Kept Secret Never Had a Wine from the Santa Cruz Mountains?
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BOTTLE SERVICE e Future Looks Even Brighter New-gen producers are living out their start-up fantasies—and changing California wine for the better. By Betsy Andrews WHEN RYAN STIRM STARTED HIS EPONYMOUS LABEL, he says, “I didn’t realize how unpopular Riesling would be.” But he was persistent. A cellar rat in Santa Barbara, Stirm flipped a fixer- upper there and, with the profits, was able to move to Santa Cruz and grow his coworking winery, Stirm Wine (stirmwine .com). Six years later, he’s fêted for his Riesling. Naturally fer- mented, unfiltered, and unfined, his old-vine wine from Cienega Valley has a heady guava nose, lush texture, and sly acidity. “I love that Riesling turns people off at first,” he says. “I find it so easy to change minds.” Stirm, 32, embraces challenges. For Pinot Noir and Cabernet California’s Best- PINOT NOIR Sauvignon, he’s practicing no-till dry farming, a rarity in plowed and irrigated California. “It’s jungly because I let weeds grow,” Kept Secret 2016 THOMAS FOGARTY 2018 SANTE ARCANGELI 2017 BIG BASIN ALFARO says Stirm. “But the results tell a different story.” (Acid, concen- Cellars (lepecellars.com) in 2015 after working in wineries all Never had a wine SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS SPLIT RAIL VINEYARD FAMILY VINEYARD PINOT tration, flavor.) “I’m trying to be a true minimalist, starting with over the state and in Chile. “From what I’ve seen, it all starts in PINOT NOIR ($38) PINOT NOIR ($49) NOIR ($60) less and making it better.” the vineyard,” he says. “My parents worked in the fields. We from the Santa This longtime Santa Cruz The Split Rail Vineyard is Big Basin made its name at’s the mantra of California’s new producers. With little gardened at home. You plant something, it’s going to be healthy Mountains producer offers a mere five miles from the with Syrah, but winemaker Cruz Mountains? remarkable levels of quality Pacific. That coastal proxim- Bradley Brown makes excel- money but loads of ingenuity and an understanding of their as long as you take care of it properly.” Organic Zinfandel on its Now’s the time. across its entire line. For a ity lends a silky elegance to lent Pinots as well, among impact both on wine drinkers and the earth, they’re diversifying own rootstock, naturally fermented with just a touch of new good introduction, check out this transparent ruby Pinot, them this garnet-hued wine, California wine. oak; crisp, neutral-barrel Chardonnay—“I want to show that this fragrant, black cherry– while a touch of oak adds a full of raspberry, rhubarb, Strawberry-tart Mourvèdre, skin-fermented Chenin Blanc Monterey has potential for low-intervention, boutique wines.” rich, lightly savory red. spicy top note to its flavors. and spicy flavors. ONE OF THE ABIDING MYSTERIES of Cali- redolent of honey and Meyer lemon—Megan Bell, 29, makes Lepe’s identity encourages new wine lovers. “I have a lot of fornia wine is why more people don’t low-intervention wines such as were once unheard of on the Hispanic clientele. Traditionally we weren’t into wine, but when know about—and therefore love—the CABERNET SAUVIGNON Central Coast. Bell launched Margins Wine (marginswine.com) I tell my story of starting with nothing, they get excited.” Santa Cruz Mountains wine region. on Kickstarter in 2016 and guides growers in emerging regions, Identity also matters for Sonoma’s Corinne Rich, 29, and Katie 2016 RIDGE ESTATE 2016 VÖCAL BATES 2015 KATHRYN KENNEDY Part of the explanation may be that it’s CABERNET SAUVIGNON RANCH SANTA CRUZ ESTATE CABERNET like the Santa Clara Valley, through converting their vineyards, Rouse, 32, who refer to themselves as “partners in life and wine- small, with only about 1,600 acres of ($65) MOUNTAINS CABERNET SAUVIGNON ($285) and she sources most of her obscure varieties from these grow- making” when pouring their Birdhorse Wines (birdhorsewines SAUVIGNON vines (Napa Valley has 46,000); part of Ridge’s Monte Bello Cab- ($65) The late Kathryn Kennedy ers. “My most important mission is getting more small farmers .com). “Queerness has to be a part of the conversation,” says it may be its divided nature, since the ernet is a California bench- Ex-sommelier Ted Glennon planted her vineyard in 1973; to farm organically,” she says. Rich. “It’s empowering for young people to see there’s a seat at region lies on both sides of the San Fran- mark, but don’t overlook the makes wines that express her son Marty Mathis has Eschewing additives, says Gina Giugni, 28, “means you can the table if they’re from a minority.” winery’s excellent estate the “sommelier style”—less made the wines—like this cisco Peninsula ridge of the Pacific Coast only make wine as pure as your land.” South Birdhorse makes wine for its generation: Cabernet. Dark currants and fruity, less alcohol and oak. utterly beguiling, tobacco- Ranges (it was, in fact, the first American cassis, cola and mint—it’s Here, that’s tart red cherries scented, red currant–rich of San Luis Obispo, Giugni farms biodynami- quaffable, minimalist, and gently priced. at’s Viticultural Area, or AVA, to be defined both complex and delicious. and savory tobacco notes. Cabernet—since 1981. cally to underpin her Old World–style foot “I have a lot of Hispanic led the winemakers to “fringe” grapes and vine- by a mountain range). Yet right now treading and aging on the lees. Her Pinot Noir clientele. When I tell yards. Sourced from the Suisun Valley east of it’s producing some of the state’s best CHARDONNAY exhibits a Burgundian austerity; her Sauvi- my story of starting Napa, their plummy Valdiguié smells of flowers Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, as well as gnon Blanc boasts green-mango snap and with nothing, they get and finishes bone-dry. eir Verdelho, from several benchmark Cabernets—unlikely 2016 DOMAINE EDEN 2017 MINDEGO RIDGE 2016 RHYS VINEYARDS mouthwatering salinity. Giugni’s next move Contra Costa County, has a chalky minerality SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS HORSESHOE VINEYARD bedfellows but for the dramatic varia- will be a tasting room with her husband, excited.” —Miguel Lepe and pineapple-y zing. CHARDONNAY ($32) CHARDONNAY ($48) SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS tions in climate and soil here. And the CHARDONNAY Mikey, 32, the rising star behind the label In 2019, two years in, Birdhorse made just Jeffrey Patterson’s deft From a small vineyard on the ($79) region is also beautiful, with wineries touch shows through in this Santa Cruz side of the appel- Rhys has, in a short time, Scar of the Sea. She sees her own brand, Lady 350 cases of wine. Eventually, says Rich, “I’d tucked away amidst conifers and oaks lightly toasty, savory white. lation, Mindego Ridge makes become a California super- of the Sunshine (ladyofthesunshinewines.com), as “a platform” love for us to go full-time with it.” For now, the two work day and, on the western side, often graced If you enjoy it, next time top-notch Pinot Noir and star. This delicate yet intense to create wine that speaks of origin, which for her wines is the jobs at lauded Napa wineries—gigs that, a generation ago, with stunning views of the Pacific. You splurge on his famed Mount Chardonnay. This white’s white reveals why, its com- volcanic soil of the Edna Valley. would’ve set their career paths. Not today. “Napa Valley Cabernet Eden Estate Chardonnay, light lime notes float above plex flavors shot through owe it to yourself to investigate. one of California’s greatest. creamy golden-apple fruit. with stony minerality. Miguel Lepe, 33, is just as dedicated to his appellation. Mon- isn’t going away. But newer winemakers are saying, ‘What else terey’s first Mexican-American winemaker, he started Lepe works well in California?’ We are challenging the norms.” 64 APRIL 2020 APRIL 2020 65.