Alfred Hitchcock wrote of his good friend and the country's first woman winemaker, pioneering vintner Isabelle Simi's historic Healdsburg winery: "The port here is far too good for most people."
In fact, most people passing by the solid salt-stone building, nestled into a cool hillside, off the dusty Old Redwood Highway, were likely more than pleasantly surprised when, at the end of Prohibition, winemaker, Isabelle and her local banker husband launched the concept of a tasting room by dashing out into the road with sample glasses of their plentiful stores of sacramental/medicinal wine.
Isabelle is officially said to have inherited the winery at the tender age of 18, due to the untimely passing of her enterprising Tuscan immigrant father, Giuseppe Simi and his brother Pietro, in the flu epidemic of the early 1900s. Crowned Healdsburg's Flower Festival Queen (pictured in her finery, second row from bottom, above), Isabelle is actually more widely believed to have been as young as 14 when she'd taken the reigns of what was to be one of the select few California wineries in continual production throughout the decade and a half of Prohibition.
Long, hard years of being forbidden to sell her wine had forced Isabelle and her husband Fred Haigh to sell off much of the family's early vineyard property in the area in order to salvage the stoic winery that physically straddles two appellations - Russian River and Dry Creek (in close proximity to the Alexander Valley, as a notable third).
The winery had been constructed in two parts - a shrewd, initial deal finagled in true Italian style by the Simi brothers, who had agreed to allow the railroad to run its track through their newly purchased grounds, in return for utilizing Chinese railroad laborers for the building of a quarried stone winery into the optimal hillside. Italian masons completed the second half of the building in 1904, innately utilizing the flow of gravity for filling barrels. The difference in stone work is evident to the eye and is accurately depicted in a smaller scale, on the winery's classic label, today.
Wine Educator Kim Phillips took me on a morning tour of the winery, in which our attempted conjuring up of the spirit of Isabelle as host made for a pleasant departure from many of the more run-of-the-mill winery tours I've been a party to over the years I've been writing for various wine country publications. I was struck by the real sense of genuine hospitality here - I'd like to think a direct legacy from Isabella, who stayed on at the winery as a volunteer greeter several years after selling the lauded winery that had also been her home, well into her 80s.
Isabelle and Fred had moved onto the property from a Victorian home on Healdsburg's 1st Street, incidentally, the same house that lauded winemaker Susan Lueker (continuing the tradition of Simi's fine women winemakers) discovered her partner had stopped off at for a yard sale, purchasing a bicycle made for two. "Who knows, it might have been from Isabelle's day," said Lueker, over our brick oven pizza lunch. With no idea at the time that the home had such a direct connection to Simi Winery, this charming coincidence was every bit as inspiring as the gift.
The move onto the winery property enabled Isabelle to run a tight ship. She planted a grove of Redwood trees that still stand sentry in the lower courtyard at Simi, casting a refreshing shade over lush, immaculately tended shrubbery and a fountain, leading to a narrow pedestrian bridge over a deep, meandering, fern green creek and on, up to the lovely, old winery itself.
Simi's first tasting room was crafted out of a 25,000-gallon Champagne tank. It must have been an arresting site for the Hollywood elite such as Hitchcock who were familiar with the area for its peaceful, river cabin retreats. An explosion of wine stored during the years that Isabelle was licenced to make sacramental wine only must have had a profound impact on the market at that time and Simi was soon known as a haven of good food and wine. Before the winery incorporated its own bottling facility, barrels were put onto the railroad, rolled off in Petaluma and transported into San Francisco by steamer, via the Petaluma River.
"The stone fireplace and counter area in the tasting room at Simi were part of Isabelle's home," said Phillips. "She and her daughter would lay out a lavish spread of home cooked Italian food to pair with their wines for visitors." No matter how well designed or awe-inspiring the materials used in a winery, there's no way to infuse a place with a real sense of history earned through the simple pleasures of good food shared with so many people passing through, for such a long period of time. It's somehow in the walls. Isabelle's piano, wedding photographs of her parents, hand signed guest books (including Hitchcock's lasting impression) and thoughtfully preserved memorabilia such as the likeness of Isabelle as Flower Festival Queen and photos of her in smiling older age (she died at 95) are a part of the winery but not enshrined. A continual nod to her presence but leaving plenty of room for present day Simi team to further innovate and excel.
In 1983 Simi bought the 90 acre Alexander Valley Vineyard with its immense variety of topography and soil that would give its name to the winery's first single vineyard Cabernet Sauvingnon, known by connoisseurs worldwide as Landslide. In 1989 the winery purchased and planted its Russian River Valley Goldfields Vineyard with hand-selected original cuttings from some of the premier vineyards in California.
Today, the winery's mineral laden five vineyards located in the mild coastal climate of the Alexander Valley produce a range of exceptional Cabernet that ramps up the volume in intensity from its Alexander Valley Cab to the Landslide and ultimately with an opulant, dark and brooding Reserve Cabernet.
For me, a winery's spirit and soul is very much connected to its sense of good living at table, not just for wine country elite, but for the ordinary passer-by, as in Isabelle's day, when true wine country cuisine was as simple as sitting down under shade, on a leafy terrace to enjoy the fruits of the Simi kitchen with a stellar wine.
Chef Eric Lee and his enthusiastic, creative team love working at Simi and it shows. Every Friday from 12 to 6 pm and Saturday 11 am to 4 pm throughout summer, Simi's Pizza Café brings a delicious slice of authentic Italy to its stone flagged terraces. The artisan brick oven pizzas are such a hit in Healdsburg that locals stop by for lunch and dinner on a weekly basis, often ordering ahead for take out on the way home from work. The wine country cycling contingency has Simi on its radar as top pick for a pit-stop for a first class bite on a road biker's schedule.
Location, great wines and accessibility have a lot to do with Simi's draw, but it is its attention to detail with lots of fresh salads and brick oven pizza choices, topped with the best of the region's seasonal bounty that seals the deal on a continual buzz about the place.
Healdsburg Food Pantry benefits from Simi's Keep on Truckin' Wednesdays, with tasty street fare and live music at the winery every second Wednesday of the month from May through October. Local food trucks such as Matchbox Diner, La Texanita, Karma Chef and Foxy Cupcakes pull up in front of the Visitor's Center from 4 pm to 8 pm, offering a range of affordable meals to take up to the winery's outdoor deck, or down by the fountain with a glass of Simi wine. Vendors donate 10% of their proceeds to the food pantry and the winery, $1 of every bottle sold during the evening. Next dates for Keep on Truckin' Wednesdays are July 13, August 10, September 14 and October 12, 2011.
A vegetable garden on site has grown from the burgeoning demand for fresh veggies and salad greens in Simi's kitchen, making it all the more appealing to stop by for locavore's lunch. Lee and his team are waiting for their tomato plants to fruit for house made sauces this season, so visitors may expect to taste the bounty of the winery's garden well into October.
After three full years in the barrel, Simi's Reserve Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon presents plush with ripe tannins and powerfully complex fruit. Its black cherry, cassis, blueberry flavors give way to a silky, smoldering finish and paired perfectly with Chef Lee's sliced prime rib pizza of the day, with pedrone peppers, served during my leisurely Friday lunch-time visit. I tried another slice with Simi's fruit forward 2006 Sonoma County Zin, a favorite for its fresh upfront berry and cherry with hints of caramel and peppery spice.
A second house made sausage, proscuitto and Philly cheese pizza paired deliciously with the winery's velvety, elegant 2009 Pinot Noir with aromas of plum, dark cherry, cranberry, gingerbread and light toast.
Splitting the al fresco feast with companions, we'd tasted a terrific take on caesar salad with house made dressing and crispy parmesan chips. Paired with a golden delicious apple and tangerine flavored 2008 Chardonnay.
An antipasta platter and a panzanella salad with heirloom tomatoes and rustic bread paired with a brilliantly clear, light straw-colored 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, smelling of pineapple, passion fruit, guava and grapefruit and just a hint of minerality. I've enjoyed Simi's Sauvignon Blanc at home this summer and have it on my repeat shopping list for serving during outdoor dinners of salmon, goat cheese salad, citrus and beets. At $15 a bottle its a crowd pleaser and won't break the bank for summer barbecues and picnics.
Susan Lueker shared her enthusiasm for her first Roseto for Simi, available in the tasting room to visitors and wine club members only, this limited edition 400 case first offering is exceptionally beautiful in the bottle and a treat to taste. Crafted from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, a slow ferment after the dark red grape skins were removed has produced a rose petal wine of wild strawberries and tropical fruits, with floral notes and bright crispiness. Not only did I love Lueker's Roseto as a summer wine, I'm planning on putting a bottle by for the locally raised turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, this fall.
If you go up to Simi this summer, be sure to stop and smell the roses in a garden at the side of the winery, where the wall is covered in a wild and beautifully old and unruly, wisteria leading up to a hillside arena of a gleaming, modern production plant with its steel tanks and pristine crush pad. The rose garden has a story of its own. Isabelle planted a rose bush for every President of the U.S. who served during her lifetime at the winery. Except for one. Prohibition's latter era's Herbert Hoover. According to Phillips, Hoover had heard of the legendary West Coast winery rose garden and went so far as to send its proprietress a rose bush in his name. She sent it back.
Simi Winery and Visitors Center is located at 16275 Healdsburg Avenue, Healdsburg, CA 95448. From the south county, travel north on Hwy 101 to the Dry Creek Road exit in Healdsburg. Turn right onto Dry Creek Road; then turn left on Healdsburg Avenue. Simi is located one mile north at 16275 Healdsburg Avenue. Open daily from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm for tasting and sales.
Take a tour of Isabelle's family's historic stone cellar, built in 1850, followed by a sit down tasting of four wines. Offered daily at 11am and 2pm.
Telephone 1-800-746-4880
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