Picket Fence Wine

Filed in archive California Wines on January 11, 2007

A new brand of wine is hitting store shelves soon or probably has already, though I haven't seen this around my parts as yet. I'm sure I'll be shopping along one day and see it there on one of the end caps enticing me to pick up a bottle. This one is called Picket Fence and is from Russian River Valley. Here's more information from a company press release:

585 Wine Partners, formed by wine industry veterans Dan Leese and Doug Walker in 2005, announced it is launching a new wine brand from Russian River Valley called Picket Fence. Picket Fence becomes the second wine brand in the Sonoma-based 585 Wine Partners' portfolio, joining the fast-growing Red Truck Wines brand. Last week, the company announced it had changed its name from Axiom Wine Company to 585 Wine Partners to better reflect its business strategy which relies on key partnerships to build and sustain its brands.

"It has been a long-term vision of ours to make wines from the Russian River Valley appellation," commented Leese, President of 585 Wine Partners. "Some of the world's most renowned producers of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir source grapes from this prized appellation. Simply put, if you're making Burgundian varietals in California, Russian River is the place to be."

Picket Fence is introducing a 2005 Russian River Chardonnay ($18-20 suggested retail) and a 2005 Russian River Pinot Noir ($28-30 suggested retail) nationally starting February 2007. The project reunites two Sonoma County wine legends, vineyard manager Pete Opatz and winemaker Don Van Staaveren, who in the last three decades have grown and made some of Sonoma County's most highly acclaimed wines. Opatz, a past president of the Sonoma County Grape Growers Association, held vineyard management positions at several wine companies including Chateau St. Jean and Allied Domecq before assuming his current position as viticulturist for Vino Farms. Van Staaveren has made critically-acclaimed wines for Chateau St. Jean and artesa winery & Vineyards and is currently winemaker for a small luxury winery in Sonoma.

"This is the Sonoma County dream team," said Walker, 585 Wine Partners' Chief Operating Officer, who worked with both Opatz and Van Staaveren when he was president of Chateau St. Jean in the mid-1990's. "Pete and Don are masters in their respective fields, they both have a long history of making wines from Russian River, and they have a synergistic relationship that works perfectly for Picket Fence."