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WINEMAKING John Fetzer's Saracina Vineyards is an attempt to showcase Modern Style for Old Soul Wines TECHNICAL REVIEW OR the fruit of Mendocino County By Andrew Adams CALIFORNIA CALIFORNIA Mendocino Ukiah Pacific Ocean Saracina Vineyards Santa Rosa Napa San Francisco NV Owner John Fetzer did much of the work building Saracina Vineyards' winery near Hopland, Calif., in Mendocino County. The tasting room (left) is near an entrance to the winery cave, which has another entry visible to the left of the winery. "The wine business in California will evolve down to two types of wineries: big, giant corporate-owned factories that turn out jug wines, (and) small, family- owned chateaux, which turn out the great wines," he said at the time. Fetzer's remarks were prophetic, even more than he would know. His family grew Fetzer Vineyards into a California giant and eventually sold it to an even larger corporate entity, Brown-Forman Corp. Following the sale, several of the Fetzer children went on to open their own small, premium wineries. (See Laurie Daniel's interview with Patti Fetzer in the January 2011 issue of Wines & Vines.) One of those small wineries is Saracina I Vineyards, founded by John Fetzer, who was the CEO of Fetzer Vineyards when the family sold the company in 1992. After the sale, Fetzer tended his vineyards and sold the grapes to other wineries in the North 26 WINES & VINES DECEMBER 2012 n an interview published in 1977, Bernard Fetzer, the founder of Fetzer Vineyards, said he foresaw an inevitable change for the Califor- nia wine industry. Coast. Fetzer said he didn't have plans to re-enter the market, but eventually he changed his mind. "Our house overlooks (Highway) 101, and I kept seeing all the grapes going south," he said. Chance to promote the county Growers in Mendocino County were shipping their fruit to wineries in Napa and Sonoma. Fetzer decided he had the opportunity and was still young enough to get back in the wine business to give Mendocino County the recognition it deserved. "I had no plans to get back into it, but I had one more chance to help promote the county and show what op- portunities are like here." Nearly 50 years ago, when Fetzer was still in high school, he and his father planted a Sauvignon Blanc vineyard at the family ranch in Redwood Valley, which was one of the first areas planted with winegrapes in the county. That vineyard, named Kathleen's Vineyard after Fetzer's mother, would later pro- duce the first 500 cases of the inaugural vintage of Saracina Vineyards. Fetzer said the Sauvignon Blanc "really portrays the flintiness and minerality that we're looking for" and has been a flagship wine for the winery. Its success—both critically and commercially—helped con- vinced Fetzer that he should build a brand to showcase Mendocino County fruit. Saracina now makes around 5,500 cases of wine per year, most of which is from estate vines or select vineyards in Mendocino County. The estate encom- passes 300 acres of planted vines, but Fetzer sells most of the fruit. The vines are either CCOF-certified organic or farmed Biodynamically, which have been hallmarks of the Fetzer family. The name Saracina comes from a Tuscan farmhouse where Fetzer and his wife, Patty Rock, spent their honeymoon. Fetzer said he designed the winery to facilitate quality winemaking with sustainable touches. He said he plans to have a solar energy system for the winery installed this spring. Fetzer's founding vision of the winery was to maintain a limited production while focusing on what he said the interior