Open: Year-round
About:
Bill Frick and Judith Gannon started FRICK Winery in 1976 with proceeds from the sale of their 1957 Chevy. They have since established beautiful hillside vineyards on slopes overlooking the Dry Creek Valley and have successfully produced scores of delicious, full bodied award winning wines.The focus is on a unique highland corner of Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley. Here, grapes from the syrah, viognier, grenache blanc cinsaut, grenache, counoise and merlot grapes mature to a rich ripe perfection. Most Frick wines are Dry Creek Valley Appellation; a carignane is also produced from 100 year old vines in Mendocino County.Standing in the quiet grounds at Frick Winery, you can look out over the beautiful Dry Creek Valley. Hawks, vultures, ducks and herons often soar overhead. The winery is hidden away on a dead end road and nature is not shy. Coyote, fox, deer, wild pig, turkey, porcupine and bobcats abound.
The winery and vineyard secluded in the hills above the Dry Creek. Grapevines run up and down the steep hills and are dependent upon the care of their farmer, they have a hard time surviving. These are dry hillsides. The soil type called Dry Creek Conglomerate is a mixture of polished rocks, gravel, sands, and clay that was a prehistoric volcanic sediment. The 40+ inches per year of rainfall drains quickly from the slopes. The vines struggle and the wines are very, very good.Grapevines that are naturally stressed produce a fruit with concentration, character and many complex flavors and aromas. Frick wines are bold, medium to full bodied. Bill Frick works hard to produce unique, flavorful table wines that are described by critics as "attractive, generously endowed, concentrated, harmonious, well integrated, balanced, delicious, excellent, full blown, complex and lingering". To Bill, it's the grape, and that's the magnificent essence that comes through in every bottle. The wines exibit the personality of the grape and the vineyard.
Frick Wines are individually crafted by hand. Traditional time honored methods of wine making are employed; that include hand harvesting the grapes, punching the cap by hand during fermentation, soft pressing, no fining or filtering and aging in small oak barrels.The Frick Estate covers a mere 7.77 acres. The winery crushes, ferments and bottles only 1400 cases a year, so a great deal of attention and hand care goes into every delicious bottle of wine with the Frick Label.
