Pey-Marin: A Private Tasting with Jonathan Pey

Miss Melody and I met up with the man behind Pey-Marin wines at a recent 18 Reasons event.

Posted by Rich

An Evening With Jonathan Pey of Pey-Marin Winery

On a warm September evening, Miss Melody and I took a short journey to an art gallery in the Mission District of San Francisco for a winemaker food and wine paring put on by 18 Reasons, a group who's mission it is to bring neighbors together with the people who make art, wine, and food.

On this night, the artist was winemaker Jon Pey, a West Marin winegrower and maker who has a day job in advertising. He owns several labels, (y'know, for fun), and continues to produce high quality wines. Jon is small-time, he only produces about 375 cases of each wine, (about four or five wines), but his wines are big-time. He has the laid-back ease of a retired guy living in Marin doing what he loves, (even if he's far from retired).

Jon, along with his wife susan, run Pey-Marin winery. They have a combined 30 years experience in the wine biz. Jon has worked for some of the biggest names in Napa, while susan runs a wine consulting firm that does business with some of the best restaurants in the bay area. So while Marin country isn't the big wine country that everybody talks about, the Pey's think that it's just fine. It's really similar in climate to Napa, and wine grapes have been grown in Marin since the 1800's.

The art gallery is small, 10x20 at most, with a long table set up with about ten chairs, (which is about all you could fit in there). A dude was in back preparing plates for the food pairing. A spicy Thai-like salad for the whites, and a creamy risotto for the reds. Perfect.

Of the four wines we tasted, two Rieslings and two Pinots, I was most impressed with the 2007 "The Shell Mound" Riesling, which was one of the best I've ever tasted. A dry 100% riesling that never sees oak and uses no malolactic, resulting in a crisp and beautifully clean wine. Then I tasted it with the salad (described earlier)... ah! so very nice. I mean, I really, really like this wine. Maybe it's because I haven't tasted many rieslings that really blew me away, or maybe it's that I never have high hopes for rieslings to start with... or maybe it's because it was really freakin' good.

Jon engaged everyone at the table, served up glass after glass, described the winemaking process, and answered any questions. I liked him right away because when I mentioned the over-oaking of many California wines, Jon nodded his head in total agreement. Jon is a believer in Terroir, a wine's sense of place, something the old-world has never forgotten, (thus far). It seems that Marin's cool coastal climate is ideal for growing rieslings, yet Jon claims to have the first Marin rieslings in the history of the world.

You can only find Pey-Marin wines at a few spots around SF, like Plumpjack or California Wine Merchant on Chestnut Street, so he does most of his sales online via his website. If pressed about whether he wants to grow and get distributed nationally, Jon will tell you that it's an extremely small operation, just he and his wife, and they're doing about as much as they can take on.

Jon mentioned that he is a Pinot guy, so I was excited to tasted his efforts. We tasted the 2006 "Trois Filles" Pinot Noir, and the 2006 Pey-Lucia "Frisquet" Pinot Noir, both of which we absolutely loved. Both well-made, nicely balanced wines. We gave both 90+ points, easy.

We left feeling like we'd made a great connection and a lucky find. Jon's philosophy is simple, make great, simple wines... avoiding the usual California big, fruit forward reds and the over-oaked, buttery whites. Jon's wines do this with great success.