Northern Nebbiolos : No One Else Does What the Martins Do

The Martin Brothers Winery, on Highway 46 near Paso Robles, is currently the only one in the United States that is producing and marketing a Nebbiolo. Its 1985 California Nebbiolo ($7.50) has a unique charm, exquisite refinement, rare delicacy and a lean but luscious taste.

This noble varietal of Italy’s Barolo, Barbaresco and Gattinara is lighter than Barolo but still possesses the amaro quality of the grape, which is an appetizing bitterness that Italians adore--more suggestive of cranberry than tar, the common descriptor of even the most exalted Barolos.

In 1981, when Tom and Dominic Martin started their Nebbiolo venture, the acreage was a virtually abandoned dairy farm with three ramshackle buildings and 83 acres of sandy loam soil on rolling land. The terrain reminded Dominic, who had visited the Italian wine country near Florence as a college student, of the area in northern Italy where Nebbiolo thrives--away from the Piedmont. The climate is a bit warmer, the hills are higher, and the ripening is slower due to the early-morning fogs, or nebbia , which burn off before noon and which have given the name to the delicious grape indigenous to the region; nebbiolo means “little fog.”

Today the Martin property is a model of impeccable cultivation and attention. The tiny winery has state-of-the-art wine-making equipment, including the deluxe French Limousin oak barrels for fermentation and aging, plus stainless steel. Production is about 11,000 cases per year. A tasting room was recently opened.

The Martin family is not new to wine making. In the late ‘30s, following Repeal, the father of the Martin brothers was associated with Padre Vineyards in Southern California. Dominic, who is in charge of the vineyards and wine production, is a UC Davis graduate in enology and was the wine maker at Lambert Bridge in Sonoma County before starting his Nebbiolo venture. Tom takes care of sales and marketing.

This Central Valley wine region, which is only about 200 miles north of Los Angeles, is now home to 25 family-owned down-home style wineries that welcome visitors. It is a trip not be missed.