Pech Merle (pronounced ‘pesh-mel,’ the R silent) is Occitan for ‘cave under the hill,’ and takes its name from the prehistoric painted caves in France’s Lot valley that Bruce and Cheryl Lawton visited in 2007. Bruce, an Ohio farm kid who built a business in the structural concrete used for bridges and wine caves, and Cheryl, a California cook, opened the winery in 2009. It is small by design (fewer than three thousand cases) and built entirely on single-vineyard fruit sourced across Sonoma. The wines are named and bottled by the plot they came from.
Linea: a Cabernet built from the best of Alexander and Knights Valley fruit.
Single-Vineyard Zinfandels: bottlings from Cuccio, Alioto, and the Rockpile Rocky Ridge vineyard.
Alexander Valley Cabernet Franc: from Hall Ranch, a house strength.
Ivy Rosé of Syrah: a dry, aromatic pink with a touch of Zinfandel.
Nine varietals, fewer than three thousand cases, all single-vineyard and family-run.
John Pepe makes the wine (more than thirty vintages in, after years at Kendall-Jackson and Beringer), and he chases acidity and structure in a region that often runs ripe and high in alcohol. The range is unusually wide for a small house: Sauvignon Blanc and Rosé through single-vineyard Zinfandels and Alexander Valley Cabernets, and the medals have piled up. The downtown Geyserville tasting room is ‘up-cycled chic,’ with a ski chairlift hung from the ceiling that was meant to be temporary and never left. It is a short walk from Diavola for a pizza to go with the pour.
