is somewhat ironic, given the wine’s oddball taste (simultaneously fruity, rustic, and very tannic) and its mysterious provenance – long a genetic mystery, Zinfandel has recently been revealed as Croatian in origin.  While Zinfandel can be very good, its often unbalanced and excessive taste can be off-putting.  Primitivo, which is also grown in southern Italy, is a genetically identical grape to Zinfandel but has a thicker skin and a brighter, more contained taste, and provides a nice alternative to Zin.  Boeger makes one of my favorite Primitivos, and for $15, it’s a steal by the inflated standards of the California wine economy.  While some wines demand to be paired with heavy food or are prohibitively costly for all but the most special of occasions, Primitivo is versatile and relatively affordable.  You can happily enjoy this wine on its own or with pizza and not stress about it.

Bray 2007 Barbera – approximately $20 a bottle at the winery

Bray Vineyards is based in Plymouth, California, in the rolling, seemingly barren hills of the Shenandoah Valley in Amador County.  Along with Lodi, Amador is one of California’s workhorse wine regions, providing winemakers with a good deal of their Zinfandel grapes – if you drink a Zinfandel made by a Napa or Sonoma winery, you’re probably drinking wine grown from Amador or Lodi grapes.  These days, Amador, where wine was pioneered in California by Italian immigrants, is quickly emerging as a hotspot for Italian-style reds like Sangiovese and Barbera, along with Tempranillo, which is widely grown in Spain.  Bray’s 2007 Barbera is the best Shenandoah Valley Barbera I’ve tasted of a good bunch.  It’s similar to the Boeger Primitivo, equally bright but with a bit more body.  And you’ll look like a wine expert if you show up at a dinner party with a bottle from Amador, which will give you the excuse to tell your yuppie peers that if they want to drink “real California wine,” they should ditch Napa and Sonoma and check out Amador.

Sawbuck 2007 Malbec­ – approximately $11 retail in Yolo County, CA

Local boys Sawbuck hail from Yolo County, home of UC Davis and a region known more as an intellectual hub of winemaking than for the quality of the wine actually produced here.  But there are some solid wines made in Yolo, which incidentally abuts Napa Valley to the east.  One of my all-time Yolo favorites is Berryessa Gap’s Horseshoe White blend, and another is Sawbuck’s 2007 Malbec.  Unlike Sawbuck’s 2006 Malbec, which tasted dusty and lacked Malbec’s requisite bright fruit (think blackberry), this one tastes like a Malbec should – though curiously, it is blended with several other grapes.  And at $11, it’s competitive with the Argentine Malbecs that dominate the market.  For me, I like supporting local agriculture and don’t like the pollution that comes from global shipping, so I happily buy Sawbuck’s Malbec instead of comparable entry-level Malbecs from Doña Paula or Norton.  That said, the Sawbuck Malbec is certainly not comparable to some of the better Malbecs from Argentina, which tend to start around $15-$20.  If you want something a bit fancier, I’d go with the Malbec from Crios.

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