Rodney Strong Vineyards has been voted Best Merlot in the 2011 NorthBay biz readers poll.
Rodney Strong Vineyards is one of Sonoma County’s largest, most diverse, Sonoma-only brands, with expansive vineyard holdings and wines at every price point. That it’s being recognized for its Merlot (as it did in 2009) is no surprise given the quality of its vineyards.
“It has to do with the consistency of our fruit,” says winemaker Rick Sayre. “We own 14 wonderful vineyards and three have great Merlots. We just keep trying to make it better every year.”
Having recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, the winery was started in 1959 by former ballet dancer Rodney Strong and his wife, Charlotte. It was only the 13th bonded winery in the county at the time, and Strong was a pioneer in Sonoma County winegrowing, identifying early on the potential for Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Russian River Valley Pinot Noir.
Sayre has been on board since 1979, delivering consistent, quality wines all along and teaming with family ownership to earn recognition as one of Sonoma County’s top wineries. With Chardonnay from Chalk Hill and Russian River Valley; Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley; and Cabernet Sauvignon from Alexander Valley; along with Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Zinfandel from around the county. From the winery’s highly acclaimed, limited release, single-vineyard Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignons to its Sonoma County Chardonnay, quality and consistency are the hallmark traits of Sayre’s winemaking.
“I know the best sites and what gives the juiciest flavors,” he says. “Family ownership spells consistency, and my 31 harvests here at Rodney Strong speak to that fact.”
Altogether, the winery farms 952 acres of its own land (652 new acres of grapes, 300 replanted) on 13 different sites within four appellations—Russian River Valley, Chalk Hill, Alexander Valley and Sonoma Coast.
Employing small-lot fermentation, Sayre uses five-, seven- and 10-ton fermenters to capture the best of what Rodney Strong’s vineyards can provide. Inn 2005, it built a “winery within a winery” to focus on its higher-end wines, enlisting the help of famed local winemaker David Ramey, who came on as consulting winemaker, as well as Bob Steinhauer, a legend at building Beringer’s best wines, to help viticulturist Doug McIlroy in the vineyards.
Trained by Andre Tchelistcheff, Sayre says he’s a firm believer that making the best wine comes down to, “get the best grapes, stay out of the way, and don’t screw it up.”
For the Merlot, the picking decision is key, and Sayre likes to pick the fruit fairly mature and then blend in either a touch of other Bordeaux varieties (like Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc), or he adds in a little Syrah, which he finds makes the wine juicy with rich red fruit and plum character.
For aging, he uses mostly American oak barrels that are air-dried for two years and toasted to remove coconut qualities. This treatment ensures the oak adds spice, richness and a tinge of vanilla sweetness to the wine, which spends two years in-barrel.
“I want it to be a rich, red, voluptuous wine with a smooth finish,” he says. “The best compliment people could make is, ‘I’d like another glass.’”
