Kastania embodies Petaluma wine

Kastania Winery is a little gem of a wine facility just west of Highway 101 at the southern gateway of Petaluma. Its owners, Hoot and Linda Smith, are from old Petaluma families and love this town and all that we are doing in the wine industry.

When Hoot and Linda began thinking about wine, they did not know a thing about growing, production or winemaking. They confess they enjoyed fine wine but knew nothing about how to make it. So, they took some classes at Santa Rosa Junior College so they could learn the craft.

Hoot, who was an auto mechanic before he started making wine says, “We had all this nice land on a hill and I thought, why not cover it with vines?”

Kastania Winery rests in a little microclimate that is markedly warmer on most days than the rest of town. Mostly, this leads to some juicier qualities with brighter fruit and higher residual sugar, sometimes, which can also mean trouble if the fruit matures too fast.

Fortunately, Hoot and Linda have gotten very good at their timing in picking this gorgeous fruit. I have never tasted a vintage that was overly ripe or had too much residual sugar in any of the wines he has ever produced in my 11 years of tasting them. In fact, their timing is great, the wines are very balanced, and their pricing is just fine for high-end, Petaluma GAP Pinot Noir.

My favorite of the bunch would have to be the 2012 Kira and Jaden’s Pinot Noir. This gorgeous, little libation received a 91 score from Wine Enthusiast’s Magazine and is one of the finest from our valley. Concentrations include warm raspberry and mountain strawberry fruit extenuated by eastern spices and dried orange peel. The finish is silky and long with just a touch of fresh vanilla. This fine wine is available at your local wine retailers.

Of special note, if you love white wine, the Kastania Pinot Blanc is a 100 percent pinot noir that doesn’t touch the skins and is left to be a bone-dry white wine. This is a food lover’s white wine that will pair swimmingly with grilled trout, salmon, vegetables and will do fine with any chicken dish.

As well, there is just enough minerality that we can pair this beauty with shellfish, including oysters. Wet stone and minerals exude behind the cool, dry, fresh and green orchard fruit. It is available only at the winery.

Another red not to be missed is made from the fruit that they purchase from the Alexander Valley to make their Bordeaux blend. This stunning cabernet-based red is loaded with dark blackberry fruit, glimpses of tobacco and hints of campfire ash. Long and profound, pair this red with grilled filet mignon, hangar steak with a little char and some sautéed mushrooms. I think it might be the best cab blend they have made, to date, and I bought a case for myself.

This wine also is available for sale at local retailers.

Kastania is open on weekends at 11 a.m. for tasting and is a great, local experience. Hoot has lived here his entire life and has some fantastic stories. His wife, Linda, is hilarious and they are such nice people that it is worth the trip just to sit and have a talk with them in their very comfortable tasting room. The tasting fee is only $10, and you get to try them all.

(Jason Jenkins is the owner of Vine and Barrel in Petaluma. Contact him at jason@vineandbarrel.com.)