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Wine from Anakota
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The story of Anakota begins deep in the heart of Knights Valley in rural Sonoma County. Located in an ancient volcanic zone, this relatively untouched and unknown place offers incredibly unique and diverse soils with a climate perfectly suited to Bordeaux varietals.
Sourced from estate-owned vineyards, Anakota is a collection of single vineyard, single varietal, wines that personify the rustic elegance and spirit of rural Sonoma County.
Rising more than 4,000 feet above sea level, Mount St. Helena looks down on our two prized estate-owned vineyards Helena Dakota and Helena Montana which are quietly situated on the rugged flanks of the Mayacamas Mountain Range.
Knights Valley is a remote winegrowing region bridging Sonoma and Napa Counties. It’s a place where time dilates. It’s an untamed landscape defined by rugged mountains, steep hillsides, placid meadows and abundant wildlife. Even though this AVA has produced some of the world’s greatest wines, it is still a mystery to most. Set along the flanks and foothills of Mount St. Helena and the Mayacamas Mountains, this rustic sanctuary possesses the sparse volcanic soils and cusp maritime climate needed to produce elegant, profound and age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignons.
HISTORY OF KNIGHTS VALLEY
In 1843, Knights Valley – or Mallacomes Valley as it was called back then – was a part of the 17,742-acre land grant to Jose de los Santos Berryessa. After taking possession of the property, Berryessa built an adobe lodge for his guests and used the land as a private hunting preserve. After the Mexican-American war, Thomas B. Knight, a Vermont immigrant and participant in the Bear Flag Revolt, bought 9,000 acres of Mallacomes Valley and added a second story to the lodge.
In 1858 and 1861, Calvin Holmes and his wife purchased a sizable portion of Knights Valley and erected a large Victorian house that still stands today. In 1875, real estate barons F.E. Kellogg and W.A. Stuart began developing a small resort town at the intersection of Ida Clayton Road and Highway 128. The town, which included a general store, school, homes and a hotel, burned down in the fires of 1964 and 1965.
Up until Prohibition, wine grapes were the largest agricultural crop in Knights Valley. From 1919 until the 1970s, the population declined, and the region regressed into a more bucolic state. In the mid-1970s, Knights Valley was rediscovered, and vineyards were planted by savvy winemakers looking for new sources of high-quality fruit. Today there are more than 30 growers and 2,000 acres of vines strewn throughout Knights Valley.
Back in the late 1990s, we began exploring new locations to grow Grand Cru-level Cabernet Sauvignon. Our goal was to find a site that could deliver the opulence and concentration of Napa coupled with the acidity, precision and age-worthiness of Sonoma. We found the perfect site in the Knights Valley AVA, a little-known wine region that earned AVA status in 1983. We named our ranch Anakota and in 1997 began surveying the terrain, analyzing the soils and planting vines.
Today, under the direction of Vigneron Pierre Seillan, we produce small quantities of single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons from our two hillside estate vineyards: Helena Dakota and Helena Montana.
MICRO-CRU PHILOSOPHY
Over his half-century of winemaking, Pierre has developed and refined his proprietary “micro-cru” farming/winemaking principles. Based on experience, observation, experimentation and intuition, this system considers that every vineyard is an intricate patchwork of soils, microclimates, exposures and elevations. Rather than treat each site as a single entity, Pierre divides each property into small blocks and sub-blocks. These vineyards-within-vineyards – often as small as one acre – are designed to mirror the subtle changes in the soils, terrain and microclimates. These micro-crus are farmed individually to ensure uniformly ripe grapes that bear the message of the soil. Each micro-cru is harvested and vinified separately. Two wines vinified from identical clones and rootstocks, but originating in radically different micro-crus, will produce radically different wines.
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The wine’s aromas and flavors are akin to red and black cherry, briary wild berries, pomegranate, dried rose, pepper and licorice. Significant umami notes develop with time, and it offers a chewy core of fruit on a lovely expanding palate. Despite its obvious richness, there’s polish and definition to the flavors and structure. The wine turns spicy and savory on its long finish. Drink between late-2024 and 2032.
We’ve produced Ryan Pinot Noir since 2002, and it has always focused upon the mature dry-farmed Dutton-Widdoes Vineyard, deep in the heart of Green Valley. Widdoes produces a wild berry, truffley style of rich, dark Pinot that offers substantial hidden complexity which is revealed over time. In recent years we’ve balanced this power style with a block of vibrant, elegant, and red-fruited Pinot from Dutton-Jentoft, located at higher elevation closer to the coast. Both vineyards are sensitively farmed by our long-time partners, the multi-generational Dutton Family. Traditionally our most fruit-filled and approachable Pinot bottling, history shows that the wine ages gracefully for a decade-plus, revealing all its quintessential Green Valley Pinot beauty as it develops in bottle.
Review:
From the oldest vines of the estate, the 2022 Pinot Noir DuMOL Ryan is fantastic on the nose, with notes of fresh leather, Asian spices, sandalwood, and fresh cherries. The palate is vibrant and salty with green valley character, revealing finely coiled tannins, mouthwatering acidity, a saline mineral flourish, and a long finish. This one of the most compelling wines in the vintage for me, and it’s going to age gracefully over the next 15-20 years.
-Jeb Dunnuck 98 Points
Demoiselles Sancerre Blanc is made from 100 percent Sauvignon Blanc.
The name "Les demoiselles" (translate as "The young ladies"), refers to the beautiful migratory birds (Cranes) that fly over the town of Sancerre twice a year (in the Fall going South to spend the winter in the African continent, and in the Spring going back North to spend the Summer in Northern Europe). These graceful birds offer a unique and impressive show when they sometimes land on the banks of the Loire River. The Fleuriet family wanted to highlight this exceptional grace and express an elegant and refined bouquet in this Sancerre Demoiselles cuvée.
The wine shows a bright yellow color with green highlights, a fruity nose with aromas of white flowers and acacia. Light-medium bodied in the mouth, supple and well structured, its concentration and crisp acidity make it a harmonious and food-friendly wine.
Pairs nicely with fresh goat cheeses, oysters with lemon, grilled lemon chicken breasts and Mexican dishes. Serve these whites at 46 °F (8 °C).
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