• Wine Regions
    • Napa Valley Wine Country Guide
    • Healdsburg – Russian River Wine Country
    • Sonoma Valley Wine Country Planning Guide
    • Mendocino Wine Country
    • Carneros
    • Paso Robles Wine Country
    • Santa Barbara Wine Country
    • Livermore Valley wineries
    • Lodi Wineries
    • Sierra Foothills Wineries
    • Monterey Wineries
    • Santa Cruz Wineries
    • Lake County Wine Country
    • Yolo County Wine Country
  • Tasting Room Guide
    • Tasting Room Etiquette
    • Napa Valley on a Budget 2022
    • What to Pack for a Wine Country Picnic
    • How to Taste Wine
    • Bocce Wineries
    • Organic Wineries
    • Vineyard Year
    • Best wine country backroads
    • Winery Wine Clubs
    • Buying Wine at a Winery
    • Wine Varietals
    • Wine Appellations
    • Solar Wineries in California
    • How many bottles of wine in a barrel?
    • Hiking in Wine Country
  • Wine Guide
    • Pairing Food & Wine
      • Which wines for dinner?
    • Which Wine Glass
    • Decanting wine
    • Which Corkscrew works best
    • Corkage Fees
    • Corked Wine
      • Preserving Wine – what to do with the unfinished bottle of wine
    • Hosting a Wine Tasting Party – How to pull it off
      • Hosting a Serious Wine Tasting Party
      • How to Host a Fun and Casual Wine Tasting Party
      • Wine Scoring Sheets | Wine Tasting Forms | Wine Scorecards
      • Checklist for Successful Wine Tasting
    • Wine Gifts for Wine Geeks
      • Best Wine Books
      • Top Ten Wine Cookbooks
      • Best wine fiction books
    • Best Wine Bargains
    • Wine Collection Tips
  • Wine Country Insider
    • Wine Trails off the Beaten Path
    • Quick Getaways
    • Hiking in Wine Country
    • When to Visit Wine Country
    • Which wine region to visit and why
    • Redwoods and Vineyards
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • Site Map
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
You are here: Home / Archives for Topel

Ketcham Estate

August 22, 2014 by Joe Becerra

Ketcham Estate winery

Mark Ketcham and his Pinot Noir wines

About Ketcham Estate

This is one winery I had never heard until one of our wine friends arranged for us to meet Mark Ketcham and taste his Ketcham Estate wines. Our friend Pat bid on this special wine tasting with Mark Ketcham at a school fundraiser. We are happy she had the winning bid and even happier she asked us to tag along. The tasting took place in Mark’s fabulous house in the Russian River area near the town of Healdsburg. Mark is one of many successful business owners we find today in the world of wine who, once retired from their successful businesses, decide to start a winery.  As the old saying goes, “To make a small fortune in the wine business, one must start with a large fortune!” Mark Ketcham has long been a wine aficionado, especially of Burgundy wines. When he sold his computer company, he set out to find the perfect spot for growing Pinot Noir grapes. As we sip his Pinot Noir wines, he tells us that he evaluated over 100 properties using a Harvard Business School evaluation method.  His home and his estate vineyard are located at the northern end of the Russian River Valley.  His vineyard is a stone’s throw from J Vineyard and Rodney Strong. But Ketcham has one thing not found at either one of those wineries, and that is water. There is a creek that runs along his property and provides a substantial water table. The clones of Pinot Noir Mark is using grow in a lateral direction. He chose those Pinot Noir clones so they would have some struggles in finding the necessary nutrients, instead of growing strait down into the water table. Mark has hired a full-time vineyard manager and has provided a home for him and his family on the property. Kudos to Mark on providing for his employee.

Mark admits that although he knows much about wine, he would never attempt to make wine. That, he leaves up the specialist. It is rather curious that Mark has had three or four winemakers since the first vintage of 2002. He began with winemaker Mike Browne of Kosta-Browne fame, and we got the vague notion that Mark must be quite demanding in what he expects in his wine. Mark recently hired a new winemaker, Mark Topel. Mark and his wife Donnis own the Topel Winery and have a tasting room in downtown Healdburg. The Topels’ winery is located in Hopland, about 35 miles north of Healdsburg. Mark and Donnis purchase grapes from Mark Ketcham, and I am assuming that is what led to the  Ketcham winemaking stint for Mark Topel. It was very fun to try the three Ketcham Pinot Noirs, different vintages and from different vineyard plots. The Pinot Noirs are well made and very delicious, and I think priced correctly compared to other Pinot Noir wines in the Russian River Valley.

Ketcham Pinot Noir

The bookcase is a secret passageway to Mark Ketcham’s wine cellar.

What we most enjoyed about our visit was when Mark took us downstairs and into his “man cave.” He walks towards a bookcase and reaches behind a book and viola! The bookcase is a doorway that swings open into a fabulous and well- stocked wine cellar. I spotted Burgundys, Bordeaux’s, Napa cult cabs, and even an Nebuchandnezzar bottle of Veuve Cliquot. A Nebuchandnezzar holds 20 regular bottles of wine. Holy smokes!

This was a special tasting for the school fund raiser. Normally all the tastings at Ketcham Estate are by appointment and done in the vineyards. Check the Ketcham Estate Website for additional information.  Should you want to visit other wineries in the area, check our Old Redwood Highway Wine Trail.

Filed Under: Russian River Valley, Russian River Wine Country - Sonoma Cty., Winemakers Tagged With: Ketcham Estate, Pinot Noir russian river valley, Topel

Latest from the Blog

  • Easy hiking Alston Park in Napa
    April in Wine Country = Fun
  • 13 Reasons to Visit a Working Winery
  • Tracking Down Old Vine Zinfandel
  • Russian River Valley
    Russian River Valley Wine Country
  • Paso Robles Big Three Wineries
-->

CALIFORNIA WINE COUNTRY REGIONS:

Carneros • Livermore • Lodi • Mendocino • Monterey • Napa Valley • Paso Robles • Santa Barbara County • Santa Cruz Mts. • Sierra Foothills • Russian River • Sonoma Valley

Connect With Us

Want to keep up with Wine Country Getaways? Follow us across our social networks!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Sign up for wine country news from Janelle and Joe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 · Wine COuntry Getaways

 

Loading Comments...