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 This
is a story about stick-to-it-ness, awesome Pinot Noir, exceptional
organic apple juice, and a pair of dedicated, hard working people
– Tom and Mary Elke.
Tom Elke, now 73, has been a lot of things in his life. “He
quit practicing law six times in his life,’ quips Mary,
reflecting on the couple’s nomadic lifestyle – they’ve
lived in the south bay, in San Francisco, in the North Bay,
in Mendocino County (where Mary still drives the family tractor
through the vineyards and hires the hands to prune and pick
the grapes) and now, at a vineyard site in southern Napa Valley.
In his life, Tom’s been a lawyer, worked on a farm, been
an ordained Presbyterian minister, has gone back to law, been
back to the farm and – how-many-times-more? – returned
to law.
In their latest incarnation, the couple teamed up with respected
Napa Valley lawyer Frank Farella and European hotelier Georg
Rafael to build a winery in southern Napa Valley where the three
would make their respective wines – Pinot Noir for the
Elkes, a Cabernet and a Merlot for the Farellas and a Bordeaux-like
Cab for Senor Rafael. The winemaker that they have in common
is Frank Farella’s son, Tom, who previously made wine
at such fine houses as Preston, Neyers, Flora Springs and Beaux
Frères.
Not only does this cooperative approach to winemaking work in
theory, it appears to work in practice because every one of
the wines we tasted from these three families is delicious.
The Farellas have nearly 30 acres of vines in southern Napa
Valley, supplying Cabernet Sauvignon to Mondavi and Opus One.
It’s that level of quality.
The Elkes have nearly 20 planted acres in Napa Valley and are
large producers of Pinot Noir in Mendocino County. And it’s
their Pinot that we’re nuts about.
Georg Rafael has a vineyard west of Highway 29 in Napa Valley
and sells Cab and Chardonnay to Far Niente, but since 1996,
has saved a bit of the fruit to make his own Cabs. Lucky for
us.
Unlike some winemakers in Napa Valley whose wine prices look
like golf scores – in the high 70s and 80s – the
Elkes believe in making real, honest, wine and charging real,
honest, prices for it. Their stunning 91-point Pinot Noir is
only $24, which, in today’s marketplace, represents exceptional
value.
The Elkes also produce a stunning organic apple juice from a
5-acre orchard that they maintain in Mendocino County but Mary
says it is more difficult to sell a $3 bottle (48 fluid oz.)
of organic apple juice than it is to sell an expensive bottle
of wine.
“It’s crazy. People are resistant to paying $3 for
an unfiltered, organic, preservative-free apple juice, but they
think nothing about spending $40 or $50 for a bottle of fermented
grape juice! It’s quite difficult to get your head around
that one!”
Fortunately, for ilovenapa.com consumers, you don’t even
have to spend $40 or $50 to get a great bottle of Pinot Noir.
Tom and Mary’s latest offering, the 2000 Donnelly Creek
Vineyard Pinot Noir, is only $24.
Mary Elke’s Organic Apple Juice, from Anderson Valley,
is so thick it should be called Apple Cider. The sediment-y
juice dredges up sentiment-y thoughts of childhood, when everything
was pure – our thoughts, our planet and our apple juice.
The organic apple juice has a pear nectar-like thickness, with
a decidedly fresh-squeezed apple flavor. There is a twinge of
acidity at the finish, a result of blending in organic Fall
Pippin apples with the Gravensteins.
The apple juice is unsweetened, contains no preservatives, no
additives and is unfiltered. Like a well made wine.
 Mary’s
organic apple orchard is a 5-acre patch in Mendocino County;
the trees are dry-farmed and are old. “I don’t have
the heart to rip out the trees, though it would be totally more
profitable if I converted the orchard to vineyard,” reflects
Mary, admitting that she is lucky most years to break even with
her apples after paying a local processor to crush the fruit
and flash pasteurize the juice.
PLEASE HELP MARY STAY IN BUSINESS AND DO YOURSELF A FAVOR –
try this organic apple juice! It’s what they serve at
Green’s, San Francisco’s premier vegetarian restaurant
when you ask for organic apple juice.
| 2000 Elke, Donnelly Creek Vineyard, Anderson
Valley, Pinot Noir
Lots of bright, sour cherry mixed with earthy, leathery
flavors on the palate; a hint of new saddle on the scent;
a hint of cedar, too. Call this Burgundy-lite and you
start to get the picture; this wine has soft shoulders,
and no scream-in-your-face alcohol, no scratch-out-your-eyes
fruit.
This is a lovely wine, a pretty wine. Ideal with broiled
or grilled meats, or chicken or with most fish, especially
salmon (yum). Unfined, unfiltered, undiscovered.
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ilovenapa.com Rating:
$24 |
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