An Incomparable evening of Santa Cruz Mountain wines (long)

[Dan_Kravitz]

Thursday night I was treated to one of the greatest wine evenings of my life. It was organized by Wes Barton. I had never met Wes or any of the other people there. The generosity and passion of this group for their local wines cannot be overstated. It was only the next day that I realized that Rob Bergstrom, seated across from me, is the winemaker for Sander and Hem, whose wines I bought a year ago and just bought again. I didn’t get many of the rest of the names; I think the group is a mix between people ITB and consumers who love the wines and collect them to drink.

There were 10 of us. The theme was great ‘70s and older Santa Cruz Mountain wines, which accounted for about 10 of the 16 wines opened. There was also a red Bordeaux, four dessert wines, two Chardonnays, a Pinot Noir, a Barbera and a Petite Sirah. Three of the wines were un-American. The average age of all of the wines was about 46 years (several were non-vintage, and the providers weren’t always sure of the exact age).

Some mind-boggling facts:
None of the wines tasted old.
All of the wines were in perfect condition.
None of the wines had any hint of cork.
Any one of them could have been the centerpiece of a great wine evening.
One highlight we were all looking forward to was 1973 Mount Eden Cabernet. It was duly brought to the dinner, but not opened. We had, and had had, enough without it.

I’ve tasted wines made from over 100 varietals, but unexpectedly had a new one last night (see photo).

The event was at Sole Restaurant in San Mateo. The food was good, not great, but the welcome and service were perfect. We started at 6PM, a few people arrived a little later, ending after 9PM. We started with the whites, then the non-Cabernet reds, the Cabs, then the dessert wines, although nothing was pre-planned, the order just fell into place by undiscussed consensus. Corks were pulled, wines were decanted (or not) and passed around. The evening unfolded in seamless camaraderie; work was even done as we ate and drank; winemakers hollering requests for pruning to vineyard people at the other end of the table.

I wrote no notes, just tasted in amazement as some of the world’s greatest wines crossed my palate. My comments here will be very brief; impressions rather than details, and I am not assigning exact point scores, just preferences and ranges. I only tasted one of the dessert wines (they are not my thing); everything I did taste would score in the 90s, my top wines were all easily over 95.

We started with the youngster of the tasting:

1997 Mount Eden Estate Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains – Light gold color, young, fresh, classic SCM conifer.

We then moved on to the absolute shock of the evening:
1977 Martin Ray Chardonnay, California [apparently from Santa Cruz Mountain fruit] - Medium gold color. At 45 years of age, this is probably the oldest Chardonnay I have ever had (there was a 1952 1er Cru Chablis in the mid 90s; great, not old, but not on this level) and one of the ten best. It’s as if you could entwine hints of oxidation into a gorgeous panoply of aromas and flavors and have it be a seamless part of something surpassingly beautiful, not remotely a flaw. Flowers, hazelnuts, bread; soft but not flabby, impossibly long finish. I revisited it an hour after my first sip and it was a little fresher!?! A revelation.

There was a Pinot:
NV Martin Ray Pinot Noir ‘La Montaña’, California [apparently from Santa Cruz Mountain fruit, Wes designates it ‘Cuvee 3’, but that is not on the label] - Unknown vintages, this had some bricking, some classic Pinot aromas and flavors, it was very pleasant but one of only three wines that I wish I had had a little younger, but it was not old.

There was a Petite Sirah:
1971 Gemello Petite Sirah, Santa Clara Valley – Rob Bergstrom made an astute observation: No Petite Sirah is ever really ready to drink. Their lifespan is apparently measured in eons. This was dark red in color, the aromas were vigorous, the wine was fresh and tannic but beautifully developed. If it did not have the subtlety of very great wine, it was still wonderful. I don’t think it will take another 50 years to come around; 20 or 30 should do it, but Rob might be right and it won’t be ready in 2071.

There was a Barbera:
1969 Luigi Calissano Barbera d’Asti - This also showed some bricking, but had pungently plummy aromas that were fully secondary, not tertiary. The palate was softer than the previous wine but still had some grip. Not as wonderful as some of the other wines, but in a dead heat with the 1977 Chardonnay as Absurdity of the Evening. I simply could not imagine a 50 year old Barbera, here it was, hale and hearty.

On to the heart of the evening, in my order of my tasting (we weren’t trying to all taste the same wine at the same time):

1975 Ridge Monte Bello - Slight bricking, classic aromas with plenty of both red and black currant and other red and black fruits, slightly favoring the black. This was a refined and restrained beauty, fully secondary, nicely balanced.

NV Martin Ray ‘La Montaña’ Cabernet Sauvignon, California [apparently all from 1968 Santa Cruz Mountain fruit] - This had a little more bricking, it was excellent, but lacked the precision of the previous. This is probably at peak. Not sure I would have guessed Santa Cruz Mountains. Excellent, but not a star of this tasting.

1974 La Questa Cabernet Sauvignon, California [La Questa is a Santa Cruz Mountain vineyard, planted by Emmet Rixford about 1900 with cuttings from Chateau Margaux; cuttings from this vineyard are original sources for Mount Eden and Monte Bello] - This had only slight bricking, vivid aromas, excellent purity of fresh fruit, classic blackcurrant and definite Santa Cruz Mountain conifer. Amazing balance and harmony. This was my 2nd favorite of the SCM Cabs.

1976 Ridge Monte Bello - more bricking than any of the others, this was fine wine but seemed a little flat and dull in comparison. My guess is that this would have been better younger.

1960 Gemello’s Cabernet Sauvignon, California [beneath the varietal the label reads “An Elegant, Mountain Grown Red Dinner Wine”; the neck label reads ‘35th Anniversary’; this is apparently 100% from Monte Bello fruit]

Background digression: Some time in the early 1970s, I visited the Gemello sales room behind the bowling alley in Mountain View. I bought a bottle of 1960 Gemello Cabernet Sauvignon, Santa Clara Valley, handsigned ‘Made by Me, Mario Gemello’. I drank that bottle in 2000 and it was one of the 10 best wines of my life. Despite the different label, Wes tells me that this is the same wine. 23 years later, I thought so but of course couldn’t be sure.

No bricking, fresh, intensely concentrated, balanced, harmonious aromas carry through seamlessly on the palate. The flavors seem to evolve even during a single sip and this has the magic weightlessness combined with heft of the greatest wines. There are plummy things along with minerals, imagine a California version of a cross between Latour and Haut-Brion at perfect maturity, with no sign of ageing. If you had told me it was a wine from the 2000 vintage, I would not have raised an eyebrow.

1977 Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, California [apparently from Santa Cruz Mountain fruit] - Again, a textbook SCM classic, fully secondary but still nicely fresh with classic conifer. I went back and tasted this side by side with the 1975 Monte Bello and found more similarities than differences. What a wonderful wine.

1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac - [I sent this. I bought it on release, this was my last bottle. I don’t remember what I paid, but I’m guessing about thirty bucks. It’s obviously skyrocketed in value, but it’s readily available to anybody willing to pay. What made this evening so special to me is that everybody else brought wines that, literally, money cannot buy. And they were very great wines! I am grateful beyond words to this group.]

This had slight bricking, gorgeous classic aromas, mostly blackcurrant fruit but some plums as well. The mineral graphite hint clearly separates it from the Santa Cruz Mountain wines, it is very firm and balanced, fully secondary but closer to young than to old.

1976 Chateau d’Yquem, Sauternes - Medium deep gold, rich, intricate, velvety, lovely dry finish, superb balance. This is a very great wine at peak.

WOTN - 1960 Gemello Cabernet
Runner-up: 1977 Martin Ray Chardonnay
Bronze Medal: 1976 Chateau d’Yquem
Honorable mentions: 1974 La Questa Cabernet, 1982 Mouton-Rothschild

When Jesse Ventura was Governor of Minnesota, he gave a medal to Keith Richards. When asked what for, he said “for being alive”.
I’m giving a medal to the 1969 Barbera, for being alive and kicking.

Well, ‘thank you’ is so incredibly inadequate, but thank you to everybody who attended and brought these mythical bottles.

Dan Kravitz

[Jim_Cowan]

Dan,
Much obliged for the write up.
The Martin Ray chards seem bullet proof; I’ve loved everyone I’ve had (too few).
I might take the petite Sirah comment a bit further; I don’t think they’re ever ready because they don’t develop - ever. Of course there are exceptions (a certain Ridge, York Creek comes to mind) but the vast majority of PS that I’ve had has either tasted like it did in its first year in bottle or completely shot. Development is rare.
And Wes is the man.
Best, Jim

[Mark_C_Johnson]

Amazing read Dan! Sounds like a great evening. I’ve drunk a fair amount of Gemello during my SF days along with Santa Cruz Mountains Vineyards Cabs, Merlots and Pinots. A memorable visit to Ken Burnap’s place was a highlight.

I have a label of Martin Ray’s 70/72 Cab “Marriage”. He apparently did a lot of experimentation.

[Larry_Stein]

Dan, I would’ve loved to have met you. I’m part of that group, but had another offline in SF. Rob texted me that afternoon wondering if I’d like to attend.

[Wes_Barton]

The Cuvee 3 is in tiny print on the bottom left of the label.

Woodside Vineyards is the producer of the La Questa. They were founded in 1961 to preserve the remnants of the vineyard. The label is an ode to the Rixford La Questa Cabs, so they don’t make their name prominent on that wine. Founding winemaker Bob Mullen is in his 90s and still shows up to events. The winery still exists, but sell out locally. When deemed appropriate, they’ll bottle a La Questa. Otherwise it’s blended into their Estate, which is mostly from vines they planted in the 1960s.

Jeff will chime in about the '77 SCMV Besson Vy. Cab. That was old vines then. The family still owns the property in Hecker Pass, near Gilroy. The Bonny Doon “Clos de Gilroy” Grenache was from here, in case you’re interested in the word play. Currently, Birichino and Ian Brand and friends source a lot from there.

[brigcampbell]

@Wes_Barton

The Bonny Doon “Clos de Gilroy” Grenache was from here, in case you’re interested in the word play

Great wine

[Glenn_L_e_v_i_n_e]

Had a few Gemello wines and adored then, but never a 1960!

No Thunder Mountain?

Just a wow tasting.

[Rich_Brown]

Wow, just an incredible tasting! I love old-school cali so much! Exactly the type of wines that i love tasting because, as you said, the history/rarity always make them special…not to mention the fact that they can be absolutely delicious!

Any chance you have more pics?? Either way, thanks so much for posting!

[Wes_Barton]

[Wes_Barton]

@Glenn_L_e_v_i_n_e

No Thunder Mountain?

Didn’t fit the theme, but we certainly have and open them.

Another epic tasting we did was back in 2017 Rob hosted a Bates Ranch Cab tasting with examples from as many producers as we could dig up, and sampling from over the decades. Val and Dexter Ahlgren came, along with Charlie Bates and vineyard guru Prudy Foxx. Charlie gave a talk about the history, his dad and the Kennedys.

Another epic tasting was Michael (who sat next to Dan at this dinner) had his 70th birthday at Ridge. He’d worked at SRI with the Ridge founders, and bought a barrel of '68 Monte Bello, which he’d picked out. We sipped on a large format of that as Fran Bennion talked. Then we went inside for a tasting of all of the 1960s era Monte Bellos, including the three vintage blends.

[Wes_Barton]

Here’s the documentarians:

Forumite Dave Tong on the left, and Rob standing.

[C_Martinelli]

Terrific read, thanks for posting.

[JeffEmery]

Thanks to @Wes_Barton for letting me know about this post. I can provide some more details on the 77 Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.

Putting the cork in that very bottle was the first thing I did at SCMV and, thanks to the winery diary that Ken Burnap kept, I know it was July 24th, 1979. There was someone else who was supposed to help bottle that day, a person I knew. This person came to me in a panic saying he had promised to go bottle wine at this winery but can’t go, would I be willing to go instead. That event changed the course of my life in a very significant way.

It was the summer after my sophomore year at UCSC and 5 years after Ken started the winery. I ended up finishing my degree just to finish it, working part time at the winery from that day in 1979 onward, then full time when I graduated. I had the extreme blessing and pleasure of working alongside Ken Burnap for 25 years, and couldn’t go get a “real” job when he retired. So I took over the winery, and 44 harvests later it seems to be what I’m doing if I grow up.

That wine was the only time we worked with Besson Vineyard in the Gilroy area. So it isn’t actually S C Mtns AVA, too low an elevation and too far into Santa Clara County. In 1978 we started working with Bates Ranch, and did that for many years. (Though the AVA wasn’t established until 1981 so it wouldn’t have been on the label anyhow).

You may notice in the picture posted above of the bottle that the varietal name is spelled wrong on the label. “Caberenet Sauvignon”. I helped put the labels on the bottle but, heck, I was 20 years old and didn’t know the correct spelling of Cabernet so it looked good to me. The funny thing is that Ken sent that label in to the TTB for a federal label approval and they approved it with the mis-spelling. The day we labeled it we took it to a restauranteur friend of Ken’s to show off the wine. He said, “I like the wine, but you know the label is spelled wrong?” Ken had not noticed it until that point when it all was labeled.

Since bottling that wine was such a pivotal moment in my life, I ensured that Ken Burnap and I got together on July 24th, 2019, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of our meeting. So of course we opened a bottle of that 1977 Cab.

We also opened the gallon jug you see in the photograph, filled with the only tiny bit of wine made from the new Pinot Noir vineyard in 1974. (The first vintage released was 1975). We had lost track of that gallon jug moving out of the old winery, but I later found it in a wine box also filled with old papers. The amazing thing was that 1974 Pinot Noir in the screw cap gallon jug was not only drinkable, it was fantastic! The only time I have ever decanted a gallon screw cap wine into another gallon jug! Note the racking record of the gallon jug written in grease pencil on the side.

And in case you are wondering, Ken Burnap is still alive and well, now 91 years old. He lives only a few miles from up the coast road from the current winery location and I get to see him from time to time and drink lots of old wine together.

[brigcampbell]

Spectacular

[Scott_Watkins]

Great story thank you!

[Mark_Golodetz]

Fantastic notes.

Generally feel that the wines of Santa Cruz mountains are far more interesting than Napa.

We had the 1960 Gemello last year at a friends birthday, and it was gorgeous. And of course the 1970 Gemello easily won our revised Judgement of Paris tasting in 2001, beating out the likes of Petrus and Latour 1970 , LMHB 1975 and Heitz Martha’s 1974.

Not surprised by the longevity of the Martin Ray Chardonnay. We have had a couple of Ridges from the 1970, both fresh and complex.

Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards are almost impossible to find, but right up there with older Ridge and Mount Eden.

[Wes_Barton]

Of course preferences varied. We didn’t vote or anything to get a comprehensive view, though all wines were at least good. One person somehow had the Petite Sirah as his favorite. The '97 Mount Eden Chard was good upon opening, but became incredibly good. Some people really liked my least favorite, the Bargetto Riesling (which just seemed like a simple very mature wine to me). That Hecker Pass Cream Sherry was a major surprise. Quite good and complex.

[Nathan_V]

This is one of the best things I’ve ever read on WB, or any other BB for that matter. Thanks, @Wes_Barton, @JeffEmery, and @Dan_Kravitz for the great story and context. Those old Gemello wines really are something and so are old SCMV and Mount Eden.

[Jim_Stewart]

Great gathering of wines and folks. Heartfelt post by Dan. A pleasure to read about. Wow!

[Wes_Barton]

@Mark_Golodetz

Fantastic notes.

Generally feel that the wines of Santa Cruz mountains are far more interesting than Napa.

We had the 1960 Gemello last year at a friends birthday, and it was gorgeous. And of course the 1970 Gemello easily won our revised Judgement of Paris tasting in 2001, beating out the likes of Petrus and Latour 1970 , LMHB 1975 and Heitz Martha’s 1974.

Not surprised by the longevity of the Martin Ray Chardonnay. We have had a couple of Ridges from the 1970, both fresh and complex.

Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards are almost impossible to find, but right up there with older Ridge and Mount Eden.

I remember reading about that. Not long after, I brought a '70 to a dinner that had a '74 Martha’s and other big hitters. It impressed, but was eclipsed by the Martha’s. A few years ago I brought one to a friend’s 80th birthday, where there were a lot of big hitters and fun wines, like the '35 Simi Cab. He brought a '74 Martha’s, which again was the WOTN, though the Gemello impressed again. The '60 Gemello I opened 15 years ago was very advanced, while this was very young. Different provenance. Even from the same case, like the pair of '75 Monte Bello I bought about 15 years ago. The first bottle was excellent, but advanced. I made sure to bring the other to the next appropriate event and it seemed a decade from peak. Neither the '75 or '76 Monte Bello we had was close to the best bottles I’ve had in recent years. Not that they weren’t still excellent and enjoyable.