Get Loose in Anderson Valley

The Goldeneye experience was awesome!  Please do not misinterpret what I say next.  It was a polished, silky smooth, well-manicured, moneyed environment. It was like being at a resort. That's a good thing. I absolutely loved it. 
I told Lisa, the Goldeneye hospitality manager, that I wanted to visit just one more place. She immediately said Toulouse Vineyards just a mile or two up the road. "It's rustic and funky, but a lot of fun.  A smaller operation (to paraphrase)."
Great call.
There was a hand-painted sign with a whacked-out looking goose on it. The dirt road driveway snaked up a mountain about a quarter of a mile to what can definitely be called a smaller operation.

Four guys working on a Press considerably smaller than Ramey's. Click back to look at the last picture in that episode and compare it to Toulouse's press. Also, in the above picture, those white bins on the far right are fermenters. Their 2009 Pinot has completed fermentation and they were dumping them into the red press in the center of the picture or for a closer look view this next picture. Then the free-run juice (i should say "wine") is going into those barrels which looked new. 
Another wild thing: to get to the tasting room I had to walk right through all that harvest chaos. Vern was the one who directed me through. 

That is Vern Boltz in the hat and white T-shirt. I asked Dan in the tasting room if he was the cellar master, the winemaker or...and he said "go on... tractor greaser, vineyard manager, owner! He does it all."

Vern's tanks hold 550 gallons. I was standing next to them and didn't realize they were tanks. Remember I mentioned that Ramey's smallest tanks (see pic in this episode) hold 1920 gallons.
They do everything on a much smaller scale. The results. Fantastic!  I had to splurge and take home a bottle of '07 Toulouse Estate Pinot Noir. As good as any top-flight Pinot I've tasted lately. Their production is so small that they were sold out of several of the whites. Anderson Valley is good for the varieties common to Alsace. Anyone? Bueller? Anyone? OK - Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gerwurztraminer to name a few. There is even an Anderson Valley Alsace Festival every year now. 

Like a grapevine meadow opening up amongst the trees, that is the Toulouse Estate Vineyards.
So, now you know; Alsace Whites and Pinot Noir are the main wines of the Anderson Valley.

That's the tasting room. Rustic. But, you can get loose in Anderson Valley!