What's the Difference Between Green Valley and Russian River Valley?


As John's been making his way out in the market, one of the questions he gets most frequently is where exactly is Green Valley, and what's the difference between Green Valley and Russian River Valley. Good questions, so we thought we'd answer them here.

Green Valley lies in the southwest corner of the Russian River Valley, bounded by the towns of Sebastopol, Forestvile and Occidental. It is one of the smallest appellations, and also one of the few that is actually geographically distinct and climatologically unique. The Green Valley AVA was officially known as Green Valley-Sonoma County when it was begun in 1983. In 2007, the name was changed to Green Valley of Russian River Valley to better reflect its place in the world, as it is completely encompassed within the Russian River Valley AVA.



Fog is the defining feature of Green Valley. GIS-GPS computerized mapping of fog patterns shows that the most significant fog influx originates at the Petaluma Wind Gap as opposed to the Russian River and that, as a result of its proximity to the Petaluma Gap, Green Valley typically experiences cooler morning temperatures for a longer period of time than the northern parts of the Russian River Valley. It is the first point of incursion and the last place where the fog burns off, making it the coolest part of the Russian River Valley.

The combination of fog and the predominant Gold Ridge soil yield a remarkably consistent taste profile in Green Valley wines: the chardonnays are focused and bright, with great structure and complexity, lively lemon-lime-tangerine flavors and a beautiful core of minerality. Pinots are expressive, fruit forward—from clear bright cherry and cranberry to blueberry and blackberry—and have a distinguishing underlying earthiness, great acidity and soft tannins.

Warren Dutton was the first to plant chardonnay in Green Valley in the 1960s, and the Duttons today are the largest grower in the appellation. Of their approximately 1,100 acres of vineyards, 85% are in Green Valley.

As you may have noticed, our Rued Vineyard Chardonnay and Sanchietti Vineyard Pinot Noir are both now labeled Green Valley of Russian River Valley. Previously, we had labeled these wines with Russian River Valley. In order to point out their distinct locations and flavors, we made the change with the 2007 vintage, when the appellation name change took place.

The Latest Reviews

Wine Enthusiast's December 15 issue just came out with these wonderful reviews:

2008 Rued Vineyard Chardonnay
"This vineyard has proven itself for so many years that it's practically a guarantee of greatness. This 2008 is a real stunner. It's so rich and exotic, so balanced and dry, so clean. Dazzles with pear, pineapple, lychee, roasted hazelnut, crème brulee, buttered toast, honey and spice flavors, wrapped into a creamy smooth mouthfeel. Brilliant and compelling...96."

2008 Freestone Hill Pinot Noir
"Extraordinary for how drinkable it is right now, and for how it will evolve. Shows the crisp acidity and minerality of this cool-climate vineyard, with rich flavors of raspberries, cherry liqueur, cola, exotic spices, vanilla, buttered cinnamon toast and smoky sandalwood. Yet the tannic integrity should help it change in fascinating ways over the next six years...95."

2008 Sanchietti Vineyard Pinot Noir
"Notable for its fine minerality and acidity and distinguished mouthfeel…offers intricate raspberry, sour cherry candy, blueberry, cola and sandalwood flavors...92."

2008 Dutton Ranch Chardonnay
"Beautiful and likable for its dryness, crisp minerality, and the sleek, clean mouthfeel. The fruit suggests oak-inspired pears, oranges and citrons. This elegant quaff gets better as it warms in the glass...92."

To read more reviews, visit our website.

We have shelf talkers and sell sheets available on our website that you can download and print out.

Wine Terminology
From Pinot Forum materials.

Oidium: The French name for powdery mildew.

Organic grape growing: Method of grape growing in response to chemical and petrochemical use in the vineyard. Mandates the use of only natural or approved fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.

Oxidation: The reaction of various components in wine with oxygen. Can cause wine to turn brown and take on flat, musty flavors.

pH: A measure of the relative acidity or alkalinity in a solution.

Phenolics: Tannins (responsible for astringency and bitterness) and anthocyanins (pigments). Phenolics are present in the skins, seeds, and stems of the grapes.

Phomopsis: Vine disease most common where there is heavy rainfall during the pruning season.

Phylloxera: A burrowing plant louse of the Aphididae family that is one of the most serious vineyard pests.

Pierce's disease: A bacterial (Xylella fastidosa) disease affecting grapevines, spread by small insects called sharpshooters.

Pigeage: The French term for punchdown.

Pinot: A family of noble grape varieties. Red varieties include Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier; white varieties include Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris.

Happy Holidays from Your Friends at Dutton-Goldfield!

We wish you a joyous holiday season and a New Year of peace and happiness!

The Crew at DG

Harvest 2010: If It Was Easy, Everybody Would Do It

Early on in my career, the great winemaker Andre Tchelistcheff told me that part of what he loved in our craft is that no two seasons are ever the same. I’ve certainly never seen one like 2010. Record cold - record heat - record rain. As we say at Dutton-Goldfield, “Why choose?”.

The rainy spring which meant the end of a 3-year drought was quite welcome, and brought with it late budbreak and slow early growth for the vines. We had periodic rain into June, and since wet ground is cold ground, growth continued slow and bloom came late. When bloom did come, mostly in early June, the weather was warm and sunny and the vines grew like the weeds they are. Pollination can be spotty during fast growth spurts, so set was low to moderate in most blocks. One viticultural trick the Dutton’s use in this situation is to leave extra wood on a vine until after set to vent the vigor and produce a better set. This worked excellently, particularly in the chard blocks.



This whole situation is a happy one for coastal Pinot and old vine Chardonnay winemakers. I like late years, as this pushes ripening back to the shorter days of late September/early October so that early heat spikes don’t force us to harvest because of high sugar before the flavor and tannins are ripe. The fruit ends up with great acidity and ripeness at the same time, not to mention we get a break between August bottling and the beginning of harvest. It’s amusing when winemakers brag about how cold their appellation is, then complain when it actually is.

But this year was extreme. Midsummer was incessantly cold and foggy and we saw almost no veraison as August rolled along. But wait. An unprecedented heat spell hit August 23, causing sunburn and shrivel in highly exposed berries. In cold seasons, the vines don’t get used to pumping a lot of water to the fruit, so the sudden spike took its toll. The issue is not so much quality as quantity, as the fruit was not nearly ripe so affected clusters were dropped, or not picked later. As always, the dry farmed older vines were the least affected, due to their deep roots and slightly shading trellising.

The cold came back with a vengeance—the high temperature in Graton was 100 on August 25 and 73 on the 26th! Things got more usual for a little while before heat ruled again starting the 25th of September and lasted through the 29th. 104 degrees here on September 28—you gotta be kidding!



This started the wave of Pinot, with Marty’s 667 coming in on 9/27 (Garry and Dan are pictured with it, above), followed closely by Freestone, Galante and the rest of Marty’s on the 30th—a huge day for us. Some of the fruit looked a bit worse for wear and sorting was painstaking, but it tasted great, as does the wine in barrel. Think Clint Eastwood in “Unforgiven”, a bit weathered and scraggly, but complex, nuanced and burly. The Freestone is super spicy, deep, balanced but powerful. All of the Marty’s lots have concentrated berry fruit and super deep color, Silva is broad cherry and the McDougall (harvested 10/9) is its usual edgy, mineral driven self. Pinot ended with Devil’s on October 20-21 (2 days to pick 6 tons, way to go Mark). The real Pinot story is the yields: Devil’s 0.9 tons an acre, Freestone 1.2, average just under 2. Between the low set, thinning after the first heat and sorting before crushing, there won’t be much, but it is wonderful and full of personality.

As always, the chards were better behaved, the Rued was as perfect as I've seen it (23.5 brix, 3.35 pH) as was the Walker Wente. The valley bottom fruit of Mill Station and JJJS has the flavor and acid balance we love. It will be a great year for our focused, long aging style of Chard.

Morelli Zin was another project, and is still in the fermenter on 11/9 as I write this, but it has the super bright raspberry and great acidity we love in it. It should be pressed tomorrow. The Syrah, alas, was the only fatal victim. With 9 inches of rain (I kid you not) on that ridge the weekend of October 23/24, any chance of final ripening was pretty much quashed. It’s still hanging and disintegrating out there, a humbling reminder that you can’t win them all.

In the end, our job is to reflect the personality of our place and the seasons of it, and we’re thrilled with how we did so in 2010... Now can we sleep?