By Laurie Daniel
Special to the Mercury News

KELSEYVILLE - California's next wine frontier may well be sleepy Lake County, Napa's northern neighbor and a place better known for pears and watersports than for grapes.

Grape plantings have tripled since 1994, according to state figures. Most of the older vineyards were in fertile, low-lying places that were easy to farm but, especially for red grapes, not the best locations for high quality. Many of the new plantings are on hillsides with well-drained volcanic soils, ideal for reds such as cabernet sauvignon.

Two new appellations, Red Hills of Lake County and High Valley, are under government consideration. And major investments are being made in state-of-the-art vineyards in those two areas.

Influential Napa Valley grower Andy Beckstoffer is in the process of planting 1,000 acres, mostly cabernet, in the Red Hills area. In High Valley, businessman and Santa Cruz Mountains resident Jerry Brassfield has planted 140 acres of his 1,700-acre estate; he has eventual plans for about 400 to 500 acres of vineyards. Jim Fetzer, whose family used to own Fetzer Vineyards, is establishing a biodynamic vineyard and farm center on the shores of Clear Lake near Nice.

These operations and others are joining such established Lake County wineries as Guenoc, Steele and Wildhurst. Industry giant Kendall-Jackson, which started in Lake County, still has large holdings in the county; Beringer has vineyards there; Chalone has bought property for its Dynamite brand.

About 90 percent of the grapes -- from both old and new plantings -- still are being shipped south to Napa and Sonoma, where most of them are blended into wines from those areas. (A wine bearing an appellation such as Napa Valley may contain up to 15 percent grapes from outside the appellation.) But increasingly, wines are being labeled with some sort of Lake County designation.

Part of the appeal for many of the newcomers is the relatively low price of land -- $10,000 to $15,000 an acre, compared with as much as $100,000 in Napa, where it's also much more difficult and costlier to get permission to develop a new vineyard. That translates into more affordable grape prices: In 2002, the average price for Lake County cabernet sauvignon was about $1,800 a ton, vs. about $4,000 for Napa cab.

But even more important, vintners and growers say, is the area's potential for high quality.

Beckstoffer, for example, considered expanding into Pope Valley, a part of the Napa Valley appellation, but he says Lake County was a little less expensive and the potential for quality was ``significantly'' better. ``We were willing to give up the Napa appellation for better quality,'' he says.

``I'm impressed every time I go up there,'' Beckstoffer, referring to Lake County, adds by phone from his Napa Valley offices. ``It's a new frontier.''

Most of Lake County -- a largely rural place where most of the towns dot the shores of Clear Lake -- is part of the North Coast appellation, but it's not really a coastal county. It's too far inland to feel the moderating effects of the Pacific Ocean, and summer days can get quite hot. There is, however, a cooling influence from Clear Lake, the largest natural lake in California. (Lake Tahoe, which is bigger, is partly in Nevada.) At night, air flows over Clear Lake and cools, then gets trapped in the valley. There's also a cooling breeze that comes off the lake on many summer afternoons. Cool nights preserve acidity in the grapes and slow the ripening process, allowing for more complexity to develop.

But perhaps the most distinctive feature of Lake County is the volcanic soil, a remnant of ancient eruptions by Mount Konocti and other volcanoes in the area. Volcanic soils are considered ideal for viticulture, offering good drainage, limiting vine vigor and lending complexity to the grapes.

``The soils here are some of the most balanced ones I've ever fooled around with anywhere in the state,'' says Clay Shannon, who farms about 700 acres in the county, including his own 270-acre property and Brassfield's vineyard. He rattles off a lot of details about calcium, potassium and the like. ``It's good dirt.''

``The soil here is just incredible,'' adds Brassfield winemaker Kevin Robinson. ``It blows me away.''

This ``new frontier'' actually has a long tradition of viticultural and wine production. In 1888, Victorian actress Lillie Langtry established a wine estate in the Guenoc Valley, at the southern end of the county. According to the Lake County Winegrape Commission, there were about 6,000 acres of vineyards and 28 wineries in the county by 1920, when Prohibition dealt a severe blow to the California wine industry. Nearly all of the county's vineyards were pulled out and replaced with crops such as pears and walnuts.

It wasn't until the late '60s and the '70s that farmers who wanted to diversify started planting grapes again, mostly in Big Valley. On the site of Lillie Langtry's old estate, Guenoc and Langtry Estate Vineyards -- whose appellation, Guenoc Valley, spills into Napa -- was revived by the Magoon family at about the same time.

Largely as a result of the vineyards in Big Valley, Lake County began to develop a reputation for sauvignon blanc. Lake County sauvignon blanc typically is very fresh and aromatic, with flavors of lime, melon and passion fruit, accented by a touch of grassiness. Buena Vista in Sonoma County has produced a very good Lake County sauvignon blanc for years. Wildhurst Vineyards in Kelseyville has made a strong commitment to the variety, producing three separate sauvignon blancs -- two vineyard-designates and a blend -- all of which are outstanding and reasonably priced at $11.

In High Valley, Brassfield also produces a delicious sauvignon blanc; the current vintage, 2002 ($17), is the one of the first wines to be produced from estate-grown fruit. (The other was a 2002 pinot grigio.)

With the new plantings, though, the area should begin building a reputation for reds. Many of the new vines are just starting to produce -- Beckstoffer says 2001 was his first ``real'' harvest -- but the early results have been good. Beckstoffer's customers have included such Napa Valley wineries as Merryvale, Caymus and Schrader.

At Snows Lake Vineyard -- a property in the Red Hills area that was started by Louis M. Martini Winery and is now owned by the Myers family, which is greatly expanding it -- Chief Operating Officer John Adriance proudly shows off a 2000 Seghesio Barbera ($25) with the vineyard name prominently displayed on the label. The vineyard used to be the source of Martini's wonderful barbera; this Seghesio wine is ripe and juicy, with blueberry and spice. Snows Lake fruit is also a big part of the 2000 Dynamite Cabernet Sauvignon ($25), labeled with a Red Hills designation. It's medium-bodied, with black cherry and plum and hints of anise. Other Snows Lake customers include Cakebread Cellars, Trinchero Family Estates and Rosenblum Cellars.

Syrah, zinfandel and petite sirah appear to have a good future in High Valley. Brassfield's best red is a 2001 syrah ($19), made from fruit purchased from neighboring vineyards; the winery is harvesting its first estate reds this fall. Barrel samples of Shannon's 2002 Shannon Ridge zinfandel and petite sirah, made at Cardinale in the Napa Valley, show good depth and intensity. Shannon is particularly optimistic about the latter wine. ``This should be a winner up here for petite sirah,'' he says.

Brassfield has found that he can even grow a little pinot noir in a couple of particularly chilly spots on his estate. I was skeptical -- the area seems too warm -- but a barrel sample of the 2002 was delicious and well balanced, with a silky texture.

It remains to be seen what kind of splash the new Lake County wines will make in the marketplace. Frank Anderson, general manager of Beckstoffer's Red Hills Vineyard Co., conceded, ``We're in unexplored territory.'' But he and his boss believe the promise of the place is very exciting.

Brassfield shares that excitement. ``This is a pioneering kind of deal you don't get very often.''

Contact Laurie Daniel at [email protected].