Allan Green’s new book, “Pioneers of Anderson Valley Wine,” attempts to capture their stories before they disappear. The memories start with the earliest grape growers who were mostly Italian immigrants. The second wave of growers were of the “Back to the Land” generation. In 1985 there were still only four tasting rooms on the Valley floor. There is definitely room for a second book picking up in 1985 and continuing through the heyday to the present day when there are 30 tasting rooms give or take one or two.
Allan’s brother Frank wanted a country retreat. Allan’s dad, the well-known architect Aaron Green and his mother Jean, purchased 275 acres for $275 dollars an acre high on Greenwood Ridge outside of Philo. The family was visiting an architectural client in Cloverdale who had hired Aaron Green to design both a private residence and a dental office building. Somewhere along the line they picked up a hitchhiker (much to his mother’s dismay). He turned out to be a Harvard graduate who listened to their story and recommended that they proceed on to Boonville (which coincidentally was his ultimate destination) because it was beautiful and undiscovered.
Arriving in Boonville they located realtor T.J. Nelson who showed them several properties. One property had a livable house with a phone and a well. This was the one they bought. Needing a caretaker, they hired Steve Wood. The Green family hired Steve Wood creating Greenwood — it seemed that fate was taking a hand.
In 1974 when Allan was planting his vineyard, he rented a two-man gas-powered auger and got two high school kids to operate it. He borrowed two experienced vineyard workers to teach a crew how to plant his vines. The local Rainbow Commune supplied a team of resident women as the planting crew. Suddenly, the auger and its operators disappeared. When they reappeared, they claimed they had gone to get the auger “sharpened,“ but had actually gone to look for someone to buy them beer. Off to a slow start…
Once they got into the heat of planting, the “crew“ decided to go topless. Alan related that at this point, the male contingent became useless. It took a long time to get the planting done. (Winona Ryder who grew up on the Rainbow Commune was not involved.)
Allan brought us up to the present moment by telling us that today a vineyard management company would be hired to rip the entire vineyard area by machine. Rows would be laid out using lasers creating perfectly aligned rows with a bill of $100,000 per acre attached.
Returning to past history, by 1985 there were only four tasting rooms. It was common for customers to buy a case at each stop with an average bottle selling for somewhere between six and ten dollars. Fast forward to today. There currently 30 tasting rooms with a typical purchase of one bottle per visit. Times have changed. Allan‘s comment: “I’m glad I’m not trying to sell wine right now.” He also admits that, “When I came to Anderson Valley, I didn’t even drink wine. I started with Husch Rosé.”
The photos below were all well-known participants from the golden age of wineries and wine tasting rooms in Anderson Valley. Allan thinks the first time Anderson Valley wine was recognized as exceptional when Jed Steele’s Edmeades Old Vine Zinfandel sourced from the DuPratt, Capucci and Zeni vineyards was sampled by professionals in New York. The wineries all worked together to establish a formal Anderson Valley Appellation. Eventually Anderson Valley became known for Pinot Noir. Slowly the region was moving in a professional direction. Husch was the first bonded winery in 1971, followed by Edmeades in 1972 and Navarro in 1974.
Somewhere along the line Allan organized a “Greenwood Ridge Wine Tasting Championship” and kept them coming for 30 years. Lots of publicity brought attention including Newsweek Magazine and Oprah but not apparently a lot of wine sales. It did establish wine tasting as a spectator sport. One year 240 contestants entered the contest. It was definitely a happening thing.
Today those 30 tasting rooms are struggling to remain viable and are in the process of thinning out. Word is out that millennials are not the devoted wine drinkers that their parents were preferring cocktails, beer or hard seltzer and cider — or nothing at all. The Valley’s golden era that started around 1985 was starting to wane even before Covid hit. The romance of the annual grape growing and wine-making cycle is hard to beat. Those of us 50 and older observe the decline in wine making and drinking with sadness. But as Allan says, “Wine has always been a boom and bust business.” We can only hope for better days ahead.
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