Page 43 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2021 DISCOVERING MENDOCINO

GOLDEN EYE WINERY

There are over 40 wineries in Anderson Valley,
so we headed back to the main highway to try our
luck at a few. Pre-pandemic, many were opened
daily for visits, but during our visit, the majority
had limited hours and required appointments in
advance. On the chance that some had openings,
we called or stopped to see if we could visit.
Luckily, one with a spot on the sunny view patio
was Goldeneye Winery, makers of fine pinots and
part of the Duckhorn winery family.
We’ve been big fans of Duckhorn wines since
our first Napa trip together over 30 years ago.
That was before Dan and Margaret Duckhorn be-
came icons in the wine business. We almost al-
ways have bottles of their flagship Merlot,
Paraduxx, Decoy and GoldenEye Pinot in our
wine cooler.
Like other Duckhorn tasting facilities we’ve ex-
perienced, they assigned us a friendly staff mem-
ber who would conduct the tasting. The tasting
room patio was expansive, with tables at least 10
feet away from each other. The extensive garden
landscaping around the facility along with the
rolling vine covered hill enhanced wine tasting as
much as the Riedel used in the pours.
Our wine guide chatted about Goldeneye’s
winemaker, Katey Larwood, one of several
women winemakers in the Mendocino wine re-
gion. The winemaker strives to reflect the wild,
rustic beauty of the Anderson Valley in her wines
— or Anderson Valley-ness of their wines,” says
Katey. The Goldeneye Pinot Noir program in-
cludes almost 140 acres of vines and 16 distinc-
tive clones. The winemaking team ferments over
200 small lots of Pinot Noir each year to make
wines that balance depth and energy.
Our 320 bottle wine cooler is full, and we
promised ourselves we wouldn’t buy any wines to
take home. We made that promise before we
tasted the 2017 Goldeneye Ten Degrees Ander-
son Valley Pinot Noir. It’s happily chilling in our
cooler along with the rest of the duck family.

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