Wine Tributaries
by Tim Hayes & John Koetzner

     Meanwhile, Abele Ferrari immigrated to America and landed a job at Italian Swiss Colony in 1904. By 1906, he would purchase the Healdsburg Machine Shop and start manufacturing winemaking equipment, most notably the Healdsburg Crusher, for which he held eleven patents. That equipment is still the backbone of the winemaking process today, and the Demostenes are proud of their grandfather's role in helping shape the industry. Later during Prohibition, land values decreased and Abele bought Soda Rock Ranch & Winery in 1923.

     Leo Demostene, Manuele's son, married Abele's daughter Rose in 1936, and they began living at Soda Rock Winery, with Leo taking on winemaking chores. By 1956, Rose and Leo purchased Sausal Ranch and moved there with their four children, Cindy, Peachie, Ed, and Dave, involving them in the ranch operations.

     Today, the four siblings run Sausal Winery, established in 1973, the year of their father's death, fulfilling a dream he had for building a family winery.

     "I learned winemaking from my father," Dave Demostene said, "but I also have taken some classes at UC Davis to keep up with the latest techniques." The wines definitely reflect the best of old world winemaking mixed with new age technology.

     But the linchpin to the whole operation is the grapes, with Zinfandel being the focus. Their vineyards have Zinfandel vines that are 120 years old as well as younger plantings. But the majority of their Zinfandel wines would be classified as coming from old vine Zinfandel.  Brother Ed Demostene is the vineyard manager, tending to their century vines, as well as newer plantings such as Sangiovese. "We have tried some different trellising methods over the years as the industry has matured. I've found that we keep learning about vines, and sometimes some methods work better than others. That old Zin is great," Ed said, "and we've done some budding with it."

      Rounding out the family operation is their sisters Peachie and Cindy. Peachie runs the tasting room and Cindy is the business manager. "Each of us has specialized in making one part of the winery operation work well," Cindy said. The result of such a division of labor has been to create an efficient, premiere boutique winery that produces about 14,000 cases of premium wine a year.

      While visiting their tasting room recently, we had the opportunity to taste a number of the Sausal wines. It was a real treat, because Zinfandel is one of our favorite varietals, and Sausal makes plenty of styles to choose from for any Zin aficionado.

     Our favorite was the 1995 Century Vines Zinfandel ($18.00). It has a pepper, spice, and cherry nose with complex layers of rich cherry and berry fruit that leads into a long lingering finish with soft tannins. They only produced 450 cases, so this is one that will disappear soon. Next, we enjoyed the 1995 Private Reserve Zinfandel (16.00) with its deep ruby color, cigar box and cherry aromas, intense berry fruit that glides across the palate into a soft, lingering finish. Both are excellent examples of Zinfandel and would be a welcome addition to any wine cellar.

     Even the Sausal general release Zinfandels are terrific wines. We tasted both the 1995 and the 1996.  The 1995 ($10.00) has a berry and pepper nose with raspberry and blackberry fruit, soft tannins and an excellent finish. Although it is younger, the 1996 ($10.00) is just as nice. It has earthy and berry aromas, black cherry and berry flavors with medium tannins. Both should age nicely over the next several years.

     We also need to note a special release for Sausal Winery's 25th anniversary. They have bottled 200 cases of a wine called Sogni d'Oro ($35.00), a blend of Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Malbec. It is a big, dark ruby-colored wine with a spicy, peppery nose, intense layers of jammy berry fruit over soft oak undertones, with soft tannins that lead into a lingering finish. Since it is in limited supply, this one will be available for only a short time.

     Their celebration will include finger foods, accordion music, wine tasting, a commemorative glass, and limited edition wines for a nominal fee of $5.00. So don't miss visiting Sausal Winery August 1 and 2 to get a taste of Alexander Valley's history. Later in the month, on August 15, they will be doing a dinner dance where the celebration should take off even more. We found a visit to Sausal was a celebration of vine to wine.

© 1999 by Tim Hayes & John Koetzner. All Rights Reserved. Wine Tributaries is hosted by Wines on the Internet.