When you think of Northern California wine producing areas, you probably think first of Napa, Sonoma or Mendocino. And if you like to explore outside of the more popular wine producing areas you may think of the Sierra Foothills or Lake County. But Marin? Marin most likely doesn’t even come to mind. Yet as we discovered this week, wine is definitely being made in Marin and some of the wines are really quite good.
Winemaking in Marin actually extends back to the early 1800’s when residents of Marin County planted their own small vineyards. But as Napa and Sonoma grew, Marin winemaking never really hit its stride. Today there are now approximately 200 acres in Marin County planted to Pinot Noir, Reisling, Gewürztraminer and even Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet and more vintners are coming to Marin to test the waters.
Marin is surrounded on three sides by the moderating waters of the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay. This creates warmer winters than most North Coast winegrowing regions but overall a longer and cooler growing season. Some compare the climate and geography to the Burgundy region of France and with its more chilly temperatures from a strong coastal influence, it is a perfect location for growing cooler climate wines like Riesling and Pinot Noir.
Some of the wines coming out of Marin include Scenic Root which produces Pey-Marin and Mount Tamalpais Vineyards wines among others, Pacheco Ranch Winery and Sean Thackrey.
One of our favorite Marin wines that we have tried is the Pey-Marin Riesling. This is some of the first Riesling planted in Marin and it is extremely dry with a lot of great mineral flavor. It’s a fabulous white wine for food pairing and we paired it with Butternut Squash Ravioli with a cream sauce – delicious!
Written by Linzi
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