I can’t say I’ve tasted many wines from California’s Marin County over the years. Marin for me is the scenic, Gucci-hippie oceanside territory I drive through on my way from San Francisco to wine country. Marin is not “wine country.”
But it can make some nice Riesling. Case in point: Dutton Goldfield’s 2016 Riesling from Chileno Valley Vineyard ($30, 327 cases produced). From a 25-year-old vineyard, this wine is dry but not tart; it has ripe tree fruit flavors of apricot and quince, and a talc-like minerality that evokes Austrian Riesling or Grüner Veltliner. And regular readers will know how much I love Austrian wines. The DG is soft in its acidity, yet dry. It’s a good conversationalist — by which I mean it engages you rather than simply talking at you. You know how some people — er, I mean wines — seem all-out determined to convince you how brilliant they are? This wine is brilliant, but it knows you have something to add to the conversation. I’ll stop there before I start raving about a wine’s emotional IQ. Kudos to grower Mark Pasternak and winemakers Dan Goldfield and Jeff Restel, for their emotional IQ.
Dave McIntyre's WineLine 
Hi there Dave. Glad you enjoyed the riesling. My late wife (Susan Pey) and I are guilty of bringing Riesling into Marin County in 2005 when we grafted over a Merlot block at this site. It is a rare (at that time) clone called Neustadt, which has a more neutral aroma, (leaning citrus) and a steely backbone. The soils have a good amount of sandstone and the site is entirely dry-farmed. Yup, dry farmed, 25 year-old Riesling vines in chilly west Marin! Harvest is usually late October and because of the cold temps we almost never see botrytis. Yields are pathetic at under 2 tons/acre. Mark Pasternak has also been farming my block and since Vintage 2007 we have been producing Pey-Marin Riesling “The Shell Mound”, Marin County, from that site. It sees a long, cool ferment with lees contact, has no oak, no malo, is under 12% alcohol and is bone, bone dry. It ages amazingly. Check it out at http://www.PeyMarin.com Cheers. Jonathan Pey