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Winemaking in our backyard |
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Written by Carla Tavormina/special to the World
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Monday, 22 May 2006 |
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If winemaking is an art, Winemaker Russ Jones of the Truckee River Winery is a Picasso of his trade. He spends time with his artwork, sampling the wines at various stages of their maturation to see how they are progressing. Written in the dust on the barrels of wine are denotations of: “good,” “great,” “Yes!” and “Oh Baby!” indications of the soon-to-be masterpieces.
Tahoe is known for a lot of things, but wine has not one been one of them until recently. In the 2006 San Francisco Wine Competition, two of the three wines that Truckee River Winery produces were compared with thousands of wines in their class, and they took home medals — a double gold for their 2003 Lodi Zinfandel and silver for the 2003 Gary’s Vineyard/ St. Lucia Pinot Noir.
Winemaker Russ Jones and his wife Joan are in love with Tahoe as most of us are. Both locals of Tahoe, they met in high school, and moved away for college at U.C. Davis, where Russ studied oenology, the science of winemaking. After college he and Joan both worked in the wine industry for many years, first in Oregon, at the Sokol Blosser winery, where Russ fell in love with making pinot noir, then at the Creston Manor winery in San Luis Obispo County.
When the wine industry hit hard times, Russ and Joan decided to move back to Tahoe, figuring they would live and work here until the wine industry shaped up. Instead, they turned their love for making wine from a hobby into a business, the first and only winery in the Tahoe basin.
Russ and Joan started making wine for fun in their garage in Sierra Meadows in 1987. Friends were delighted with the results and encouraged them to make more. Since the Joneses got bonded in 1989 they have grown their operation to about 1,000 cases annually of merlot, zinfandel and pinot noir. Despite the success and popularity of their wine, Truckee River Winery is not really interested in growing their operation too much more.
Russ likes taking a very hands-on approach to his craft. When people ask the Joneses if they ever want to “grow up” and move to Napa, they reply with a steadfast “No.” Here in Tahoe, they can ski all week and make wine on the weekends.
As Joan said, “We love living here, and we love making wine.”
Each of the three wines that Russ makes are single vineyard wines, which translates to delicious, rich and unique wines that are not blended down at all. The merlot, the zinfandel, and the pinot noir all have exceptional flavor — I suggest everyone go and have a taste for themselves.
Get a taste:
Wine tasting is available at Truckee River Winery by appointment. Call 530-587-4626 and let the Joneses share their masterpieces with you. Truckee River Winery is located at 10061 S. River St. in downtown Truckee. Check out their Web site at www.truckeeriverwinery.com and see www.winejudging.com to read more about their winery and the medals they recently won.
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