Reproduced from the Fall 2007/Winter 2008 issue of Napa Sonoma Magazine: Three to Watch…… Meet three re-careering vintners who are making wines you need to be drinking by Deborah Grossman

Frostwatch Vineyards

The new Bennett Valley AVA in Sonoma County is one cool place, climatically speaking. On chilly winter nights, co-owner and winemaker Brett Raven is all too familiar with the squawk of the frost alarm propelling him outside to protect the 15-acre vineyard with microjet sprinklers. That's how Raven settled on the name of his vineyard, which produces outstanding Merlot in the shadow of Bennett Peak, southeast of Santa Rosa. "Much of Bennett Valley fruit gets blended with wine labeled Sonoma Coast or Russian River," says Diane Kleinecke, Raven's wife and Frostwatch co-owner. "We were one of the first wineries to put the Bennett Valley appellation on our label."

Frostwatch Merlot displays fully ripe flavors and tannins with enough acid from long hang time for elegance and balance. As if responding to those who think Bennett Valley is too cool for Zinfandel, Raven's small estate production shows a restrained, fruity vibrancy.

Raven and his wife met as undergrads at UC Davis. Kleinecke studied plant science but became an accountant; Raven became a lawyer. When the wine bug hit, the couple purchased undeveloped land in Sonoma County and planted a vineyard. In 2002 they began producing their wines commercially. "The worst day in the vineyard or winery," Raven says, "is better than the best day lawyering."