Family wineries are where it’s at. When you buy wine from a family winery, you are directly supporting the people that work the earth and turn the fruit into wine.
But sometimes you have to dig a little to find out if the winery you’re visiting is owned and operated by a family of winegrowers and winemakers or if it’s really owned by a multinational beverage conglomerate.
Not much digging was needed when I recently paid a visit to Kastania Vinyards. It was about 4:30 in the afternoon on a weekday when I dropped in, so the tasting room was closed.
I was lucky to find Hoot Smith (who owns the winery with his wife Linda) there with his grandson rinsing out some barrels that he’d recently used. Hoot invited me in to have a look around and take some pictures of his winery and vineyards.
Hoot told me a bit of the history of his vineyard and winery. It started in 1994 (a very good year for California wine by the way) with a class in viticulture and a small plot of land that’s been in his family since the 19th century.
Kastania is planted with primarily with Pinot Noir. The vineyard sits on a hill just west of highway 101 north of the Marin-Sonoma county line. To the southeast there is a clear shot to the San Pablo bay and the cool fogs that come off the water.
The vineyard is in the Sonoma Coast AVA but shares much of the climate of the Carneros region, making Pinot Noir especially well suited to the site.
Like many family wineries, Kastania is a fairly small operation, producing less than 1000 cases annually of award winning wine.
You will not find Kastania wines on the supermarket shelves, but you can visit the winery and buy direct, or get it through their wine club. and select Sonoma county restaurants.