Dec. 22, 2004
Holly's Hill Vineyards: Sunny disposition for both site, wines Sacramento Bee

One of the many joys of living in Sacramento, it's often said, is the city's proximity to San Francisco, the Napa Valley, Yosemite and Lake Tahoe. Somehow, the sun generally gets overlooked in the roundup, perhaps because there's so darn much of it in the summer. In winter, it's another story. Then, Sacramentans can go days without seeing the sun as dense, chilly fog clamps down like the steel lid of a pressure cooker. But the sun is close, just an hour or so to the east, a couple of thousand feet up in the Sierra.As a bonus, those same foothills increasingly are populated with wineries.

But be forewarned: You just might not get much farther than Holly's Hill Vineyards outside Placerville. For one, there's the tasting room's deck, perched high above the Cosumnes River canyon. Vineyards of mourvedre and grenache swoop down from the platform, while syrah clings to the steep slope just across the way. On any day when Sacramento is swathed in gray sweats, this sunny deck is T-shirt territory.

Then there's the wine. Holly Cooper and her husband, Tom, own the spread. Daughter Carrie Bendick is the winemaker. Her husband, Josh, is in charge of sales. The little kid crawling across the tasting room floor is their daughter, Marin, who will be 1 on Sunday.

More than three years had elapsed since my last visit to Holly's Hill. At that time, the estate's vines were only 3 years old. Carrie Bendick was just being introduced to foothill fruit. Her first wines were promising, but it was too soon to tell whether the fit would be comfortable.

Today, the vines are mature, Bendick is at ease with the grapes, and the estate is dedicated almost exclusively to wines made with grapes most closely associated with France's Rhone Valley - viognier, mourvedre, grenache and syrah. "We're really happy with the Rhones growing here. The fruit is beautiful," Bendick says. And she's learned just what to do with those grapes. As a group, her wines are characterized by fresh and forthright aromatics, varietal integrity and wiry structure. Tannins are so restrained that even young and hearty reds are drinkable. Oak is so well handled it never upstages the fruit.

I came away with a favorite, but the competition was keen. The Holly Hill's Vineyards 2001 Sierra Foothills Zinfandel ($17) smacks you in the face with its traditionally ripe and spicy berry fruitiness, but its styling is unusually elegant for the region. The Holly's Hill Vineyards 2002 El Dorado Wylie-Fenaughty Syrah ($22) is husky but very drinkable (especially with rib-eye or tri-tip), its jammy blackberry and blueberry fruit resting on a meaty superstructure. The surprise was the Holly's Hill Vineyards 2002 El Dorado Cabernet Sauvignon ($14), which with fresh cherry fruit, prickly spiciness and firm but not unforgiving tannins, shows that the varietal occasionally can shine in the foothills.

As to my favorite, that would be the Holly's Hill Vineyards 2002 El Dorado Patriarche ($25), a complex and juicy blend of mourvedre, grenache, syrah and counoise, all grown at the winery. Inspired by the heady wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, this first Patriarche is at once gregarious yet elegant, much like the cigar-smoking gent of Aldo Luongo's portrait "The Good Life," the wine's label art.

Several California wineries are trying to emulate the blends of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but Holly's Hill is one of very few to also include in the mix the rare grape counoise, small amounts of which are credited for noticeably boosting the wine's peppery smell and spirited acidity.

(On Jan. 15, Holly's Hill will have a barrel tasting of Patriarche's components from this year's harvest and tastings of the 2003 and 2002 Patriarches; the cost is $5 per person.)

Holly's Hill produces several other likable wines, including a vigorous blend of viognier and roussanne ($16); a ripe and juicy grenache suggestive of strawberries and roses ($17); and a firm, oaky "hilltop" syrah ($16).

Holly's Hill Vineyards, at 3680 Leisure Lane, Placerville, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays through Sundays, or by appointment at (530) 344-0227. A map with directions to the winery is at www.hollyshill.com.

Don't forget your sunglasses.

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