Courtney DeGraff and Joslyn Thoresen.

Courtney DeGraff and Joslyn Thoresen from the Anderson Valley Harvest Tidrick Celebration are our guests on California Wine Country today. Barry Herbst, the wine buyer for Bottle Barn, is also in the studio today. Wine Enthusiast magazine just named Bottle Barn one of the top three wine stores in California.

Our guests describe the Harvest Tidrick Celebration. Tidrick is a Boontling word, derived from “tea drinking.” Boontling is the famous lingo that citizens of Booneville invented around 150 years ago, for fun and in order to gossip in front of others who did not understand it. The citizens of Booneville continue to take great pleasure in the lingo and enjoy promoting it, including having fun with the marketing for this event.

Dan Berger has brought a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from 2016 which he would not normally have saved for this long, but which has survived well.

The Anderson Valley is located in northern California, in Mendocino County well north of Santa Rosa where this show originates. It lies about an hour and half to the north over a winding road and feels even more remote once you arrive.

The Anderson Valley Harvest Tidrick Celebration runs from Friday October 21 through Sunday October 23 in Anderson Valley, California. Check out the website AV WINES dot com. Saturday and Sunday. All of their wineries are doing harvest events. Visitors can stop at up to four per day, with their admission. They also have live music and movies. Our Bottle Barn is also sponsor of the Tidrick.

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The first wine tasted is a 2021 Pennyroyal Farm wine called Anyhow Blanc, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Dan Berger finds that it is the best blend of these two that he has ever tasted, since you can really taste parts of each grape.

Next they taste a 2020 Chardonnay from Drew Family Wines called Bahl Briney, which is Boontling, Bahl is great and Briney means coast. They are situated up on the Mendocino Ridge. The family does all their own farming. “Beautiful structure,” says Dan Berger. Rich, great acidity to balance off the fruit. Jason Drew is the owner and winemaker, a “brilliant talent” says Dan. They produce small lot cool-climate wines from Anderson Valley and Mendocino Ridge AVAs.

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The third wine is the Pennyroyal 2019 Pinot Noir from Eye of the Needle vineyard. This is one block on a property called The Corners, one of Booneville’s original settlements. It is where Hwy 128 and Hwy 253 meet. It has about 18 months barrel aging, about 30% new oak. What’s more, also brought a cheese called Velvet Sister, named after some real historical characters.

The 2019 Drew Fog Eater Pinot Noir is next. In Boontling, Fog Eaters are coastal people and Bright Lighters are city folk. It has a black pepper component under all the cherry and berry flavors. The synthesis of fruit, acidity and tannin, is what they mean by “structure” but it takes a lot of tasting to really know. Barry finds it earthy like the Pinot Noir from Burgundy.