Zaca Mesa Winery

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It has been easy to pigeonhole Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards as the Santa Ynez winery renowned as a first home to many of the region’s better winemakers -- Ken Brown, Jim Clendenen and Bob Lindquist -- who created their celebrated wines after they left. Zaca Mesa’s own catalog of wines, which included Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Grenache, Chardonnay and Syrah, didn’t measure up. But times have changed at Zaca Mesa.

After winemaker Clay Brock (pictured) arrived in 2001, the winery’s story evolved into a compelling tale of transformation as the Santa Barbara wine pioneers who own the place, the Cushman family, pulled old vines to replant most of its 244 acres of vineyards to create estate-grown Rhone varietals.

The painstaking process of shifting the vineyard to Grenache, Mourvedre, Roussanne, Syrah, Viognier, Grenache Blanc and Cinsaut is nearly complete. At a lunch last week with Brock and winery president Brook Williams, I tasted through the winery’s new releases: two 2003 Syrahs; the 2003 Z Three blend of Syrah, Mourvedre and Grenache; the 2004 Z Cuvée of Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah and Cinsaut; the 2005 Roussanne; the 2006 Viognier.

For me, the wine that really rocked was the 2003 Black Bear Block Syrah. Produced with fruit from a 3.5-acre block of Syrah vines planted on their own roots in 1978 from cuttings smuggled to California from the Chapoutier vineyard in the Hermitage region of the Northern Rhône. The old-vine fruit is evident in the wine’s rich, mellow texture, yet it retains the fruit’s natural acidity. In the wake of the 1990s phylloxera infestation, it’s rare to find a 30-year-old vineyard in California. And the wine is priced accordingly at $55. (Zaca Mesa claims this block contains the oldest Syrah vines on the Central Coast.)

All of Zaca Mesa’s wines, including those produced with fruit from its more recent plantings, showcased the moderate climate on Foxen Canyon Road. Warmer than Santa Maria Valley and Santa Rita Hills yet cooler then nearby Ballard Canyon, Zaca Mesa is a high-elevation sandy loam estate sitting 1,500 feet above sea level. The alcohol levels of the wines I tasted were 14.5%, but the fresh fruit flavors and natural acidity gave the wines an attractive liveliness.

-- Corie Brown

Photo Courtesy of Zaca Mesa Winery