Most people speeding north on the freeway might glimpse vineyards as they cruise past the Alexander Valley. Some might even stop to visit some of the valley’s biggest wineries that are close to offramps. Finding the true character of this part of the Wine Country and many of its smaller wineries requires a little more time navigating U.S. 128, however. The road runs from Geyserville, through some rather alarming 90-degree bends, and down into the rustic Chalk Hill and Knights Valley appellations. From there it’s only a short drive to Calistoga at the northern end of the Napa Valley.

The 20-mile-long Alexander Valley stretches from Healdsburg in the south to the cow town of Cloverdale in the north. In between there is only one town of note: the hamlet of Geyserville, which for years has been destined to become the next big Wine Country resort town, only to stubbornly remain its old sleepy self.

Geyserville wasn’t always so quiet. Back in the late 1800s the nearby geysers drew visitors from far and wide, and the resulting influx of money helped build the town’s grand Victorian homes. Now, the only signs of the area’s underground hot water supply are the clouds of steam sometimes visible from the 19 geothermal plants in the hills east of Geyserville (an area known simply as The Geysers). The area is one of the world’s largest geothermal energy sources.

As with many other parts of the Wine Country, this valley was once dominated by cattle pasture and fruit orchards. The cows still hold sway around Cloverdale and farther north where dairies are still more common than wineries, but the vineyards are spreading. Cloverdale marks the end of Northern California’s most famous wine regions and the beginning of the new frontier of winemaking in Mendocino County. The Anderson Valley and Hopland are only short drives from Cloverdale but a world apart.

How many Wine Country visitors will venture north beyond Napa and Sonoma is yet to be seen but Cloverdale optimistically opened its Wine and Visitors Center in 2000, clearly anticipating a shift in wine making attitudes and winery visitors northwards.

The Wines

The Alexander Valley is the northernmost appellation in Sonoma and also one of the hottest, despite the fact that the Russian River flood plain is wide enough to allow some of the more persistent fog to creep this far north on summer nights. Summer temperatures in Geyserville can often be 10 degrees higher than in Healdsburg just a few miles south. Cloverdale is hotter still.

With the ripening power of the sun and heat, together with the rich alluvial soils deposited by the Russian River over millions of years, it’s relatively easy to guess what style of wine can be made here--big and opulent. Indeed, Alexander Valley cabernets have a softness and suppleness that they attain in few other places. There was good reason why the cabernet specialist Silver Oak Cellars chose this valley in 1993 for its first vineyard and winery outside the Napa Valley.

Sometimes the wines can get a little too soft and undistinguished. In general, however, Alexander Valley cabernets are characterized by soft tannins and lush fruit with hints of dark chocolate, making them perhaps the easiest drinking in California if not necessarily the most complex or long lived.

Other varietals grown here include chardonnay, which ripens easily to make rich and flavorful wines, along with merlot, zinfandel, and increasing quantities of syrah and sangiovese.

The appellation expanded in 1990 to include the vineyards creeping up the hillsides, particularly on the eastern side of the valley where the mountains climb to more than 2,500 feet. As growers experiment with the cooler hillside vineyards, subtler styles of wine are being created than the blockbusters from the fertile,sun-drenched valley floor.

At the southern end of Alexander Valley, east of Santa Rosa, is the Chalk Hill appellation, which derives its name from soils that contain chalk-like volcanic ash, similar to those at the northern end of the Napa Valley. It’s directly in the path of the Russian River Valley air cooler and is mostly contained within the easternmost part of the Russian River appellation. The few wineries here are perhaps best known for some tangy chardonnays.

Sandwiched between the eastern parts of Chalk Hill and Alexander Valley, with the border of Napa County to the west, is the Knights Valley appellation, a primarily grape-growing region with just a couple of small wineries.

Millions of years ago the Russian River ran down the Alexander Valley, through Knights Valley, and into the Napa Valley, depositing gravelly soils ideal for growing grapes. Knights Valley soils are also part volcanic, deposited during the volcanic eruptions that eventually blocked changed the course of the river westward to its present-day path past Healdsburg and Guerneville to the ocean.

Completely shielded from the cool ocean air, Knights Valley is the hottest of Sonoma’s appellations, providing ideal conditions for sauvignon blanc and cabernet sauvignon. Look for the Knights Valley appellation in the wines from Napa Valley’s Beringer Vineyards, which owns about half the vineyards here.

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