Harrington Wine: Single Vineyard Pinots from Dogpatch

Tucked in a garage within a garage, deep in a row of non-descript warehouses in San Francisco's less than famous Dogpatch neighborhood, Bryan Harrington is crafting single vineyard pinots from throughout the state of California. Since 2002 Harrington Wines has crafted urban made wines into what Bryan hopes is a true expression of the fruit and the place from which the fruit comes. He has travelled the state looking for vineyards that meet his criteria, looking for unique combinations of elevation and exposure, of soil components and organic practices, and for farmers who are willing to keep yields down. Harrington focuses on pinot noir, a grape that surely allows a winemaker to show hugely different expressions from both the terroir of the vineyard, and the vinification techniques used back in the cellar. He explores this cross section by experimenting with cultured yeast strains versus native fermentation, and even stabilizing the wine without the addition of sulfites (this is not done on the majority of his wines, just a technique he is experimenting with) What results across all of his wines is an expression of carefully crafted, clean, fresh wines, that allow the true nature of the fruit to shine through. While the wines from Sonoma Coast are richer than the wines from Anderson Valley, and the Monterrey wines show a much clearer mineral streak, they all come across as focused and bright.

Most recently Harrington has taken to exploring the possibility of producing great nebbiolo in California. Sourcing his fruit from Paso Robles, he has produced a couple of successive vintages and is encouraged by the results. A recent trip to Piedmonte has encouraged him that he is headed in the right direction, and really believes that nebbiolo has a future in California. When tasting the wine I could certainly see the potential. Very dry and tannic as one might expect, the wine showed great high toned red fruit and some very cool floral qualities. Given the relatively small amount of collective knowledge on how to treat California nebbiolo I can see why Bryan gets excited when thinking of the possibilities.

These are very small production wines, but worth seeking out. The winery itself is open once a year, during Harrington's annual open house usually in November. In the meantime Harrington takes orders directly, and offers very good quality for the price. These are wines that are approachable yet ageable, complex yet drinkable, and intensely interesting without being difficult. If you are looking for recommendations I would say that the Harrington 2009 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir, Wiley Vineyard is one of the most interesting pinots I have had in some time. It needs a bit of time to integrate all of the components but is a stellar wine. For a wine to drink now check out the 2007 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, Crown's Gap Vineyard, plush and fruity with the backbone of acidity to stand it up, this is drinking beautifully.

The dedication and commitment to produce wines of character and distinction show through on these wines. The drive to set up shop in an industrial section of one of the United State's greatest cities, and work endlessly to sell the relatively unknown product also has an effect on what one sees, smells, and tastes in the glass. These are not your mass production, soulless wines (not that there is anything wrong with them), and are worth a bit of effort to acquire.