More Urban Winery Goodness! Sutton Cellars 2002 Pinot!

SUTTON CELLARS 2002 Sonoma (Forestville) Pinot Noir.

Really nice, lean, almost tart style. Blazing acidity. BUT: Really pretty and rich Russian River Valley red plum fruit....plenty of pinosity and fruit, even with the bottle age. A delicious wine.

Steve Sutton now makes his wine in one of the more ungentrified corners of Dogpatch (a middle aged, non picturesque warehouse), at the foot of Portrero Hill in San Francisco. One of my absolute favorite neighborhoods in the City, even with hypergentrification and new development.

He also makes VERMOUTH which is intriguing, an always changing jug wine, and Carrignane. Definitely toward the leaner side of things in his style. Nice guy...and his cellar is located right off one of my favorite "urban cycling" routes along the formerly industrial waterfront.

Sadly, the couple who owned this vineyard was given an offer for their property too-good-to-refuse. The idiots with more money than sense thought that the deer fencing was unsightly. The vineyard was quickly destroyed.

I remember once (maybe as long as 20 years ago) searching for a Greek restaurant on Portrero where I intended to have lunch. A policeman told me that it was a dangerous neighborhood, high-crime area and to be careful.

I remember once (maybe as long as 20 years ago) searching for a Greek restaurant on Potrero where I intended to have lunch. A policeman told me that it was a dangerous neighborhood, high-crime area and to be careful.

Well...there is actually one corner that contains the remnants (only partially tenanted) of an old post-war housing project. O.J. Simpson grew up there.

The rest of Portrero Hill has become quite gentrified. A mixture of renovated old working class cottages and quite "artsy" houses. Some pretty amazing stuff. I read somewhere that the median houshold income is now $91,000, which is high even for SF.