Marin’s reputation as dairy country is unshakable, but the county also is a unique wine region.

Spanish missionaries planted Marin County’s first grapes as early as 1817. By the Gold Rush era, German and Italian immigrants settled into the North Bay scene, and grape-growing as well as winemaking became commonplace.

But the phylloxera virus, 1906 earthquake and Prohibition dealt a blow to the industry. Vineyards were torn out; farming practices turned to livestock.

Winemaking had a modest comeback here in the 1970s. Today there are about 200 acres of vineyards in pockets throughout the county.

The cool, coastal climate allows grapes to mature slowly without increasing overall sugar levels, resulting in wines that are lighter in body and lower in alcohol, and maintain a higher level of natural acidity than those in some areas farther inland.

Back to Gallery Marin County winemakers revive dormant tradition 3 1 of 3 Photo: Erik Castro, Special To The Chronicle 2 of 3 Photo: Erik Castro, Special To The Chronicle 3 of 3 Photo: Erik Castro, Special To The Chronicle





Pinot Noir is the predominant grape, but Marin County also produces Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Veer off the cheese trail to meet a few vintners keeping this region’s winemaking tradition alive.

Sean Thackrey

A shack overlooking the Bolinas Lagoon houses the tasting room of Sean Thackrey, whose unusual winemaking methods over the past few decades have made him one of Northern California’s most iconoclastic winemakers.

Thackrey never “studied” wine in the traditional sense: He doesn’t hold a degree in enology nor any other agricultural science. Science, he says, asks questions unrelated to what he’s interested in: making wine. “There is no degree in winemaking.”

He cites his former career as a fine artist as the perfect preparation for life as a winemaker. “It made me extremely comfortable about making large decisions quickly based on instinct. Winemaking is an improvisation every year, not a fixed process.” He believes it’s the winemaker’s decisions, from harvest through bottling, that ultimately determine the final expression of a wine.

Thackrey’s expression comes from the techniques he’s learned from his vast collection of ancient texts on winemaking. The most notable of these ancient methods is borrowed from the Greek poet Hesiod’s “Works and Days,” a kind of farmer’s almanac for the ancient Greeks. According to the poet, one must align a vineyard’s harvest based on the constellations of the stars and “expose them to the sun for 10 days and nights.” Thackrey may not leave the grapes out that long, but he does let them settle in the bed of his truck for at least 24 hours. “I let them sit for up to 72 hours if I can,” Thackrey says. “Things ripen differently off the vine than they do on the vine.”

Letting the grapes rest “under the stars” has proven time-consuming, risky and well worth it. As Thackrey notes, “It’s not making things easier, as with much of modern winemaking, but it does make for more unique wine.”

Wine to try: Andromeda 2013 Pinot Noir Devil’s Gulch Ranch Marin County ($60)

660 Horseshoe Hill Road, Bolinas; (415) 302-8121. Tasting room open by appointment only. www.wine-maker.net

Point Reyes Vineyard

Dressed in cowboy boots, jeans and shirt with rolled up sleeves, Point Reyes Vineyard’s owner and winemaker, Steve Doughty, offers no hint at his previous life as a private investigator. The tasting room is an homage to his country lifestyle: the walls lined with family photos, shelves stocked with homemade vinegars alongside his estate wines, and a fridge filled with local cheeses.

Why is a former PI making wine? “Well, I married the farmer’s daughter,” Doughty says. His late wife, Sharon Doughty, was a third-generation dairywoman whose family’s Marin farming roots date to the 1920s. But when she and Steve met and married in the mid 1980s, the county was seeing a shift in land conservation laws and there was a downturn in the dairy industry, so the couple turned to grapes.

“Our first wine was bubbly for my daughter’s wedding,” Doughty says. Acquaintance Jess Jackson, founder of Kendall-Jackson, was a guest at that wedding. With his encouragement, the couple dove full-force into the wine industry. Doughty’s non-vintage sparkling wines, crafted in the methode Champenoise, are reason enough to stop by the barn-turned-winery. The wine ferments in bottles for at least 8 years before disgorgement — a process the lone winemaker does by hand. Those unfamiliar with this traditional method will be surprised by the depth of flavor the long, slow fermentation provides.

Come for the bubbly but stay for the Cab. When Doughty first started making still wine, he was forced to leave his first vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the barrel for three years. “That’s how long it took us to get the proper permits from the county,” Doughty explains, “but the wine came out so well, we just kept doing it.” The extended barrel aging means Doughty’s Cabernets are fruit-forward and full-bodied, but plush with soft tannins and mellow acidity.

Linger just a little longer to talk to Doughty — who will boast about his late wife’s influence on the winery’s success, talk fondly of his local Marin community, and express in no uncertain terms his love for his work as a winemaker. “It’s a nice way to spend the winter of my life.”

Wine to try: 2001 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon ($32).

12700 Shoreline Hwy., Point Reyes Station; (415) 663-1552. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Monday. Fee: $10 (waived with bottle purchase). www.ptreyesvineyardinn.com.

Stacy Briscoe is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sbriscoe@sfchronicle.com

Marin’s honey wine

Heidrun Meadery is named after the myth of Norse God Odin’s goat, Heidrun, who produces mead instead of milk.

Wander around the property, taking in the flower gardens and beehives, then step into the tasting room and learn what modern mead is all about.

Gordon Hull’s sparkling varietal meads are made with honeys sourced from his property as well as apiaries from the Pacific Coast, Alaska, and even as far west as Hawaii.

“Few people understand that the source of honey is flower nectar and that place, or terroir, matters,” says Hull, who is often amazed by the broad spectrum of flavor profiles mead can have.

Hull’s first love is beer. In fact, in the mid 1990s, he left his career as a geologist to study the art of brewing.

It was around this same time that he began experimenting with honey fermentation. Having tasted through several commercial meads, he found the sweet, “funky” flavors unappealing. “I realized the raw ingredients — honey, water, yeast — have no reason to taste funky.” So Hull set out to produce mead that is dry and crisp and expresses its floral source.

Hull made his first batch of sparkling mead using techniques inspired by the methode Champenoise — also used to make effervescent bières de Champagne . Following the primary fermentation of the honey, water and yeast, he left the mead to ferment further in the bottle, resulting in a lighter, drier, bubbly mead. The last step, riddling and disgorgement to remove the dead-yeast sediment, was a step Hull admits he added somewhat grudgingly, but to appeal to the mass market, accustomed to crystal-clear beverages. “The cloudiness of the unfiltered bottles had customers sending the mead back. They mistook it for a flaw,” Hull says.

When Hull went to replicate his mead-making process, his original vendor couldn’t supply him with enough honey for experiment No. 2. Hull turned to another beekeeper whose bees collected nectar from a different flower source. The result: “It tasted the same, but different,” Hull says, “So then I asked myself, ‘What if honey is like grape varieties?’”

Mead to Try: Point Reyes Wildflower 2016 Estate ($50).

11925 Highway 1, Point Reyes Station; (415) 663-9122. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday; until 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Fee: $15 (waived with purchase of three or more bottles). www.heidrunmeadery.com