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| Gary Farrell Producer website
Beginning in the late 1970s, Gary Farrell was working with seminal Russian River Valley vintners such as Davis Bynum, Joe Rochioli, Tom Dehlinger and Robert Stemmler – a group that was instrumental in showcasing
the world-class Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays of the nascent Russian River Valley AVA, a breathtaking, redwood-studded wine region 55 miles north of San Francisco whose mighty river cuts a scenic swath through the
heart of Sonoma County. He made his first wine under the Gary Farrell label in 1982 and built the winery into one of the most acclaimed producers of small-lot Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays in the Russian River Valley.
Gary built a state-of-the-art winery in 2000 on a ridge overlooking the Russian River Valley. The barrel room and cellar reflect his legendary obsession with cleanliness, natural process flow, small-tank fermentations,
top-flight French oak cooperage and meticulous attention to detail. With its northeastern orientation, the "crush pad" houses custom belt systems for gently moving and hand-sorting grapes, European presses and
varying sizes of temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. The fermentation room is a winemaker’s dream with ample room between the rows of small custom-designed, open-top stainless steel tanks, raised tank pads
and pneumatic punch-down devices. The barrel rooms allow for precise temperature and humidity control to provide a perfect environment for fermentations and barrel aging.
Although he sold the winery in 2004, the Winery continues its collaborative partnerships with many of the same growers we’ve worked with for 30 years as well as Gary’s legacy of crafting wines that capture the unique
character of the vineyard.MerlotMerlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to be a diminutive of merle, the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the color of the grape. Its softness and "fleshiness", combined with its earlier ripening, makes Merlot a popular grape for blending with the sterner, later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, which tends to be higher in tannin.USAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Sonoma CountyMendocino CountySonoma CountySonoma Coast |
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