Carneros Wine Alliance Adopts New Focus

(Wines&Vines) - Most of the winemakers pouring during a recent tasting hosted by the Carneros Vintners Alliance agreed that the group—and the region to some extent—had lost its focus in recent years.

“It had been dormant for so long,” said winemaker Alison Crowe, who was joined by several other winemakers and winery staff at a recent tasting at the ZD Wines property on the Napa County side of the Carneros AVA.

Crowe was pouring samples of a 2013 Pinot Noir sourced from different parts of Carneros. The wines will ultimately be bottled under the Garnet Vineyards brand. Crowe is a member of the Carneros Vintners Alliance board and said the historic appellation is undergoing something of a renaissance, with new leadership that’s implementing a focused and aggressive approach to marketing the region’s wineries and vineyards.

She said new restaurants and the Carneros Inn hotel are helping to make the area more of a destination for the thousands of wine tourists who regularly drive through Carneros on their way to other parts of Sonoma and Napa counties. The alliance currently has 25 winery and grower members.

A few feet away from Crowe, Larry Hyde and his sons Peter and Chris were showcasing their own Larry Hyde & Sons wines as well as the wines of HDV, or Hyde de Villaine, which is a partnership between the Hyde family and the de Villaine family of Domaine Romanée-Conti.

Hyde, who was a founding member of the alliance, said it lost its way after coming to be dominated by large wine companies. In 2010, Hyde grew so dissatisfied that he withdrew from the alliance and only rejoined this year. He said membership means more now that he’s making wine under his own label, but he’s also happy with the alliance’s board and its new direction..