Wine: Warm reception trumps damp weather

Ancient cultivar, modern taste
Mark Henry of Montoliva Vineyard and Winery, on Mount Olive Road in Chicago Park, shows Nikki Bruggert and husband Kris Bruggert, of Auburn, the Puglia region in Italy where negroamaro wine has been cultivated for thousands of years. Negoamaro is a new wine for Montoliva, and Henry showcased it during the Sierra Vintners Wine Trail on Saturday and Sunday.
Photo for The Union by John Hart

Damp weather may have kept crowds down during the 13th annual Sierra Vintners Wine Trail over the weekend, but those who came were enthusiastic about Nevada County products.

“People were very pleased,” said co-owner Virginia Hilsman of Double Oak Vineyards on the San Juan Ridge.

And not just with the wine: They loved the food, too. Hilsman served crostini with pesto made from basil from the vineyard's garden, and chopped figs from their tree, she said.

“Our plants were in full bloom. (Guests) were smitten by the beauty,” Hilsman added.

Music added to the event, held Saturday and Sunday at county wineries; 15 are members of the local winery association.

“It went very well. Sales were up” compared to last year's event, said Tony Tibshirani of Naggiar Vineyards, in southern Nevada County off Garden Bar Road.

A key goal for vintners in this event is reaching new wine-lovers. Naggiar added 30 percent to its wine club membership compared to this time last year — one way of measuring the event's success, Tibshirani said.

“Fifty percent (of attendees) had never been out to our tasting room before, so we were very pleased to be introduced to new wine enthusiasts,” he added.

Music made them want to linger even beyond the event's set hours, Tibshirani said. Sales at Naggiar were up 10 percent over last year, despite rain on Saturday, he added.

Sierra Knoll Winery, also in the southern county off Magnolia Road, debuted its new tasting room on Highway 49 just north of the Bear River bridge.

“Sales were up,” even though traffic was down compared to last year's event, said Sierra Knolls tasting room manager Bob Krogman.

He attributed some of those sales to the decision this year by the winery association to hire a professional marketing firm, Infuze Marketing in Sacramento.

Many of the wineries seized the moment to introduce new wines and burnish the area's image as being similar to some areas of Italy. Local weather and soil make it an outstanding region for producing Rhone wines such as syrah, Italian varietals such as Sangiovese and barbera, and cabernet franc, Tibshirani said.

As a part of its new marketing efforts to reach wine drinkers across Northern California, the wine association, Northern Sierra Wine Country, has changed its name to Sierra Vintners.

About 70 percent of Wine Trail attendees typically come from within Nevada County, Krogman said. Members are trying to change that.

“We all want more business from out of the county,” Krogman added.