This time of year we’re often shifting gears to the cozier heartier things. Boots, vests, big sweaters, soup, and red wine. Don’t get me wrong, rich whites are really great this time of year too, but there’s something about the chill of the fall air that goes so nicely with some rich red wine. So this week I’m featuring one of my favourite California wineries, Marietta Cellars.

Marietta is the kind of operation that I’d want to have if I owned a winery. And northern California is the kind of place I’d love to live (minus the forest fires). The mountains, the hunting, the fly fishing, living off the land, and making great wine with so many interesting micro-climates. The only thing I’d do different is grow Pinot Noir as well, but I guess that’s why I love Masut Winery so much, pretty much a micro version of Marietta for Pinot Noir.

The original cow barn turned winery in Geyserville.

Marietta Cellars is a bit of a unique operation, it’s not your conventional commercial California winery. It was started by Chris Bilbro in the late 1970’s when he quit his hospital administration job in Sonoma and rented an old cattle barn in Geyserville and turned it into a winery and began making wine in Sonoma. He never went to wine making school, but he staged at a few wineries in Napa and Sonoma to begin learning the ropes. He also grew up around winemaking with his Aunt Marietta who lived on a farm in northern California. She and her husband Armé lived off the land. Hunting the hills for game, fly fishing the Russian River and its tributaries, growing their own vegetables, making their own wine. Everything was made from scratch, everything was preserved, and they were pretty much self-sufficient. They boys told me that their great Aunt Marietta never went to the store for anything except sugar and salt. And this is the context in which young Chris Bilbro started to build his life and winemaking philosophy.

The Geyserville home estate vineyard in Sonoma County.

So along with the rented cow barn in Geyserville, there was also rented vineyards and grapes purchased from farmers whom he build long term relationships with and worked with for years. His entry level wine, Old Vine Red, was an old Italian style field blend. Field blends are when you harvest a whole field of grapes at the same time and ferment them all together. All the different varietals at once, some are a little under-ripe, some maybe a little over-ripe, some just perfect. But the idea is when co-fermented they become more than a sum of their parts and add a really interesting complexity to the wine. Historically it’s been more of an old world peasant wine kind of thing, but it made really good wine and it’s been making a comeback particularly among young funky natural wineries. Old Vine Red was an early tribute to this style and became a huge cult favourite in the US. They didn’t make a lot of it but it sold out every year. I love this statement that perfectly sums up their philosophy:

“Marietta Cellars doesn’t have a tasting room or a wine club. We don’t buy advertisements in wine magazines or enter wine competitions. We don’t make “trophy wines” nor do we charge “trophy wine” prices…Our wines don’t sell because of ratings, because of the view from our tasting room, or because of a fancy label. Our wines sell because we make consistently great wine and we ask a very fair price.

Unpretentious and extremely dedicated to quality. Not interested in modern trends, techniques or marketing, always focused on handshake relationships and hard work. Eventually they built up enough of a business that they were able to buy the home estate and vineyards that they were renting from their neighbour Viola Angeli (whom their estate Zin is named after) and then later some larger epic vineyards in Southern Mendocino’s McDowell Valley and Yorkville Highlands. They are 100% estate owned fruit and everything is grown and made organically. Here’s a good article from a few years back about the Bilbro men.

Chris’ days sounded like an absolutely dream, living his best life every day hunting, fishing, making sausage, and making wine, the way he learned from Marietta and Armé as a boy. And Chris’ 3 boys grew up living that dream life too, learning hunting, fishing, along with his winemaking philosophy. Unfortunately Chis passed away last year in his 80’s, but his son Scot has taken over as winemaker and carries on his tradition. The other two sons have also started their own wineries that we represent as well. Jake owns Limerick Lane Winery and his youngest son Sam started Idlewild Winery, which we also carry.

If I had to sum up the Marietta Wines I’d say that while they’re all big Cali wines, that are low on sugar and high on flavour. None of them are over-ripe or sweet. They have an elegant rusticity to them that reminds me of wines like Heitz, Dunn, Mayacaymas from the 80’s before the over-ripe and sweet trend took hold. The boys say that Zinfandel tastes very different harvested at 23 brix than 29 brix, as has been the trend in California. And that early harvesting really shows in this dry Zin blend. They also say that “they make wine with wine.” No additives, no adding acid to balance on extra hot years. Something Chris learned from Marietta and Armé was the art of blending: too hot and ripe one year? Add some Barbera or Negrette—high acid varietals. Too cool one year and not enough ripeness? Add more Zinfandel or Syrah—riper, juicier varietals for a fuller body. Making wine with wine instead of additives. This has been the philosophy of how Old Vine Red has always been made.

And all their wines age really nicely. While they released at a time when they’re ready to drink and already really delicious, some aged Marietta bottles have often been the show-stoppers at wine parties. I remember one time in 2014 or 2015 when a 1997 Marietta Cab Sauv unanimously impressed a room full of sommeliers as the best wine of the night…and the table was full of Heitz, Diamond Creek, Caymus, etc. Read more about their wines at https://mariettacellars.com/wine

‘Old Vine Red’ Lot 70 | $24.99 x12
Their most popular wine and the biggest value. It’s a Zinfandel-based non-vintage wine. Much of this wine is a field blend and mixed in with at least 65% Zinfandel are various barrel-aged varieties from previous years. Any typical vintage can see 60-70% Zinfandel, with field blends of Barbera, Carignan, Petit Sirah, Negrette, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, etc. And most importantly this wine is bone dry and only 13% alcohol. A true old-school representation of Zin: not at all sweet or jammy, more savoury and foresty notes of brambles and woodsy underbrush along with the dark blackberry and licorice notes.

‘Armé’ 2017 | $42.99 x12
Armé is a Bordeaux blend named for Marietta’s husband who grew up working and fishing throughout Sonoma’s Alexander Valley. He taught Chris to hunt and fly fish and this wine is a tribute to him with a fly hook on the label. This is a big Bordeaux Blend that has a long 20 month aging in neutral oak barrels, which gives it a refined sophistication, without being oaky. Think dark stone fruit, black olive, herbs, tobacco, and licorice. It’s 86% Cab Sauv, 8% Merlot, 4% Malbec, 2% Petit Verdot. It’s not cheap, but it’s much cheaper than it could be. The Armé is $43 but could easily be $90 compared to the field. They could charge a lot more if they wanted to, but as per their above quoted philosophy, they love over-delivering on quality for price. This is a personal favourite of mine that I’ve been buying for years. This 2017 vintage was just released and I’ll definitely be buying a case of this to tuck away in the cellar and to drink at home in the fall months.

‘Christo’ 2017 | $34.99 x12
Christo is Chris in Italian. That’s what Marietta used to call him. This is Chris’ blend, the wine he most enjoys and the wine that is named after him. It showcases his love of Syrah and blends Grenache, Petit Sirah, and Viognier from their estate vineyards in McDowell Valley, Anderson Valley, and the Yorkville Highlands. This whole family series of wines began when Scot started to take the reins at Marietta. He worked closely with his father on making his perfect blend. The whole winery is Chris’ legacy, but this wine in particular is an ongoing tribute to him. Think black pepper, dried roses, cherries, licorice, dark chocolate, and black tea. Full bodied, complex, and lifted aromatically on the nose. Traditionally, Viognier really helps with that pop and lift which is on full display in ‘Christo’.

‘Román’ 2016 | $34.99 x12
They have 3 tiers of wine at Marietta, the OVR series for Old Vine Red, the Family Series that is named after important fmaily members, and the Estate Series which are top single vineyard wines from their best estate vineyards. All their wines are estate owned wines, but the Estate Series zeros in on their finest plots. We don’t have any of those in at the moment, but look out for them in the future! ‘Román’ is named for Román Cisneros, the cellar master at Marietta for the last 30 years. He’s the only person not a blood relation in the Family Series, but he’s been around so long, so close with the family in such an important role they wanted a tribute to him and his favourite style of wine: Old school Zin. With 92% Zinfandel, 4% Petit Sirah, and 4% Barbera, it’s a bigger Zin, but it’s not sweet and bombastic. It’s dry and nuanced while still being lush and ripe, like everything Marietta Cellars do. We only have a few cases left of this beauty Zin, so if you’re a classic Zin fan, this might be for you.

Lastly,
DO YOU LIKE YOGA? ANY PLANS FOR FRIDAY NIGHT? My good friend Aleysha Derksen, one of Ottawa’s favourite yoga teachers, and I are co-hosting a virtual wine and yoga session called Vino & Vinyasa. We’ve been doing this in person for 4 years where she teaches at Pure Yoga and this will be our 3rd one together since the pandemic and taking it to Zoom. Here’s the 30 second elevator pitch:

Your $55 ticket gets you an online yoga class taught by Aleysha and a bottle of wine with a wine chat in the same Zoom session by me, Andrew Rasta. $10 from each tickets goes to “A Better Tomorrow” a campaign for the Ottawa Food Bank in collaboration with the Wu-Tang Clan’s 36 Chambers charity that has been helping Ottawa during the pandemic. The whole thing usually takes about 2 hours with Aleysha’s yoga class, my wine chat, and all the guests questions and comments. It’s a fun way to have a relaxing Friday night at home…maybe even outdoors with the unseasonably warm weather we’ve been having this week?? And there’s also a featured meal kit from Pure Kitchen, so you can have a nice takeout meal from Pure, Yoga with Aleysha, and Wine with me on a nice Friday in. And the wine we’re featuring this time is the Marietta Old Vine Red! Click here for all the details, Deadline to sign up and order is Thursday evening!