A very well-researched & well-written article by JonBonne in today’s SFChron: SFChron:SantaCruzVnyds
on the vnyd expansion going on to the east of SantaCruz in the southern foothills of the SantaCruzMtns. Mostly of the Pinot/Chard paradigm. Looks for all the world to me as being prime Nebbiolo/Tazzalenghe country. KevinHarvey, always known for sniffing out primo vnyd sites, is planting down there near Corralitas.
Tom
It is a pretty area out there, and some nice wines coming from the Corralitos-area vineyards. I visited there with Bryan Harrington and Wes Barton in December: Santa Cruz Mountains - December 2011
“What remains here is something that has eluded so much of the state: a commitment to human-scale farming, thanks largely to the small and isolated nature of most of the plantings. It’s simply not sensible for Big Wine to show up here.”
Good article. Bonne makes the point that some of the farming needs to be improved. And some of the winemaking, too, IMO. But a bright future for the area.
As an addendum, Jon puts a lot of emphasis on quality vineyard management and is a particular fan of what’s coming out of the Woodruff Vyd. and gives a lot of credit to the wineries sourcing Woodruff fruit to putting the Corralitos area on the map. To give credit where credit is due, it was Paul and Stefania Romero (Stefania Wine) who restored the vineyard in 2008 and recruited Bradley Brown, Pax Mahle and Kenny Likitprakong to source the fruit. (Bradley took over vineyard management in '09 before handing the duty over to Kenny.)
I’ve tried a lot of wines from this vineyard over the years from several wineries, and all of them are outclassed by all the post-restoration wines (Big Basin, Ghostwriter, Wind Gap, Stefania). Give credit, too, to the Woodruffs for recognizing the potential of the vineyard they bought and striving to reach it, from their own restoration efforts, to dumping the mediocre wineries they were selling to, to bringing in an expert.
I had a nice discussion with Bradley Brown at Big Basin when I was there two weeks ago, then some education from Jeff Brinkman when we were at Rhys. This area, that includes Woodruff, is being worked and brought forward as another piece to the SCM mosaic of wines. It’s been a while since I drank the Wind Gap Woodruff and with such a small amount made, it’s hard to replace so I let mine rest. However, as I posted a few weeks ago when I had the chance to sit with and taste the 2010 Big Basin Woodruff, I was very impressed. Here is my note, which for me speaks to where the area is going.
2010 Big Basin Vineyards Pinot Noir Woodruff Family Vineyard- USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (4/4/2012)
Tasted at the winery with Bradley Brown. Listed alcohol is about 13.5% (from memory) and about 30% whole cluster. This was bottled about six weeks ago, yet it showed still a nice purity with a pure aromatic. Woodsy spice, sweet cherry, blueberry, some red apple and nice acid. Like the 2010 Big Basin Alfaro Vineyard that we tried later in the evening over dinner, this Woodruff has the same orange rind note, with a hint of caramel in the texture and like the Alfaro, reminds me of a Rivers-Marie cuvee because of the sexy texture and orange zest. It also here shows a candied red apple and a zesty finish…then re-tried again the next morning at room temp. What speaks to me now is the leaner edges, the watermelon, dried cherry and a little prickly kick of pine needle and acid. Like with the Alfaro, this is a wine to follow over the next year to see how it comes along. Really nice and showing promise for the leaner camp.
Difficult for me to read because one of the biggest contentions I had with those, uhm ‘people whose name will never be on my label’ was selling grapes to Pax and Bradley. They want to keep it 'local and have producers who sell at the Corralitos Market". They told me “We’re afraid you’re trying to turn this into something like the Santa Lucia Highlands”. They were particularly opposed to Pax getting grapes.
Interesting article and we need to get up to the Corralitos Trail. We have a weekend place in Santa Cruz and visited a few just north of Soquel, which are a little closer, about a month ago on a Saturday.
Bargetto has been there a long time, but their wines really disappointed me. I recall their chardonnay being pretty good, but not this year.
We went further up the hiway and stopped next at Hunter Hill. They had some interesting wines and a nice outdoor parklike area with a pond to sit around. The winemaker was hanging out and chatting with people as they tasted. Pretty laid back.
A little further up the road we stopped at Soquel Vinyards. This winery was started in the late 1980s by Peter and Paul Bargetto when they left the family wine business. A friend and I discovered their cabernet about 15 or so years ago at the Capitola Art and Wine Festival. Not long after that we paid them a visit in their small barnlike winery. Now they are in a real facility with a tasting room on the other side of the hiway (with an ocean view) and produce at least a half dozen different wines. I was able to barrel taste their cabernet, since their current release was sold out. I bought a few bottles of their 2007 Lester’s Family Vinyard Reserve Pinot Noir and my wife picked a couple of bottles of one of their chardonnays.
Welcome Mike… As anyone will testify, be sure to stop in at Windy Oaks. Some of the best Pinot Noir coming out of the Santa Cruz Mtns, if not all of California.
I can understand that, to a degree. It’s nice to have your vineyard name on a label that’s available locally where your friends and neighbors can pick up a bottle. But Bradley met that, you would’ve, Kenny now does (having subsequently become a presence in the region). There was also a need to promote their vineyard and the region more broadly. A list-only wine, in a vacuum, might not do that. But as just one piece of the puzzle it certainly did.
I heard some grumbling at Pinot Paradise about non-local producers. There are both legitimate concerns and pettiness. They should be more concerned about showcasing the best of the region and lighting a fire under the mediocre producers. I cringe when I see the SCMWA promoting sub-mediocre wines.