Owners of Campovida set out on their own path

Gary Breen and Anna Beuselinck knew they had found a special spot when they took over the defunct Fetzer Valley Oaks Food and Wine Center in Hopland, re-christening it Campovida.

They revived the organic gardens, gave the buildings major makeovers and re-ignited the spirit of the magical location as a haven for weddings, corporate pow-wows and romantic getaways, not to mention a mind-expanding talk series they called the “DO Lectures.”

The couple bought the property in 2010, about 50 acres in all, from the Brown-Forman Corp., former owner of Fetzer. On the wine side, they originally partnered with Magnanimous Wine Group (MWG), a Mendocino-based wine company belonging to Owsley Brown III, a Brown-Forman heir.

But over time, the couple decided it was time to make wines of their own under the Campovida name. Enter winemaker Sebastian Donoso, who had been working at nearby Saracina Vineyards and was hired to bring life to their vision.

In 2012, his first complete vintage for Campovida, Donoso made a total of 1,000 cases; in 2013, it’s bumped up to 3,500 cases.

The focus is on Italian- and Rhone-inspired red and white wines, as well as a crisp, refreshing rosé. On the Campovida estate are 15 acres of viognier, most of which has gone to Bonterra Organic Vineyards for years. Campovida takes about six tons now for its own viognier.

The property also grows a few acres of nebbiolo and sangiovese. Beyond the estate, the fruit is entirely sourced within Mendocino County from both inland vineyards and a few closer to the coast.

“We want to raise the bar for inland Mendocino,” Donoso said.

The grapes for the rosé, for example, are grenache grown in Potter Valley. Direct-pressed and given 24 hours of skin contact for color and grip, the wine is firmly structured, tasting of fresh grapefruit and herb. With vintage 2013, a Rosé di Grenache will be vineyard-designated as Trails End Vineyard.

Potter Valley is also where Campovida is sourcing riesling this year, near where they also buy grenache blanc. Hopland neighbor Glenn McGourty, the viticulture and plant science advisor for University of California Cooperative Extension, grows marsanne, roussanne and arneis on his Spirit Canyon Vineyard, used by Donoso to make varietal wines.

Campo di Stelle 2013 Riserva is a blend of sauvignon blanc and semillon from Randle Hill Vineyard in the Yorkville Highlands. It is barrel-fermented and given time on the lees to provide a heady mix of peach and melon.

Campo di Blanca 2013 Riserva, meanwhile, is 45 percent marsanne, 18 percent viognier from the Campovida estate and 37 percent roussanne that is fully focused on heady aromatics and a velvety texture.

Donoso likes the quality of some of these white grapes so much that he’s increasingly finding ways to make them into their own wines. The Bonifiglio Vineyard grew lovely roussanne in 2012 and 2013, which Donoso gave partial skin contact and only neutral oak in order to coax out creamy textures of fresh melon.

Vintage 2014 is the beginning of a Rhone-inspired red cuvée from Alder Springs Vineyard, a highly sought-after site in far northern Mendocino County. It will be a mix of grenache, syrah, mourvedre and counoise. Another prominent vineyard, Oppenlander in Comptche, is the source of Campovida’s chardonnay and pinot noir, both nuanced in bright acidity.

The red wines are also where Donoso gets deeper into the Italian varieties, a big part of the fabric of Mendocino County’s history.

Nero d’avola, negroamaro and zinfandel are sourced from a tiny nearby site, Chiarito Vineyard. Primitivo and grenache come from Dark Horse Ranch, just up the road from Campovida, a biodynamically farmed vineyard owned by Paul Dolan and his sons.

“I believe they are lovely examples of the varietals, and I think that in each there are some different reasons why,” said Sondra Bernstein of The Girl and the Fig in Sonoma, who recently paired a slew of Campovida wines at a five-course meal at her pop-up restaurant space, Suite D.

“The wine that took my heart away during the evening was the Dark Horse Ranch Grenache. This wine, to me, was reminiscent of a favorite wine unusual to Chateauneuf-du-Pape that is made with 100-percent grenache. It is lush, full fruit, jammy and has a big mouthfeel. I love that we were taken on a ride through the California Rhone in Campovida, showing off what the vineyards that they have chosen can do, definitely in a new world style, but with a respect and appreciation for the old world.”

Bottlings of carignane and syrah are also on offer, as is a soon-to-be-released estate-grown sangiovese called Ancestors Block.

Priced between $32 and $45, the wines are sold through the Campovida tasting room as well as a tasting room the owners run out of Oakland. Scopa, The Girl & The Fig, Diavola, Gather, Commis and Boulevard are among the Bay Area restaurants that carry the wines.

Campovida is at 13801 Old River Road in Hopland. For more information, visit www.campovida.com.

Virginie Boone is a freelance wine writer based in Sonoma County. She can be reached at virginieboone@yahoo.com and followed on Twitter @vboone.