Mud Fest 2019 – 22nd Annual Anderson Valley Pinot Festival Conquers the Rain

Posted on   June 6,2019   By John Compisi

Somehow the amazing Anderson Valley Winegrowers produced another fabulous Pinot Noir Festival last weekend, their 22^nd.  Sure, they have beautiful environs with rolling hills, lush vineyards and rapturous grapes, but that can’t account for the consistently well organized, imaginatively produced and scrupulously executed event called the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival.  Guess that leaves the growers, winemakers and other AVA members that meticulously plan and execute this collaborative, fun and educational event. There are so many reasons why the Anderson Valley Pinot event leaps to the top of our list in a pleasantly crowded field of wonderful Pinot Noir Festivals in Northern California. Read on!

The festival moved to Camp Navarro in 2018 to escape the heat of the valley and that was a great move. Last year’s event was comfortable and dry, however, this year…not so much. The two days prior to festival kick-off saw inches of rain and a sea of mud. Friday, however, which features day long technical conferences and an evening BBQ had great cool and dry weather. The rains returned on Saturday and continued off and on throughout the day. No worries as the organizers did great planning and although you might get some drops on you from the parking lot to the tents you could easily remain dry and very happy throughout the grand tasting. This venue is truly beautiful and exquisite and includes numerous small cabinets for rental to avoid any driving after imbibing. There is also plenty of room for camping tents as well.  

Camp Navarro is located just over 130 miles northwest of San Francisco and about 45 miles west of Highway 101 (3rd Cloverdale exit). The Camp is 17 miles from Boonville and just over 11 miles west of Philo.  The 200+ acre camp sports enclosed and open-air cabins, teepees and a highly functional lodge with a Great Hall all surrounded by towering Redwoods.

From an AVA perspective, the Anderson Valley runs south east to north west for about 19 miles. It straddles scenic Highway 128 from the Yorkville Highlands AVA through Boonville and Philo and then ending at the town of Navarro about 15 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Anderson Valley is an undulating, lush, generally narrow valley paralleling the Navarro River (and 3 major tributaries) which is the source of much of the water needed for growing grapes. The valley and the surrounding hills and ridges are blanketed with horses, sheep, orchards, redwoods and vineyards. Breathtakingly idyllic. The proximity to the Pacific also accounts for the deep fog layers that come in late in the day to cool the hot days and slow the ripening process to allow grapes to gain the ripeness, acid and intensity needed for the complexity desired in wine grapes. 

The festival ran for three days beginning at 9:30 am Friday morning with ‘Technical Conferences’ which ran until 4:30 pm and included a delicious lunch. The lunch break featured wines brought by the various winemakers in attendance. Very cool to be sharing lunch with the winemaker sharing his or her wine.

The conferences are serious, informative and fun!  This year’s conference moderator was Gilian Handelman, Vice President of Education at Jackson Family Wines. Handelman did an exceptional job. Each of the various panels offered topics of interest to growers, winemakers, industry, media and consumers.  The presenter/panelists included representatives from the Nature Conservancy discussing the Navarro Watershed issues and progress, Glenn McGourty, from the UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE), providing an update on the ‘State of California Pinot Noir’, Patrick Comiskey from Wine & Spirits Magazine, offering an Anderson Valley Overview. Solectrac founder and CEO, Steve Heckeroth provided a passionate and interesting presentation, on his fully electric tractor. Steve brought one to the event that we could see up close.

Leading up to the lunch break, we had the opportunity to taste barrel samples of numerous 2018 AV Pinots organized by the various micro-climates in the AVA. Quite interesting how they varied in color, intensity and structure.

The Regional Round-table with five local winemakers kicked off right after lunch. The wines they presented were representative of the various micro-climates in the Valley. The final panel was called the Anderson Valley Marketplace which focused on the sale of AV wines through restaurants and other channels moderated by journalist Tim Teichgraber with panelists Master Somm Nick Hetzel (Jackson Family Wines), Sommelier Tonya Pitts, One Market Restaurant and Rent-a-Sommie, formerly Wine Director at Farallon San Francisco, Peter Palmer. The insights gained from these experts as we were guided through a tasting of four Pinot Noir from around the globe including Italy, New Zealand, Chile, and Australia were invaluable as we continue our wine education.

Friday’s activities concluded with a “Casual BBQ” hosted, this year, by Goldeneye on their tasting room grounds just east of the Camp Navarro and the town of Philo. The BBQ is always a highlight and the location rotates from year to year. Music by Boonfire, food and wine, of course, are the highlights and the BBQ.

As it should be, the Pinot Noir remains the star of the festival which culminates at the Grand Tasting on Saturday.  Again, this year, the Grand Tasting was hosted in a setting that may be impossible to replicate anywhere.

Large white event tents are set up and lining the perimeter of these tents are all the participating wineries showing off their Anderson Valley Pinot Noir.  Wineries from numerous other AVAs (Napa, Mendocino, Sonoma, Marin and Santa Cruz, for example) who source Pinot grapes from the Anderson Valley were there to celebrate these luscious wines.  Food purveyors were also there in force offering onsite wood fired pizza by Piaci, appetizer meatballs from Crush of Ukiah and many other delights.  When one needed a break from all the wine and food, the food court had space to enjoy the musicians performing there and to bid on some amazing silent auction lots.  

Saturday evening featured a couple different winemaker dinners and Sunday, virtually the entire valley wineries conducted open houses with complimentary tastings and varying degrees of food and music.

The Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association (AVWA) growers, winemakers and supporters (over 100 members including associate members) are an amazing team including scores of volunteers lead by the AVWA President Kristy Charles (Foursight Wines) and her team.  With five major events (the other four being the newly renamed Winterfest in February which features the amazing aromatics white wines from the valley, Alsace and elsewhere, their 7th Annual Barrel Tasting Weekend July 20-21), the return on November 7th 2019, of Taste of Anderson Valley and the AV Holiday Passport Weekend, December 14-15 2019. Of interest, the Barrel Tasting weekend includes neighboring AVA Yorkville Highlands. Kristy and her legions of supporters and members continually produce first class events that are educational as well as great fun.  Truly a credit to this organization and the people of Anderson Valley.

Perhaps, the best organized and friendliest wine tasting event you’ll ever experience. Add to that, it is in the heart of California’s fastest growing Pinot Noir producing region. No wonder it is totally sold out early each year. Don’t miss 2020!