Alexander Valley
$28 (Wine Club Reorder $25)
Passion…no pretense. J. Rickards Vineyards and Winery is a family-run operation of both wine grape farming and wine production, located at the northern end of the Alexander Valley in Sonoma County. Owned and operated by Jim and Eliza Rickards, the vineyards have been planted over the past 30 years, augmenting the original 1908 Zinfandel vines. The winery started in 2005, born out of the encouragement of friends who have enjoyed the small lots of hand-crafted wine they have been making since 1991.
Winemaker Blaine Brazil grew up in a small farming community in Northern California. After graduating high school he left the cool and foggy weather of coastal Humboldt County (my hometown!) and headed south for sunny weather with a goal of earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Dairy Science. While attending Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Blaine stumbled into the Central Coast wine industry, fell in love with wine and ultimately changed his course of study so he could someday become a winemaker.
He got his feet wet in the cellars of Tolosa Winery and Saucelito Canyon Vineyards. It was there where his love for small lot, handcrafted wines began. After graduating in 2003 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fruit Science and a minor in Wine and Viticulture, he accepted the assistant winemaker position at B.R. Cohn Winery. In July of 2011 Blaine joined the team at J. Rickards Winery. His goal is to produce quality small lot, single vineyard wines that express the terroir of the individual vineyards. He is a firm believer that great wines start in the vineyard and it’s the quality of the grapes that create wine with intensity, depth, and balance.
Can you guess what three grapes are in this GVM blend?
Jennie Kaplan Woodson – July 2021
(Answer: Gewürztraminer, Viognier, Muscat Blanc)
Bacchus & Venus Wines 