Kasuari

One of the real joys in life is browsing a wine store filled with a cache of Pinot Noirs, handling the bottles, reading the labels and purchasing a wine that lacks a recognizable name but seems to hold promise. Anticipation follows and if you are lucky, a big smile breaks out on your face when you take that first sip. This happened to me recently when I came across Kasuari Pinot Noir.

Kasuari is a rare and dangerous flightless bird that inhabits Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia. It belongs to the family of birds known as Cassowaries from the Indonesian name Kasuari. The third largest bird in the world, it has the capability of killing humans, but fortunately prefers to eat snails, snakes, frogs and fruit.

I asked Michael Peters, who along with Drake Johnson founded this label in 2004, why he chose this name. His response was, “Kasuari is a rare bird, perfection and paradise all in one… .i.e. do it well and enjoy it more!” Now if you can figure that out let me know. Michael has been crafting wine for fifteen years and this label is the result of him “simply chasing his dream to make great wines and enjoy them with every one!” His cousin, Randy Peters, farms the Peters Vineyard located in south Sebastopol, the site of a former apple orchard. The soil is loamy Goldridge type and the clone is Pommard.

Kasuari wines (they also produce a Rosé, Zinfandel and Cab) are available on the website. The phone is 707-322-7055.