Club Corner
Red Rogues Q3 2025: Santa Cruz Mountains
Santa Cruz Mountain AVA The Santa Cruz Mountains comprise some of the most important places in California wine history. While Napa and Sonoma are more famous today, this rugged, alpine region, with vineyards planted above the fogline, has long crafted some of the best juice the Golden State can produce. There’s even a plausible alternate timeline where the area takes center stage from the start: Count Agostin Harazthy, often called “the father of California Wine”, planted his original vineyard up there. He broke ground too far north though, and when the cold foggy weather prevented his grapes from fully ripening, he sold the land, relocated to Sonoma and started Buena Vista Winery in the early 1860s. The rest is the history that you can read on the Buena Vista website or visit in their museum. Viticulture in the area dates back to the beginning of the 19th century - the first grapes were planted in Mission Santa Cruz between 1804 and 1807, just east of UC Santa Cruz - but these initial attempts did not yield the best results. The Mission grape, a descendent of the Listan Prieto varietal from La Mancha, now grown mostly in the Canary Islands and South America, turned out harsh, bitter wines in the cool climate. Most of the mountains were not planted to vine until the 1850s, when large swathes of redwood were cut down and farmers moved in, planting vegetables and fruits, with grapes being favored for their ability to adapt to the rugged mountain terrain. The first commercial vineyards were established in 1853 by Scottish immigrant Jon Burns, who named his plot Ben Lomond after an old wine district in Scotland. Along with John and George Jarvis in nearby Scotts Valley, he became a pillar of the county's wine industry, which by 1875 was pumping out 70,000 gallons of wine, mostly derived from the Mission grape, and bottled young so it could be rushed to market. This lack of quality control, along with the global depression triggered by the Panic of 1873, and the spread of Phylloxera throughout Europe and California, led to a global crash of the wine market, forcing many wineries in California and elsewhere to close and uproot vineyards. The mid 1880s saw the rise of multiple figures who would help bring a focus on quality farming and winemaking to the region. Emmet H. Rixford, Professor of Surgery at Stanford University, planted 37 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon in Woodside, CA overlooking Redwood City and wrote the seminal guide The Wine Press and the Cellar: A Manual for the Wine-Maker and the Cellar-Man in 1883, detailing techniques used in Europe used to produce high quality wine like Château Margaux. Henry and Nellie Mel were French immigrants who bought one of the properties owned by the Jarvis brothers and planted the state's first Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon. Dr. John A. Stewart, a Scotsman who came to the area in 1883, replicated the practices of the best French vineyards of the time by blending varietals, something that at this point was a fairly new concept in California. Then there was Paul Masson. Born into a well-heeled winemaking family near Beaune, he moved to California after Phylloxera devastated the French wine industry to work with Charles LeFranc at the Almaden Winery in nearby San Jose. LeFranc himself worked at Almaden and married into the family of founder Etienne Thee and is credited with planting the first cuttings of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon in California, brought over from France. Masson married Charles' eldest daughter and became famous for the sparkling “Champagne” made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from vineyards in Saratoga. Wines from the area started to gain international acclaim, winning awards at the World’s Fairs throughout the 1890s and into the early 1900s. Prohibition brought a halt to all of this, with vineyards uprooted (again!) and most wineries were forced to shutter their doors or make sacramental wine. The seeds of the area's history were able to live on thanks largely to the work of a protégée of Paul Masson, the infamous Martin Ray. As the late LA wine writer and educator Roy Brady wrote of Ray, “Martin was a colorful character when California badly needed one. He was a boon to the industry, though many in it would have preferred him to have been a boon elsewhere. He was flamboyant, vocal, outrageous, bombastic, imperious, opinionated, unreasonable.” Indeed, Martin was dogmatic in his quest for quality, keeping yields low and refusing to irrigate in the vineyard; he barrel fermented and aged the wines in oak before bottling unfined and unfiltered; he held bottles back until he believed they were ready for sale. This kind of iconoclasm didn’t endear him to many, but was crucial to achieving his goal of producing world class wine to rival the best of Europe and recall Santa Cruz’s prior fin de siècle apogee. In 1943, having already worked, bought and sold Paul Masson’s vineyard, Ray purchased the first parcel of what would be Mount Eden Vineyards, 2000 ft up above the Santa Clara Valley. There, he planted Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines from cuttings taken from Masson's La Cresta Vineyard, (which itself had been planted from Burgundian cuttings said to have been taken from Paul Masson’s friend Louis Latour) as well as Cabernet Sauvignon from the La Questa Vineyard originally planted by Emmet Rixford in Woodside. Around the same time period, Dr. William Short bought and revamped a vineyard near the top of Monte Bello Ridge in the 1940s that had originally been planted in 1885. By the late 1940s he had replanted several parcels of Cabernet Sauvignon, which three engineers from the Stanford Research Institute, who had recently purchased the property, used to make the first Ridge “Estate” Cabernet. These efforts set the stage for a renaissance for the region in the 1960’s and 70’s, as new growers and winemakers in the region like Dr. David Bruce and Kathryn Kennedy brought worldwide recognition to the area. In 1976 at the famous ‘Judgement of Paris’, two of the 11 wines chosen to represent California's best were from the Santa Cruz Mountains, and placed 5th (Ridge) and 10th (David Bruce.) Then, at a re-tasting held in 2006, the 1971 Ridge Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignon took the #1 spot. Even with all the acclaim, the AVA remains something of a hermit by California wine standards. Though it covers over 100 miles and 400,000 acres, from Half Moon Bay in the north to the peak of Mount Madonna in the south, only 1,500 of the latter are planted to vine, farmed by just 90 growers and wineries, most of which are 20 or more miles away from each other. (Paso Robles has over 200, by comparison.) Viticulture here continues to be a very high-risk/high reward venture. The challenges, including and on top of the cold weather, are numerous: Irrigation water is very limited or nonexistent; birds (all vineyards must be netted), deer (all vineyards must be fenced) and gophers are ever-present; the ever present risk of fires - the CZU Lightning Complex fire of 2020 destroyed over 86,500 acres of land between Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties; with the skilled labor is hard to find; and disease pressure, particularly downy mildew, powdery mildew and botrytis is ever-present. Historically, grapes ripened in only three out of every ten vintages. The land, being so close to Silicon Valley, is also very expensive, which raises the prices of grapes and winemaking facilities in the region as well. The rewards are (hopefully) self-evident in your glasses this go round, and the result of extremely unique, ‘unicorn’ terroir created by eons of geologic upheaval, that is very much ongoing. The San Andreas Fault in particular, has churned up and exposed marine sediment at the edge of the Pacific Plate which would be otherwise inaccessible. The diverse soils and various micro-climates allow for the growing of Burgundian and Bordeaux varietals alike, and yield elegant and subtle wines, lower in alcohol and with more expressive minerality than the familiar Napa and Sonoma archetypes. These days, both the old guard and the new school are up to awesome things, and we have examples of each here to show why this region - remote and yet so close to home - deserves our respect and attention. Cheers, Justin Malesheetz - Wine Buyer, Fillmore 2021 McHenry Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir “Swan Clone” Region / Country of Origin: Ben Lomond Mountain AVA, CA USA About the winery: Founded in the early 1970s with the goal of planting a vineyard as near as they could get to where UC Davis scientists had discovered an area ideal for growing Pinot Noir, UC Santa Cruz's founding Chancellor, Dean E. McHenry, along with his wife Jane, son Henry, and daughter-in-law Linda planted 4 acres. Linda, a trained viticulturist from UC Davis, tended the vineyard while Henry, a Paleontologist and retired professor at UC Davis, learned winemaking from his colleagues. The vineyard and winery are now run by the third generation with their daughter Annalisa McHenry, a schoolteacher in Oakland, and her partner Brandon Blanchard, along with their cousins Ian McHenry and Henry. About the Vineyard: The former Christmas tree farm sits 5 miles east and 1,800 ft. above the Pacific Ocean in the Santa Cruz Mountains, just north of the small town of Bonny Doon, CA. The dry-farmed vineyard is on a sandy slope, surrounded by redwood forest. About the Winemaking: 100% Pinot Noir from a block planted from cuttings taken from Joseph Swan’s vineyard in the Russian River Valley aged for almost 2 years in 60 gallon French oak. Tasting Notes: Pale dark crimson in the glass with an earthy savory nose swirling with notes of rhubarb, mushroom, wild strawberry, red cherry, and blood orange. The wine is built for the long haul, with a spine of vibrant acidity and grippy tannins and flavors of cherry liquor, cranberry, and long herbaceously floral finish. Decant an hour before drinking. Winemaker: Henry McHenry Price per bottle / Price per case: $40.99 per bottle Suggested Food Pairing: Deep fried turkey, roast chicken, seared tuna 2021 Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard Zayante Vineyard Syrah Region / Country of Origin: Santa Cruz Mountain AVA, CA USA About the winery: Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard was founded by Ken Burnap, a Texan with a love of wine who had moved to Southern California and spent his free time traveling around Northern California looking for the best places for Pinot Noir to grow. In 1974, he believed he had found one such place and purchased a vineyard in Santa Cruz County with the goal of making a world-class pinot. For 2 years, he commuted between Orange County and Santa Cruz before pulling up stakes and committing fully to making wine, at first only making Pinot Noir, but eventually expanding to Cabernet Sauvignon and. In 2002, Ken retired and passed the business on to his longtime apprentice and collaborator, Jeff Emery. About the vineyards: Planted at nearly 1200 ft elevation and certified organic, Zayante is a small family owned vineyard that has been producing grapes for over 140 years. For the last 45 years it has been producing Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Barbera and Grenache from own-rooted and dry farmed vines grown on rolling sandstone hills. About the Winemaking: 100% Syrah destemmed and aged for 2 years and 7 months in a combination of new and used French oak before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. Tasting Notes: A deep violet in the glass with a rich savory nose evocative of classic Northern Rhone syrah with a nose of candied violets, peppery charcuterie, graphite, fresh potting soil, and eucalyptus. A bright, expressive medium bodied wine on the palate with vibrant acidity and grippy tannins framing waves of dusty black plum and fresh dark berries finishing with a long, richly floral dry finish. Winemaker: Jeff Emery Price per bottle / Price per case: $43.99 per bottle Suggested Food Pairing: Lamb shanks, kabab koobideh 2016 Lexington Wine Co. Gist Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon Region / Country of Origin: Santa Cruz Mountain AVA, CA USA About the winery: Originally envisioned by Thomas Fogarty and Michael Martella out of a love for the Bordeaux styled wines made by Ridge and Mount Eden in the 1970s, they knew the land they were working with was too cold to do the varieties justice, but vowed to one day plant a vineyard to the classic Bordeaux grapes. In 2000 Thomas Fogarty Jr. and current winemaker Nathan Kandler accomplished this goal. About the vineyard: Gist Ranch vineyard is located on the Pacific Plate in Santa Cruz County at an elevation of 2,400ft 17 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Planted by the Fogarty family in 2000, the vines are densely planted, decreasing the spacing between vines to make the vines compete for resources which can create smaller more concentrated berries, and utilise organic and sustainable farming practices. Tasting Notes: A deep ruby with aromas of tobacco, truffle, licorice, baking chocolate, and a melange of fresh and dried dark fruit. While the nose prepares you for a dense powerful wine, the palate is surprisingly fresh and lithe, which feels a good deal lighter than its stated 14.5%. Bright acidity with tannins that while softened with age still have a persistence to them are accompanied by flavors of fresh blackberries, black cherry, and plum on a long fresh berry finish. 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, and 7% Cabernet Franc. Winemaker: Nathan Kandler Price per bottle / Price per case: $90 per bottle from the winery. Click here and enter the word fogarty to see special pricing Suggested Food Pairing: Steak of any kind, roast duck
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August 2021 Wine of the Month Club
Wine appreciation is one of few life pursuits where being wrong is actually fun. It’s part of the point in fact; we spend all this time trying all these wines in order to have our preconceived notions upended, hoping to be surprised (and delighted). With so many options and only so disposable an income though, it’s inevitable that we develop strong preferences from scant information; "I know what I like" is useful when you’re staring at a wine list with a decision to make, but it's a shorthand that can't help but confirm prior judgements. This month, rather than spotlight unfamiliar varietals, we’re focusing on two grapes with which everyone has a history: Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. Love or avoid these phonetically twinned pillars of the global wine industry, chances are you think you know what they’re like. We did too, until we tried this month’s selections - a Cab from Sonoma and a Sauv Blanc from southern Austria - and found ourselves surprised, then delighted. We hope you will be as well. Whitehall Lane has been a benchmark Napa Cab producer for years. Founded in 1979 in Napa Valley’s Rutherford appellation, (legendary for its unique Cab-friendly soil, dubbed ‘Rutherford Dust), the winery’s present reputation rests mostly on the efforts of the Leonardini family, who purchased the property in 1993. Founders of the famous Napa Wine Exchange store in San Francisco, Tom and Karen Leonardini jumped at the chance to put all their industry knowledge and passion to use producing top shelf Napa Cab. Since then, they’ve expanded operations considerably, but it wasn’t until 2012 that Whitehall Lane ventured into neighboring Sonoma, with the purchase of the Rassi Vineyard: 16 acres of gravelly loam soil ideal for Cabernet Sauvignon at the base of the Mayacamas mountain range in eastern Sonoma. The 2017 bottling is a beautifully layered and complex expression of Sonoma terroir; recognizably Cab, but more fragrant and rustic than its Napa brethren. (Though it does contain 13% Merlot from Whitehall's Rutherford Estate.) The accurately named Vulkanland Steiermark (Volcano Land Styria) consists of some 1,500 hectares of gentle green hills atop extinguished volcanic cones in the southeastern corner of Austria, bordering Slovenia and Hungary. Along with the volcanic soils, the region is distinguished from the rest of the Austrian wine world by a warmer climate and a staunchly independent local viticulture, less reliant on a handful of traditional varietals and more open to experimentation. A native of the area, Gottfried Lamprecht exemplifies all of these traits. After studying wine and horticulture at the University of Vienna, he began laboring mightily (see below for more details) to transform a hill in his home village of Buchertberg into the nine Edenic hectares under vine he refers to as his “Speilplatz”, or playground. Here, Sauvignon Blanc runs free as one among 100-or-so varietals, all planted from scratch by Gottfried, alongside potential future Wine of the Month material like Heunisch Rotgestreift and Schlehentrauben. The result is legitimately revelatory - none of us has ever tasted a Sauvignon Blanc quite like this before - though, intriguingly, we’ve been told that this wine is highly reminiscent of how Sancerre used to taste in decades past. Cheers, The PlumpJack Wine Team 2017 Whitehall Lane ‘Rassi’ Cabernet Sauvignon Region / Country of Origin: Sonoma Valley AVA, California About the winemaker: Jason Moulton became winemaker at Whitehall Lane in 2016. He is a graduate of the Lincoln University Viticulture and Enology program in New Zealand and spent more than a dozen years making wine in Napa Valley, Russian River, Canada, New Zealand, Bordeaux and South Africa. He has worked with renowned winemakers Philippe Melka, David Ramey, Kale Anderson and Ashley Heisey. About the winemaking: Upon hand harvesting in the early morning hours, the grapes were carefully destemmed and sent to tank for a whole berry fermentation. After inoculation with a select yeast, the grape must (juice, skins, and seeds) fermented at 82˚F, which allowed for a hot extraction on the skins. After fermentation and pressing, the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot were aged in 35% new French and American oak for 20 months before bottling. The final blend is 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and 13% Merlot and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Tasting Notes: This beautifully blended 2017 Rassi Cabernet Sauvignon is exquisitely balanced with excellent fruit concentration. On the nose, this wine offers ripe blackberries, crème de cassis, black cherry cola, black pepper, pencil shavings, and toasted chestnuts. The palate offers plush but delicate tannins, fresh blueberries, sweet black plums, baked berry tart, toasted bread, and has a touch of walnuts that linger on the finish. Winemaker: Jason Moulton $25 bottle/$270 case Suggested Food Pairing: Rosemary Braised Lamb Shanks Eggplant Moussaka Blue Cheeseburger 2019 Herrenhof Lamprecht Sauvignon Blanc Silt & Kies Region / Country of Origin: Vulkanland, Austria About the Winemaker: The Lamprecht family owns what was once the Vorau Abbey until it closed at the end of the 19th Century. The monks did grow vines on the same slopes, but the land has been without grapes for many decades. In 2006 Gottfried began planting block by block until reaching 9 hectares and has been certified organic from the start. Being able to start from scratch and control every element himself is what makes this producer special, apart from the wines being delicious of course. He grew up here. He’s raising his daughters here. He removed the apple and apricot orchards with his grandfather that once stood here. He established an organic field here before planting. He then planted his dream vineyard from scratch and felled trees from his property’s forest to have barrels coopered that now account for roughly 40% of all his barrels. He has published his own self-imposed Charta on farming and cellar work that lay out his guiding principles, but it is far from exhaustive. About the winemaking: The winemaking is clean and simple. Almost everything is de-stemmed and crushed. He avoids being overly phenolic, so there’s very little forced extraction or lengthy skin contact. Typical maceration is between 36-40 hours. All fermentation is spontaneous, he uses 300L to 600L oak (40% coopered locally), and extended lees aging is key (9-18 months). The only addition is SO2 at bottling, usually around 20-25ppm total. A full day of maceration in 300L neutral French, Hungarian, and Styrian oak barrels also adds some structure to the ever present salty sweet acidity of the estate. Tasting Notes: Lush, round and aromatic, with an herbaceous nose, deep melon and white plumb notes on the palate, and a flick of cat’s tongue on the finish. Winemaker: Gottfried Lamprecht $25 bottle/$270 case Suggested Food Pairing: Peach and tomato salad with garlic croutons Smoked salmon and goat cheese stuffed mushrooms Acorn squash and Feta casserole
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