Our last visit to Porter Creek Vineyards was in 2002. We enjoyed the smallness of the winery and the family atmosphere. However, we thought the wines were a mixed bag of quality, particularly the Pinot Noir wines. After all, Porter Creek is situated in the land of Pinot Noir grapes, the Russian River Valley. Perhaps it was because we had just previously visited Rochioli Winery, where we tasted “out-of-this-world” Pinot Noir wines. We felt that with the Russian River Valley terroir, the Porter Creek wines should have been better. For that reason, Porter Creek Vineyards did not make it onto our list of wineries on the Russian River Valley Wine Trail.
Last week we revisited Porter Creek Vineyards. Much remains the same as it was years ago. It is the same tiny, cozy tasting room, and it is the same family running the winery. However, this time the wines were much better overall than we had remembered, and we were impressed with the Pinot Noir wines we tasted. So what changed over the years? In 1997 Alex Davis took over the winemaking duties from his father and founder George Davis. It took a few years for Alex’s winemaking skills to come forward and show their style. Alex studied winemaking at Fresno State University and then spent several years in the Burgundy area of France learning the winemaking practices of the legendary Pinot Noir region.
