While I was making my rounds today I had spotted this on the ground of one of my favorite accounts.
When I asked to see the bottle, the owner of the shop gave me the bottle, he said it was a leaker and would have
trouble selling it so out of great generosity he handed me the bottle and told me to enjoy.
The color is great, the fill is top shoulder and I am not expecting much but I love aged wines so this will be a treat to try.
Does anyone know the history of this estate?
The label is fantastic, it gives must info, Brix, Acid and PH and then wine info, Acid PH and alcohol.
The wine is from Gamble Ranch, picking was complete on 10/30/80 and is 100% Cab.
I thought this info was really cool to have on the side of the bottle.
So does anyone have any info, Tom Hill, Didline, Piper?
The wines can be fantastic. I have had the 1978 on numerous occasions and it remains a benchmark for aged California Cab. The winery has an extensive library at very fair prices. I also had an older merlot (86, I think) that was lively and complex. A gem you don’t hear enough about.
Purchased Pinots from the late '70’s and early '80’s at an auction years ago and after looking them up I decided that someone with more interest in SCM wines should drink them as they were thought to be quite special. Luck would have it that I found someone here with a keen interest and we made a very nice trade. A Mag of 2001 Chardonnay drunk at 8 to 10 year old was super.
I didn’t follow Ken Burnap from the start, but loved his late 80s and early 90’s pinots, and I recall that the 1987 and 1991 Bates Ranch cabs were terrific. Edited to add that the 1978 was very nice as well.
My favorite SCMV wine, maybe because I had it the most, was the 1993 Matteson Vineyard pinot, incredibly pure and elegant, and my last bottle consumed around 2004 was the best.
Ken’s wines convinced me that the Santa Cruz Mountains had the potential to make world class pinot, and were one of the reasons I joined the Rhys list before any wines had been released based on Kevin’s goals as he described them on eBob.
They’re in my neighborhood and I’ve never stopped in to try any of their wines. I’ll have to swing by this weekend. Has anyone tried the 2001 or 2003 Estate Pinots that they have listed as currently available library wines right now?
Thanks folks for all the feedback, I hadn’t had time to look up the winery as I was told the winery was no longer in business, I’ll have to check the web for a site.
Well, Jason…you dinged the right guy.
I, in fact, did follow KenBurnap’s SCM from the very start, which I believe was the '76 Pinot from his Estate. It was a very Burgundian style of Pinot, some like the
DavidBruce’s of that era, but more fruit and less oak. And fairly expensive vis a vis other Calif Pinots. The '80 Estate Pinot was pretty impressive, but over 15% alcohol…
rare for a Pinot in that era. It wasn’t until about '80 that Ken started going beyond his Estate Pinot and making Cabernet/Merlot. I don’t recall the GambleRanch, but I
know he used the BatesRanch quite a lot. I did a visit w/ Kan around 1982 or so. Really neat/passionate guy.
Ken made his wines in a pretty reductive fashion. They often, on release, had a pretty bad burnt rubber/sewer gas smell. I came to refer to it as the “Burnap stench”,
which was slightly different from the “Rasmussen stench”. But that was what allowed them to age so well and taught me that reductive winemaking was not
(necessarily) bad. I remember the '81 SCM Merlot (ashamed to say that I once drank Merlot) and Cabernet as being huge/extracted/black wines w/ the “Burnap stench”
in spades. Here in NM, they couldn’t sell the stuff (around $16-$18/btl) and the distributor (BillZech) dumped the stuff & I bought a bunch of it at KoKomann’s for
around $5/btl. It still stunk from the “Burnap stench”, but after around '90, that started to go away and the wines had a long & glorious life. Had my last Cab around '00,
and it was still full of life & wonderful. I would suspect the ‘80 GambleRanch is still holding on to life. Would like to hear a report back on how it’s doing.
So…Jason…that’s my story & I’m stickin’ to it!!
Tom
It’s still around. Winemaker is Burnap’'s former assistant. I find the Burnap Era estate pinots magnificent. I find the current wines undrinkable with searing chemical-feeling acidity.
I tasted the 2001 Estate Reserve at the Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Paradise tasting in April, along with the 2011 Branciforte Creek bottling:
Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard 2011 Pinot Noir, Branciforte Creek Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains. > From Pommard clone vines planted in 1988. Medium-light ruby color, with flowers, fresh herbs, bright red fruits, earth, and a stony mineral component. Medium weight and lively in the mouth, finishing with moderate tannins, nice. Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard 2001 Pinot Noir, “Reserve,” Estate, Santa Cruz Mountains. > Sourced from 30+ year-old vines at the original winery’s Jarvis Vineyard site, bottled from two selected barrels at the same time as the regular 2001 Estate Pinot and held back for release until 2011. Medium-light garnet color, this displayed spice, tea leaf, flowers, with red cherry fruit in the background. Medium-bodied and still showing great acidity with the structure for further aging, and fine tannins on the finish – terrific bottle-aged Pinot.
Jeff Emery and Cynthia Bournellis of Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard
They’re definitely still in business, Jason. It’s possible that the info you received was about nearby Vine Hill Winery. Ken Burnap sold his estate vineyard and winery building in 2004 to the group that established Vine Hill Winery on the site. Vine Hill Winery went out of business a couple of years ago. Ken sold the Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard business itself, together with the winery equipment and wine inventory, to Jeff Emery, who had been Ken’s assistant since 1979 and has been making the SCMV wines since taking over from Ken.
I’ve never had that experience with the more recent SCMV Pinots - in fact I’ve found the Pinots from their Branciforte Creek Vineyard (planted in 1988 to Pommard clone, and only about a mile from the old estate vineyard) to be consistently one of my favorite Pinots from the region.
Awesome, thanks again everyone, I love the history of California and even though this is a leaker and might be shot it is still an education and a nod to the days of old.
FWIW my sister and BIL stopped by the tasting room a couple of weeks ago and were very impressed with all the wines being poured. I always make it a point to stop and taste when ever I am in the area (along with Equinox/Bartolo and Odonata). If you like brandy don’t miss their’s under the Osocalis lable.
That vineyard is now on its 4th name, Woodruff. (Though I saw it was up for sale earlier this year - should check up on that - name may change again…) It’s nearest neighbor is Windy Oaks. Big Basin, Wind Gap and Ghostwriter source from there these days. After Mr. Matteson died, the next owner let things go wild. What I’ve tried from that era has been pretty crappy. SCMV quickly dropped it. After the Woodruffs bought, they did their best to bring it back, then hired Stefania Wines in 2008 to finish the restoration and line up new buyers (Bradley, Pax & Kenny).
Not sure where the Gamble Vineyard is/was.
The estate vineyard (in the Vine Hill subregion) was originally planted in 1863. That area was reputed for Germanic whites. David Bruce planted it to Pinot in '69. The SCMV Estate PNs are great. When Burnap retired, he sold the property to some dipshit who tore out those great old vines even though he was greatly expanding the planted area. Ken sold the label (and inventory) to his loooong-time assistant winemaker, Jeff Emory, who sources grapes and started a second label specializing on Iberian varieties (and is a partner in an artisan distillery).
Air that sucker out for an hour and drink it by yourself ASAP so that you can see the Burnap nuances without distraction. A perfect wine to have while sitting at the computer.
Wes, thank you for adding some more details. I keep dreaming that I’ll find a bottle or two of early 90s SCMV Estate or Matteson pinot in a box in my cellar, as I honestly recall buying more bottles than I remember drinking, but I’m not optimistic.
I’m only 43, but I count myself fortunate to have started getting seriously into wine 21 years ago so I could catch some of the now legends while they were still active, and when vintages from the 70s and 80s were fairly easy to find at reasonable prices. My regret is not having met some of the winemakers l admired, including Ken.
But I love getting more details from people like you about the people and places that started me down this road of passion/obsession for wine.
