Porter Creek (Russian River, CA)

Porter Creek. B. and Jack chatting on the right

Healdsburg County, along the Russian River.
Jack ( forkandbottle ) had told us that he was going to show us a family winery with the least pretentious tasting room in the region. He was right.
The Russian river area lies between Healdsburg, Guerneville and Sebastopol and benefits from fog-cooled nights which suit particularly well to its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Jack says that Porter Creek makes the best-valued Chardonnay in California.

The russian River flows at the feet of these firs

We drove south on Westside Road from Healdsburg and turned right on Porter creek's driveway. On the other side of the road, a vineyard, the Russian river, and a wooded hill.
This is a bright summer day and we enjoy the beauty of the place. The tasting room is indeed very humble, a wooden shack in the back of the house.

A caterpillar tractor rusts under a weeping willow tree

The vineyards was purchased in this bucolic setting in 1977 by George Davis (his son Alex, who worked in Burgundy with several winemakers, is in charge of winemaking since 1997). At the beginning George thought he would only grow grapes (Pinot Noir, plus the additional Chardonnay he planted) but he soon wanted to make wine himself and created the winery in 1982. His vineyards are strictly organically farmed and he follows the biodynamics principles. The vehicules and machines in the winery are even powered with biodiesel fuels.