At my request, Wes Barton organized a tasting at La Stanza, a nice Italian restaurant in Menlo Park. 14 people attended, most of them associated with Santa Cruz Mountain wineries. I cannot thank Wes enough!
We enjoyed a wide range of SCM wines, most excellent, a few extraordinary. Apparently this group set a record for the most wines they’ve ever opened at one of these events, so this post will be long and imprecise. I took no notes, it is 3 days since the tasting and I have only photographs of the bottle lineup to prod my memory. Many of the wines had handwritten labels, vintages are not always visible, I hope that others who attended (a great pleasure to meet Larry Stein at last!) will fill in, as there will be very large gaps in this report. I am giving notes in order of the photos, my memory of my tasting order is vague.
I give numerical scores for only some wines.
If no specific Appellation is given, everything is Santa Cruz Mountains.
I am including a link to the photos, hoping to jog other memories. Not everything was to my taste and not everything stuck in my memory. So for some wines in the photos, I may have missed tasting them or did not remember them well enough to comment. I truly hope nobody is offended.
I will divide my notes into two posts, as I want to get something posted but don’t have the time or energy to complete the full job right now.
NV Kathryn Kennedy Sparkling Wine - This was good, no better, tasting like a nicely aged Chardonnay cuvee, but slightly muted.
2024 Ghostnote Graves Coast Blanc Gist Ranch’ - From memory this is blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon (maybe also some Muscadelle?). It was young, fresh, very nicely balanced with the Sauvignon providing tension, relieved by the breadth of the Semillon. Already very fine, my guess is that this will improve for 5+ years. Rated 89, up to 3 points of improvement likely.
2011 Varner Chardonnay Spring Ridge Vineyard ‘Bee Block’ - This was very drinkable, with some yeasty bread-like notes and a nice floral character, but seemed a little tired. Drink up!
2001 Thomas Fogarty Gewurztraminer Monterey - Completely dry, this had much more spice than most California Gewurztraminers, moderately full body with less of the sugar and weight of most Alsace versions, and I would have guessed this at 5 - 10 years of age, not 25! Rated 90. Drink up if you feel like it, or hold it for another decade.
2012 Martella Sangiovese Ascona Vineyard - This tasted Italian to me, but not like Sangiovese? Rather light in body, it had some nice red cherry fruit, with enough acidity to give it some lift; tannins mostly resolved. A good, unexpected glass. I would say this is fully mature, but I have no experience with SCM Sangiovese, so don’t take my word on this.
? Madson Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountains - I don’t know the vintage, but this tasted pretty young… say 3 - 5 years. This had fine intensity and balance, that lovely conifer hint of some SCM Chardonnay and a long finish. Rated 90, should improve a couple of points in the next five years, I really hope somebody can tell me the vintage.
2009 Thomas Fogarty Estate Syrah ‘Buck Ridge Vineyard’ - This had a lovely, very ripe nose of black fruit, mostly cherry with some blackberry. The palate was solid and broad, almost as if this was a classic southern Rhone blend rather than a pure Northern Rhone style Syrah. On a cool evening, this was nicely burly. Rated 91.5, probably fully mature.
2021 Little Cloud Vineyard Pinot Noir ‘Haley’s Half Acre’ - This was surprisingly aromatic and very subtle, especially for the youth. Red cherry fruit had an almost Burgundian layer of sous-bois underneath. This was light to medium in body, mostly silky but with some peppery vivacity laced through. Although clearly not Burgundy, this is an unusually fine alternative version of the grape. Rated 92.5, I think it might improve a little but the style is so different to me that I’m just guessing. It certainly tastes like it has at least another decade of life.
2017 Beauregard Estate Chardonnay Bald Mountain Vineyard ‘Sand Hill’ Ben Lomond Mountain - Light gold color, powerful aromas with apple and pear, substantial body but with fine balancing acidity, in a very sweet spot right now. Rated 93.5, probably fully mature but can certainly hold a few more years.
2013 Beauregard Vineyard Estate Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Beauregard Ranch’ -
Very dark color, aromas show lots of black fruit but are not very pure. The palate shows lots of power and what seems to be a lot of ripeness for SCM Cabernet. It’s a good wine, but doesn’t seem to have great precision or detail. Rated 87, probably has a decade or two of life left, but I am not sure it will improve.
And here are the rest of the notes. As it happens, I wound up saving the best for last:
2014 Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Torre Ranch’ - I’d never heard of this! It’s apparently a parcel selection from Monte Bello. Dark, but not inky color. Beautiful Cabernet aromas feature mostly black fruit, currant and raspberry, with some red cherry, oak and stones underneath. The palate is moderately full in body, rich, very intricate, beautifully balanced, with mountain conifer, minerals and earth underneath. This is both powerful and beautiful, an instant classic at 12 years of age. Rated 95, 1 - 3 points of improvement likely over the next 1 - 3 decades. Bravo!
2008 Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Estate - This is a lovely bottle of Ridge, redolent of mostly red fruit, plummy, tannins fully resolved. There is the usual conifer and plenty of American oak. I had this after the 2014 Torre. Usually you would want the older wine after the younger, but in this case this bottling was a little overshadowed by the drama of the previous wine. Rated 92, it just might improve a little over the next 5 years, but it’s in a really good place right now.
2007 Mount Eden Estate Cabernet Sauvignon - I don’t remember having Ridge and Mount Eden back-to-back before. There are striking differences. Here the fruit is mostly black, raspberry, currant, cherry. The conifer is far more pronounced. There is great solidity here that somehow also manages to be lacy. This is far from fully open, but is already a great bottle. I managed to go back and retaste after it had been open for a while and realized that to be at its best it needs more time in bottle and plenty of time in the glass as well. Rated 94, up to 3 points of improvement inevitable over the next 3 decades. Hold for 10+ years for the magic to develop.
2002 Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards Pinot Noir - Medium red color with some bricking. Simply beautiful aromas featuring red cherry, with some blackberry in the background and lots of hardwood-forest-after-rain earthiness. The palate was light to medium in body, silky, and retained a great deal of fresh fruit and balancing acidity. There was an intriguing green herbal note in the mid-palate. This is an outrageous beauty. Rated 96, drink or hold.
1985 Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards Pinot Noir [I am putting these notes together, even though this was opened much later in the evening] - Light red color with both some brown and orange. The aromas are simply beautiful, an amazing panoply of very red fruit, plum, cherry, with an amazing hint of fresh apple, coming out of nowhere, but somehow belonging. The aromas are very penetrating but incredibly polite. The palate follows through, feather light but fully substantial, dancing on the palate with amazing vivacity for 40+ years. This is very great wine, one of if not the finest Pinot Noir I’ve ever had from California. Rated 98.
1997 P & M Staiger Cabernet Sauvignon - Very dark for almost 30 years. The aromas are fresh and forthright, with black fruit, plum and cherry, and a hint of oak. The palate is medium to full in body, satisfying, with fine tannins still present and very good balance. Rated 90.5. While this will certainly live for another decade, I think the freshness might start to fade. This is fine Cabernet with definite SCM character, but it’s a shame I had it after Ridge and Mount Eden as it seems a little simplistic compared to those.
1997 Kathryn Kennedy Cabernet Sauvignon
1993 Kathryn Kennedy Cabernet Sauvignon -
My apologies, both of these were very good SCM Cabernets, showing family similarities, but one of them seemed a little too old while the other was in a vigorous prime, and I don’t remember which was which.
Hopefully somebody can offer some details on these wines.
1991 Ahlgren Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Bates Ranch’ - To me, Bates Ranch is one of the three great SCM Cab vineyards, along with Mount Eden and Ridge. This was an excellent showing. The color is still a healthy red but with some bricking. The aromas are fully secondary but lovely with ripe mostly red plummy fruit. The palate is medium in body, with nice mid-palate heft. There are flowery rose notes, the tannins are fully resolved, there is enough acidity left to maintain some vigor, this offers excellent subtlety and a surprisingly long finish, with faint touches of both herb and conifer. Rated 93. Fully mature, drink up.
1988 Thomas Fogarty Estate Pinot Noir - Reddish brown color, but the aromas still retain some fresh red fruit along with earthiness and a hint of mushroom. The palate is fresher than expected, tannins resolved and with the tenderness of a very loving elderly relative. This has a stately beauty to be cherished immediately. Rated 91, drink up.
NV Sutter Home California Cabernet Sauvignon - … well. Wesley Barton tells me this is a blend of 1959 and 1960, made by Mario Gemello, sold in barrel to the Trinchero family and bottled by them (if anybody knows when it was bottled, curious minds want to know). Until Sunday night, the greatest California Cabernet I had was the 1960 Gemello. Well, we now have a tie here.
The color is red-black, with no bricking. The aromas are monolithic and unbelievably subtle, absolutely pure black fruit packed with red fruit. The fruit is so intensely pure that there is no room for the abundance of roses and other flowers, but they are there and fit perfectly. There is no conifer but there are piney notes. There are minerals, can I be specific and silly? Mica. There is earth. There are no hints of oak except for some tannins. Speaking of tannins, the wine is full of them, all fully resolved. The palate is medium bodied, fresh, completely weightless and solid as a brick. The level of pure hedonistic pleasure is only exceeded by the amazing subtlety and intricacy. The finish lasts almost a minute. This is absolutely perfect. Rated 100.
If Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ is a sculpture, then this is a wine.
