In deepest Mendocino, rebuilding a life in wine

Boonville, California

THIS little town in the Anderson Valley of Mendocino County seems isolated enough. It's a 40-minute drive west of the nearest major highway, mostly on the winding, two-lane Route 128, and it's barely on the grid. But Wells Guthrie was looking for something even more secluded.

Not that Guthrie, who had won acclaim at Copain Wines for his delicate, nuanced pinot noirs and savory, saline syrahs, is a hermit or misanthropic. He's friendly and genial. But his recent experiences in the wine business, he said, had been unpleasant and had left him somewhat shell-shocked.