The world needs more cocktails. And pie.
And if the world can get these delights while becoming a greener, more sustainable place, then someone is doing a very fine thing indeed.
Credit the good folks at Medlock Ames in Healdsburg with doing just that, through their plans for the historic Alexander Valley Store and Bar on Alexander Valley Road at Highway 128. In renovating the well-loved but rundown property, Chris Medlock James and Ames Morison aren’t satisfied with simply sprucing up the century-old retail grocery and bar that they shuttered March 31.
They’re envisioning a shop stocking not just everyday staples, but a changing array of local, seasonal items ranging from produce, to pickles, to yes, homemade pie. Their bar will be an uber-cool speakeasy, offering creative, seasonally inspired cocktails for imbibers who are savvy enough to know where the bar is, despite a hidden door and nothing so tacky as a sign.
And through it all will be woven a green theme, from the reclaimed building itself, to the recycled materials used for new construction, to the elaborate outdoor gardens and meadow planted with indigenous flora. As a centerpiece: a tasting room showcasing Medlock Ames’ wines, which are famously produced from sustainable, organic and biodynamic grapes.
As Medlock Ames general manager Kenny Rochford unrolls the blueprints on the old wood bar, it’s obvious he’s excited about the redevelopment that starts this week. Where gas pumps used to stand will be a farmer’s market, brimming with the organic goodies that Medlock Ames grows at their Bell Mountain Ranch nearby. “It’ll be less just wine and more food stuff,” he says, “Because we like to eat. But it’ll be food from the same pure dirt as our wine.”
Inside, most of the former grocery will give way to a tasting room, but there will be nibbles like olives, cheeses, pickles, breads and such. “All the amazing stuff this area produces,” says Rochford. “So good it breaks my heart.” For heartier fare like sandwiches, folks will be directed to Jimtown Store just up the road, but Rochford promises some signature treats. “Full picnic baskets. And pie. Pie seems to come up a lot in what people really want.”
For specialty drinks, Rochford is musing about creating a “cocktail garden,” planted with licorice, cassis, and other fresh, edible mix-ins. A broad array of beers will be selected from local brewers, and there will be one-of-a-kind wines – “New, crazy star producers from here and further afield, probably hidden under the bar so you have to know to ask.”
For the project planners, Earthtone Construction of Sebastopol, it seems like a fairly hefty ambition – especially since Rochford wants to host his grand opening by fall, preferably in time for this year’s harvest. The property spans an acre, cradled on two sides by some of Cyrus Alexander’s last remaining vineyards, and one of the first orders of business is to tear down the rickety wooden fences and storage sheds that block the views of the chardonnay grapes.
There’s also the small task of relocating a 1,200 square-foot vintage house next door to the bar, which the Medlock crew had hoped to use as a tasting room until the county recently denied their septics permit – the completely renovated home is now being offered for free to anyone who can tow it away.
“We could tear it down,” Rochford says, “But we’d much rather give it a new life. It’s the environmentally right thing to do.”
Details: Alexander Valley Store and Bar, 6487 Highway 128, Healdsburg, 707-431-8845.