Marcassin

Helen Turley and John Wetlaufer announced that Ryan O’Donnell will join them at their Marcassin Winery in Windsor, California as winemaker this spring. O’Donnell was the associate winemaker at Kosta Browne Winery in Sebastopol, California. Before that, O'Donnell was the associate winemaker at Paul Hobbs Winery in Sebastopol, California.

Turley says “Pinot Noir wine-growing and winemaking on the real Sonoma Coast offers challenges every harvest. John and I are looking forward to swapping war stories with Ryan.”
 

Helen Turley's winemaking philosophy is simple - "great vineyards, meticulously farmed, limited yield, long hang time and natural yeast." She approaches every project with these simple and transcendent priorities.

Helen Turley, Founder of Marcassin Vineyards, was educated at Cornell University in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. In 1977, she began working in the lab for Robert Mondavi Winery followed by a short time at Chappellet Winery. However, Turley had difficulty finding a California winery to hire her in the cellar, so she decided to take a winemaking position in Kentucky.

In 1984, she moved back to California and became winemaker for B.R. Cohn. A few years later, Turley landed the job of founding winemaker for Peter Michael Winery in the Knights Valley wine region. At Peter Michael, she helped to define the emerging style of California Chardonnay and also developed Les Pavots, a Cabernet Sauvignon based blend.

Helen Turley has always been several steps ahead of the rest of the industry. This was evidenced by her decision in 1991 to start planting a vineyard in the Sonoma Coast wine region. At the time, the Sonoma Coast was largely undiscovered, and most vintners considered it too cool to produce high-quality wine. This project developed into the Marcassin, one of California’s most respected Pinot Noir and Chardonnay labels.

Until 1995, she made wine for Turley Wine Cellars which is owned by her brother, Larry. Ehren Jordan is the current winemaker for the label. Helen Turley’s other consulting credits include working for Colgin, Martinelli Winery, Kapcsándy Family Winery, Blankiet Estate, Pahlmeyer Winery, Landmark Winery, and Bryant Family.

The rich, opulent Pinot Noir and Chardonnay crafted at Marcassin is minimally produced and very hard to get a hold of. Helen Turley's personal production philosophy shapes her winemaking process to be focused on quality and excellence always calling for, "great vineyards, meticulously farmed, limited yield, long hang time, and natural yeast."

The 20-acre estate vineyard on the Sonoma Coast produces only 100 barrels annually. None of the wines interact with fining, filtering, or cold stabilization and are routinely aged for five years before they're released. This is among California's most highly acclaimed, intimidatingly rare treasure: Marcassin.

Marcassin Vineyard was planted in 1991. At that time Helen Turley and her husband John Wetlaufer planted 3.45 hectares of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir at the property with undeveloped land they had bought out close to Jenner out in the true Sonoma Coast in 1985.   

   The first wines under the Marcassin Vineyard label was made in 1990, but at that time they they only used grapes purchased from vineyards owned by the Martinelli family and by Jess Jackson, and since the Marcassin Vineyard selection was added, that vineyard has been planted with more vines several times, and now covers almost 16 hectares.

Marcassin produces some of Sonoma County's best-known, most expensive pinot noirs and chardonnays.  Under Turley's direction, the winery turns out fewer than 3,000 cases of meticulously-crafted wine each year.  Marcassin plans to open a winery of its own in Windsor in 2011; previously, Marcassin shared facilities with Martinelli Winery.

Like many top producers, Marcassin sells its wines by mailing list only.  On the secondary market, expect to pay $200 for a bottle of 2005 Marcassin Pinot Noir Three Sisters Vineyard and up to $400 for a bottle of 2005 Marcassin Pinot Noir Marcassin Vineyard.

Having worked with the greatest wineries in California, Helen Turley is one of the most influential winemakers in this country. She has received critical acclaim for almost every wine she touches. She was instrumental in creating the cult wine phenomenon and although her work with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are the best known, her work with Bordeaux varietals may rival her contribution with the former. Turley has been the consulting winemaker for Peter Michael Winery & Vineyards, Pahlmeyer, Colgin, Bryant Family Vineyard, Martinelli, to name a few.

Marcassin is Turley’s own label owned in partnership with her viticulturist husband, John Wetlaufer. Together they produce 2,500 to 3,000 cases of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The waiting list to join the allocation list is long, with some waiting years to get a chance to purchase (the waiting list is said to contain 5,000 names).

Marcassin, French for 'young wild boar' did not have its own winery for many years. The wines were crafted at the Martinelli winery in the Russian River Valley from 1992 to 2011. 

Although Turley has worked with different vineyards in the past (Blue Style Ridge & Three Sisters), her own Marcassin Vineyard, located on California's Sonoma Coast, came into full production in 2009, and since 2010, she has been exclusively producing bottles from her own vineyard. At an elevation of 1,200 feet, the small and private10-acre vineyard is a short distance from the Pacific Ocean, an ideal setting for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. 

Turley is said to plant her vineyard very densely, severely limit yields, and pick very ripe. In her winemaking, Chardonnay clusters are pressed whole, while Pinot Noir clusters are de-stemmed, cold soaked with one pump over per day. She uses natural yeasts, mostly new oak, and leaves the wines on the lees after fermentation. No fining, filtering or cold stabilization so the wines may have a fine sediment and occasionally tartaric acid crystals. Typically, the wines are aged five years before release.

Stylistically, her wines are rich and opulent with generous alcohol. The wines have a reputation for aging very well.