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The Somm Journal
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Icons of the Alexander Valley AVA

PART TWO OF OUR SALUTE TO THE REGION’S WINE LEADERS

The Alexander Valley Winegrowers association is gearing up to present one of its most successful educational outreach programs for the trade this spring: the Alexander Valley Cab Academy. The SOMM Journal is a proud media sponsor, and our own senior wine editor, Jessie Birschbach, will serve as a “camp counselor.”

As a tribute to this region, home to 32 wineries and 77 vineyards, we will highlight noteworthy selections that represent it in its best light over the course of the next two issues. Additionally, we will explore how Cabernets from different districts of the narrow, 20-mile-long and 8-mile-wide AVA vary in style. These districts are, from north to south, Cloverdale, Geyserville, Jimtown, Healdsburg, and Maacama.  

 Cyrus Alexander built the Alexander Valley schoolhouse in 1868. A century later the building was moved to a hill overlooking the vineyards on the Wetzel family’s Alexander Valley Vineyard estate and restored; its image is now featured on the Alexander School Reserve label.
Jake Hawkes and his mom, Paula Stone Hawkes.
    Hawkes 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon, Stone Vineyard, Alexander Valley, Sonoma County ($95) The Hawkes family has been growing grapes in the same Alexander Valley vineyards for over 50 years. Referring to themselves as farmers who make wine, they don’t believe in fining, using a lot of new oak, picking at 28 Brix, reverse osmosis, or advanced phenolic profiling: They simply aim to make wines that are pure and direct expressions of the place they come from. This rapturous red certainly succeeds on that front, taking flight with a parade of wet stone, licorice, blackberry, dark chocolate, and espresso. Sage-seasoned cedar adds an Old World tone, followed by a kiss of balsamic on the finish. 96 
    —Meridith May
    Rodney Strong 2019 Rockaway Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, Sonoma County ($90) Yielding this treasured single-vineyard expression, Rockaway was established in 1994, planted mostly to Cabernet Sauvignon along with the four other main red Bordeaux varieties. The site rises up to an elevation of 750 feet on well-drained, gravelly clay soils over fractured greywacke sandstone. The wine delights with a unique entry and grainy, lush flavors of dried flowers, roasted coffee, and ripe blackberry preserves. Notes of laurel and fennel are sweetened by mocha and amplified by toasted walnut on the teeth-gripping—yet ultimately elegant—finish. 97 —M.M.
    Nurtured today by Mark (pictured) and Lisa Mazzoni, Zialena is a family legacy that’s named for the siblings’ aunt (zia) Lena, known for her warm hospitality and her ravioli. With a rich history that spans over a century, their Geyserville estate has been stewarded by four generations.
    Robert Young Wine Estate 2020 Scion Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, Sonoma County ($76) Sourced from the 448-acre Young Estate, this vintage of the winery’s flagship Cabernet celebrates the 23rd anniversary of the first red wine bottled by the family in 1997; “Scion” refers to both a family descendant and a young shoot grafted onto a vine. Earth tones are clear, focused, and enhanced by savory notes of black olive, graphite, and licorice as vibrant plum and dry, grainy plum-skin tannins coat the tongue. Sandalwood notes are as elegant as they are exotic, spiced with white pepper and soothed by blackberry-vanilla liqueur. The texture turns to cashmere on the finish. 97 —M.M.
    Alexander Valley Vineyards 2019 Alexander School Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, Sonoma County ($60) Grown on a steep 30% grade, this is a limited-release, single-vineyard wine that focuses on the winery’s best lots. It’s floral and refined, with lavender and chocolate that melts on impact. Graphite increases in intensity on the midpalate, blurring the boundaries of savory fruit intensity and oak integration. Italian herbs, plum skin, and blackberry are flavorful and textural. 95 —M.M.
    Zialena 2019 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Geyserville, Alexander Valley, Sonoma County ($82) This distinguished red crafted by Mark Mazzoni is rich and plush, with a creamy base of cassis liqueur. Supple tannins join a juicy flow of red fruit accompanied by olive tapenade, sweet tobacco, and red tea before a layer of maple and sassafras descends on the finish. 95 —M.M.