Most Underrated AVA in California

Most Underrated California AVA

  • Livermore Valley
  • Santa Barbara County
  • Santa Cruz Mountains
  • Santa Lucia Highlands
  • Sta. Rita Hills
  • Chalk Hill
  • Chalone

0 voters

My Vote is for Santa Lucia Highlands, Pinot Noir is phenomenal!

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Agreed!!

Livermore needs to continue getting new winemaking talent, but there have been some new players in the last few years. These producers definitely make Livermore feel like it’s underrated.

Steven Kent (been around since 1996) - Steven Mirassou’s $155 Lineage Bordeaux blend and single vineyard cabs don’t get talked up as much as they should (2010 lineage 94 pts wine spectator, 2009 premier cab 93 pts wine spectator)

Murrieta’s Well - Robbie Meyer (peirson Meyer/del dotto/previously Lewis cellars) became head winemaker in 2015 and his reds are just starting to be released. Very aromatic and pretty wines. All from estate fruit (winery dates back to 1884). The entry level white blend ($24 dollar The Whip just got 91 pts spectator).

Kalin Cellars- don’t need an introduction on this board. Some great aged chard, semillon, and sauv blanc from wente estate vineyards. 1995 Livermore chard got 95 pts Robert Parker.

Mckahn Cellars- new winery in Livermore. Winemaker Charles McKahn is head winemaker for William Harrison winery in Napa and previous assistant winemaker for Chappellet.

Occasio winery- Winemaker Dave Hendrickson took over as head winemaker in 2015 and his reds were just bottled. UC Davis winemaking grad who worked at peay. Sourcing from the best vineyards in Livermore (his 2016 sachau cab from murrieta’s well estate vineyard is awesome from barrel).

Nottingham - Collin cranor is another young winemaker next door to mckahn and occasio. He has a single vineyard cab series similar to Steven Kent. His Supremacy is an 80 dollar Bordeaux blend.

An interesting poll, and one that, to me, raises lots of questions. When you say, underrated, are you saying in terms of ‘professional ratings’, in terms of ‘sales of wine’, in terms of ‘visitors to the area’?

There are many AVA’s talked about often on here that the general wine consumer is not that aware of. I think things here know places like the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Santa Lucia Highlands, but do not believe that the general consumer does.

I know I’m a bit of a homer for our area, but I believe that the entire Santa Barbara County area tends to be underrated, especially for the quality of products coming out from the entire area as well as the ‘more reasonable’ price points compared to so many other area. From a tourism standpoint, our county stands nearly last in visitors - astonishing with how close we are to LA but that’s the case.

Just my $.02 here.

Cheers!

Chalone

Larry -

Should have been more pointed in my term “underrated”, meant in terms of quality of wine.

Besides your own vines, what other wineries do you recommend in Santa Barbara?

Thanks,
Nick

Chalone has been added to the poll, so you can represent!

Recommendations on wineries?

Nick,

First off, I would not recommend my own wines - that’s not why I post around here [wow.gif]

The quality of the wines from our entire area continues to get better and better as new sites are explored, as new winemakers come to town, as vineyards begin to mature, and as everyone finds their firm footing in terms of ‘style’ they are after.

Where to begin . . .

Like Rhones? You cannot go wrong here - a few to consider:
Jaffurs
Beckmen
Stolpman
Larner
Qupe
Kaena (for Grenache)
Refugio Ranch
Ojai Vineyard

Like Pinots?
Melville
Babcock
Kessler Hawk
Clos Pepe (for now)
Chanin
Au Bon Climat
Whitcraft
Pence
Fess Parker
Byron
Crawford Family

Chardonnays?
Same list as above but plenty others including Liquid Farm, Tyler, Presquile

Iberian Varieties
Verdad
Kenneth Volk
Cinque Stella
Crawford Family (killer Albarino)

Sauv Blanc? - Some of the best coming out of the state, especially for the price:
Dierberg/Starlane
Dragonette
Brander
Presquile

The list of varieties and producers and truly go on and on - lots to discover up or down here, depending upon where you’re at.

Cheers!

There is only one producer making wine in Chalone, which is Chalone Vineyards, but a number of people make wine from the 7(?) vineyards in the AVA-

Chalone
Michaud
Ian Brand
Big Basin
Copain
Enfield
Under The Wire / Bedrock
Jolie Laide
Birichino
Brosseau
Hobo
Wind Gap / Pax
D&R
and I’m sure a bunch more.

Where it is underrated is the seriousness and uniqueness of the terroir. Limestone and granite together, with a plethora of sunshine and wind. The area has almost zero cachet.

The best domestic wines I have ever had have been from Chalone- Mostly 70’s Chalone Pinot Noir and 80’s Chalone Pinot Blanc. Some of Michael Michaud’s early 2000s bottlings of Syrah and Chard have been truly ridiculous.

Santa Barbara County. Produces some of the best early drinking Petite Sirah, great Pinot and early/late drinking Syrahs.

By definition of Underrated I will say Ballard Canyon since you didn’t even think to put it on the list!

(Not a knock on you, just pointing out that this very new AVA is relatively unknown and under-appreciated)

Subset of Santa Barbara County.

To me, this is an AVA that is simply too narrow - and really won’t get much play on a regional or national level. They came out of the gate strong with lots of PR about the ‘only Syrah dominated CA AVA’ but things have gone quieter along the way.

And i’m not so certain that Grenache is not the standout in that AVA anyways [stirthepothal.gif]

And as Michael mentioned, a subset of SB County, which is STILL quite underrated and IS an AVA

Cheers

If it received ita own AVA designation then it really deserves to be called what it is, imo. The process includes proving why you are distinct enough fromt he surrounding area to deserve AVA designation.

They proved it and deserve independent recognition. Imo.

That said, the entire SB area is definitely underrated.

You certainly know the area much better than I do, but I don’t think things going ‘quiet’ means the quality isn’t there. It just means the attention isn’t there. Which, to me, indicates it is underrated.

And you may be right about Grenache. But many Rhone varietals are very strong from there. Syrah, Grenache, Roussane

Add Sandler (Boer) and Flywheel (Boer and Brosseau). We used to get Brosseau Vineyard Pinot at Harrington for 5-6 years - always great looking fruit from there.

Flywheel also gets Naylor. Does Loring still get Naylor PN?
Cellars 33 and Testarosa also get Brosseau.

I agree with you wholeheartedly, and never said anything negative about the quality of the fruit or wines coming out of that area. As you know, I get fruit from there, and I’m very very very happy with it. I’m simply looking at the marketing aspect.

Cheers

I’ll second Hardy’s endorsement of Chalone and expand it. The Gabilan Mountains have some of the most interesting terrain out there, starting with Chalone and Mount Harlan, and continuing into the Lime Kiln Valley (Enz Vineyard) and the Cienega Valley on the East side. There’s also the Coastview Vineyard, which has quietly produced some epic wines over the last decade. But Chalone, with its mix of limestone, granite and volcanic soils from the old Pinnacles Volcano, with a kiss of fog and wide diurnal swings, should be an internationally regard terroir like a Monte Bello or Mount Eden.

Really, the whole area I ‘cover’ in my winemaking enterprises are pretty drastically underrated, with the exception of the Santa Cruz Mountains, which I think are finally becoming fairly properly rated as one of the handful of best appellations in North America. The rest, San Benito County/Paicines, Monterey outside of the SLH, the Santa Clara Valley, have some incredible blocks, and the remainder compares pretty well with places like Santa Barbara, and is at best ignored even locally, not to mention on the state or national level – which gives us the trump card, Larry [wow.gif]

Totally get where you’re coming from! And we agree!

Now I need to try more Chalone wines too, based on this thread!