The Rise, Pall and Rise of the House of Bynum

It was not an auspicious day in the Russian River Valley. Seldom has a leap of faith begun so off-balanced--or ended so spot-on.

The time was autumn 1973. Davis Bynum, a former San Francisco Chronicle reporter, was about to produce his first wine in a new winery. That was the plan, at any rate.

There were just a few problems. No electricity, for one. The building was only half roofed, and rain clouds were piling in from the coast. Bynum remembers that two of the region’s other modern wine pioneers, David Stare and Tom Dehlinger, had stopped by a few days earlier to check out their competition. “They just laughed,” he says, “and assured me it would never be finished in time to make wine.”

And then there was the little matter of getting a winemaking permit from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Bynum had applied for one, but it hadn’t yet been issued.

Could the situation get any worse?

Absolutely.

As Bynum awaited the first load of grapes with his son, Hampton, and winemaking consultant Robert Stemmler, the roofing crew began yelling. Flames had engulfed their tank of hot tar. Soon, the winery was filled with thick black smoke. Bynum recalls Stemmler stomping around with red eyes, muttering, “This is no way to make fine wine!”

Then the grape trucks started pulling in. Stemmler began swearing in German.

With a twinkle in his eye, Bynum winds up the tale with a flourish. “That same day, PG&E; turned on the electricity, the roof got finished and the BATF permit came in the mail.” Out of chaos came one of the first great Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs.

Even then, on the eve of the cult of the California winemaker that endures to this day, Bynum was aware that fine wine is essentially the product of a vineyard, not a winery. So he featured the name of the grower on the label. The label read, “From the vineyard of Joseph Rochioli Jr. on Westside Road in the Russian River Valley.”

Such geographic specificity on a wine label was nearly unprecedented (only Ridge Vineyards had done it previously). Bynum was not only one of the first California vintners to vineyard-designate a Pinot Noir, he was the first to label a Pinot with the term Russian River Valley--a full decade before the BATF approved the Russian River Valley American Viticultural Area.

Stemmler was succeeded in due course by Davis’ son, Hampton, and then by winemaker Gary Farrell, who rapidly became one of California’s most respected winemakers, largely on the strength of his Davis Bynum Pinot Noirs from the Rochioli and Allen vineyards. Farrell recently founded his own winery but continues as Bynum’s consultant. Meanwhile, Hampton Bynum has become general manager.

The business grew, and the Bynums prospered. Still, Davis Bynum was increasingly dissatisfied.

He continued to produce highly regarded Pinots from the Rochioli and Allen vineyards. However, caught up in the explosion of California wineries during the late 1980s and early ‘90s, he had fallen back from the avant-garde. He increasingly felt lost among the proliferating mid-size producers of good but undistinguished table wine. That wasn’t where he wanted to be at all, he says now: “We were beating our head against the wall. We weren’t having fun, and we weren’t making money. So we took a leap of faith.”

In 1995, the Bynum family made a bold decision: They would cut their production in half, from more than 30,000 cases a year to fewer than 15,000, and they would concentrate on Pinot Noir from their vineyards and a handful of distinguished Russian River Valley growers. To get there, they sold their popular Barefoot Bynum brand of mid-priced “fighting varietals.” At the same time, they emphasized their long-standing pro-environmental commitment by having their vineyards certified as organic (not difficult, because they’d always farmed organically).

Like many other wine fans, I was an early admirer of Davis Bynum wines but gradually lost track of the label as the winery lost its edge. So I was doubly interested when I heard about the family’s courageous decision to pull back and refocus.

Last week I visited with Davis and his son, Hampton, at the Davis Bynum estate. It was a perfect summer day in Russian River Valley. Big birds wheeled over hills lined with tidy rows of grape vines. A warm breeze blew, but the gray wall of Pacific fog was already rising above the western ridges on its way in to sit over the valley until late the following morning, when it would burn off again for another warm afternoon.

A few more weeks of that cycle should bring the Bynums’ Pinot Noir grapes to a fine ripeness--deeply colored and sweet, with the tartness of natural acidity preserved by the cool nights and mornings.

The Bynums are hoping the rest of the season goes as well as ’99. I have to concur in their high opinion of that vintage. Tasting through their five soon-to-be-released ’99 Pinot Noirs (barely more than 2,000 cases in all), I could tell Davis Bynum Winery has rejoined the short roster of top California Pinot houses.

The tone was set by the fine, intensely fruity Russian River Valley cuvee. The Bynum-Moshin was even more intense and concentrated, with a long, ringing finish. The Lindley’s Knoll (named for Davis’ father) is a bigger wine with deep, clear fruit and a gently raspy texture. The Best Four, a selection of four barrels from the Lindley’s Knoll vineyard, went that much further up the intensity meter, with a sweet new-oak undertone adding extra richness. Le Pinot, from the Rochioli vineyard, showed very ripe flavor with succulent high-toned cherry at its heart, powerful and pretty at once.

All five wines share a signal clarity on the palate that speaks of the vineyard rather than the winery. It shows that the flavors and tannins were primarily concentrated in the fruit on the vine and thus lack the muddy character of over-extraction during fermentation. Their balance and fruitiness make them wonderful now, especially with food, but they will certainly become rounder, fuller and more complex as they age.

It’s fair to point out that the Bynums also produce small amounts of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Zinfandel (a particularly delicious mouthful of Russian River Valley Zin fruit). But the real excitement is in their new Pinots, and rightly so.