2011 Morlet Family Vineyards Billet Doux, 375ml

Morlet Family Vineyards in St. Helena is truly a Franco-American enterprise. The estate was founded in 2006 when Luc and Jodie Morlet began making their own wine. But the roots of the estate go back generations to the Champagne region of France, where Luc Morlet grew up working on his family’s Pinot Noir and Champagne domaine. Luc later earned degrees in enology and business, and worked at wine estates in all the regions of France before moving to Napa Valley in 1993 to work as a winemaker. He met and married Jodi, a Californian, and worked for Napa’s Newton Vineyard and Peter Michael Winery before starting his own production. The Morlets own eight acres and have leases on another 12 acres. Their very limited production Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon have won outstanding reviews from wine writers. Robert M. Parker Jr. rated a recent Morlet Chardonnay at 96-100 pts and said it “may be one of the all-time great Chardonnays ever made in California.”

Alexander Valley is an American Viticultural Area just north of Healdsburg, in Sonoma County. It was granted AVA status in 1984, with amendments made in subsequent years. The Russian River flows through the valley, and the region was named for Cyrus Alexander, a 19th century landowner and grape grower. The AVA includes 15,000 vineyard acres, much of it rich, alluvial soil layered on a bed of gravel, somewhat similar to many vineyards in Bordeaux. Alexander Valley is sheltered from marine weather by the low hills northeast of Healdsburg, though it is often shrouded in the morning fog coming off the Russian River. Some of the earliest commercial winemaking in the area started in the 1880s, when immigrants formed the Italian Swiss Colony cooperative at Asti. The region made jug wines until the 1960s and 1970s, when a new wave of quality-minded producers started estates. Today Alexander Valley is home to some of California’s most admired wineries, including Simi, Stonestreet and the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. Silver Oak Cellars, though based in Napa Valley, has a second winery in Alexander Valley where it makes Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Many grapes do well in the Alexander Valley, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel.