The Wine Frontier
Ever envy those wine old-timers who sit around bragging about the old days? Visiting Robert Mondavi in the Napa Valley in the 1970s, chatting with the Sterlings in Sonoma in the 1980s, dropping in on wacky Jim Clendenen, Adam Tolmach and Bob Lindquist in Santa Maria in the 1990s. Oh boy, they’ll tell you, that was really something. Too bad you missed it.
But don’t worry. The California wine industry is constantly reinventing itself and there’s always another pioneering wine region to visit. Lucky for us, one of the hottest new areas is in our own backyard.
Just north of Santa Barbara, vineyards on either flank of the Santa Rita Hills are turning out wines that are earning rave reviews. The Wine Spectator’s Jim Laube recently chose Sanford Winery’s 2000 Pinot Noir from “La Rinconada” as the best California Pinot of that year--and it was made from only the vineyard’s second vintage.
In critic Robert M. Parker Jr.’s recent review of California’s south central coast, wines from the Santa Rita Hills came in for particularly high praise--especially the cult winery Brewer-Clifton, whose Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays were variously compared to some of the greatest wines of Burgundy: Chevalier-Montrachet, Pommard and even La Tache.
Best of all, the area is so close it is an easy day trip. Head up in the morning, visit a couple of wineries, have a picnic lunch, visit a couple more, stop for an early dinner and you can be home in time for Leno.
The Santa Rita Hills appellation lies between Buellton in the east and Lompoc in the west. It is approximately 15 miles long and at present, there are only four wineries that offer tasting rooms. But it is expanding quickly. There were only 500 acres of vineyards in 1998; today there are more than 700, and there are hundreds more due to come on line in the next couple of years.
By then, of course, everybody will have been there. Now is the time to grab the bragging rights.
Technically, almost all of the Santa Rita Hills appellation is part of the larger Santa Ynez Valley. Grapes are nothing new in these parts; the modern wine industry started here in the 1970s. But until now, most of the activity has centered on the eastern part of the valley, between Lake Cachuma and Solvang.
The areas are as different as night and day--or, more appropriately, hot and cold. Temperatures in the new Santa Rita area are typically 10 to 15 degrees cooler than in the eastern part of the valley. The eastern part is doing well with Rhone varietals such as Syrah, as well as Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Around Santa Rita, the grapes are predominantly Burgundian--Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
That’s due to a trick of geography. In California, because of the way the tectonic plates jam together, most mountain ranges run from north to south. This walls off the interior of the state from the cooling influences of the ocean. It’s why Merced bakes while Monterey, which is just on the other side of the mountains, chills.
There are breaks in that solid wall, though not many. One of the biggest lies near Lompoc. Here, there is an east-west valley (or “transverse maritime throat” in geo-speak) that funnels cold air from the Pacific inland. Where the valley is narrow (between Lompoc and Buellton) folks are wearing sweatshirts while people just a couple of miles away in Santa Ynez, where the valley widens out and the cool dissipates, are stripping down to T-shirts and shorts.
Smack in the middle of this breezy valley, between the Purisima and the Santa Rosa hills, lies the Santa Rita Hills, a warren of nooks and crannies perfect for winegrowers seeking varied vineyard exposures.
A few hardy pioneers braved the chill and staked out vineyards here years ago--Richard Sanford’s Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, planted in 1971, was one of the first trophy vineyards in all of central California.
Despite that, the western end of the valley has never been as popular for wineries. For one, there is a nearly constant chilly wind. Trees tend to grow at an eastward slant and the coastal fog hangs in until noon even in September.
But while it may be inhospitable to sun worshipers, these cool temperatures allow grapes to hang on the vine for a long time before they come to full ripeness, gathering more flavor with every day.
Wines from this area tend to have intense, deep fruit flavors (what wine mavens call “extracted”). They also tend to be somewhat more alcoholic than normal. It is not uncommon to find Chardonnays with 15% alcohol. What is uncommon is that however high the alcohol might be, so concentrated are the fruit flavors that it rarely shows.
New wine regions have a frontier feel to them that is missing from more established appellations. While the Napa Valley now seems to be jammed cheek-by-jowl with vineyards, fine restaurants and expensive stores, in the Santa Rita area the “wine country lifestyle” has not yet won over. The area still has a farm-town charm. Vineyards are next door to fields of lima beans. There’s not much shopping to distract you and while there are two very good restaurants in the area, they are both chophouses.
As Greg Brewer, one of the owners of Brewer-Clifton and the winemaker at Melville Vineyards & Winery, says: “This place has a nice, neighborly feeling.”
To explore the area, it’s probably best to start at the Buellton end on Santa Rosa Road, since it’s pretty even when blanketed by morning fog. This is a twisting road through golden hills that offers surprising vistas at almost every turn. It feels a bit like a vinous Shangri-La. Turn a corner and there will be a field of ornamental flowers, so intensely colored they almost burn your eyes. Particularly early in the morning and toward sundown, keep an eye out for deer, which are everywhere.
Stop along the way for a picnic lunch, either at one of the wineries or at the historic La Purisima Mission, which is just outside of Lompoc. Then, after the fog burns off, double back toward Buellton on Highway 246. Get some dinner and then head home.
Sanford Winery Tasting Room. Richard Sanford has been making good wine in Santa Ynez longer than anyone. He began with Sanford & Benedict Vineyard farther west, then came to this location, called Rancho el Jabali, in 1982. The winemaking facilities have moved to a spectacular new building closer to the original vineyard, but the tasting room is located here, nestled in a beautiful, out-of-the-way site planted with native landscaping.
Sanford is best known for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, with the best wines coming from Sanford & Benedict and La Rinconada vineyards. The wines have been made since 1983 by the talented Bruno d’Alfonso, and they tend to be a little leaner and perhaps a tad more elegant than most from around here. They are also among the few vineyards to be certified organic.
7250 Santa Rosa Road. (805) 688-3300.
Lafond Winery and Vineyards. Pierre Lafond, owner of a prominent Santa Barbara gourmet deli, planted his vineyard at about the same time as Sanford. For years the grapes from these vineyards went into wines bottled under the Santa Barbara Winery label and were probably better known for their downtown Santa Barbara winery location than their quality. Beginning in 2000, Lafond began a more upscale line, making them here at a new winery and selling them under his own name. Of particular note is the Syrah.
6855 Santa Rosa Road. (805) 688-7921.
Sanford La Rinconada Winery. No matter how many wineries you’ve seen, make a point to stop by this one. It is gorgeous. Designed largely by Sanford himself, incorporating his loves of technical gadgetry and Taoist philosophy, it features plenty of tricks for wine geeks (tanks that raise and lower on elevators to allow complete gravity-driven flow) and design freaks (check out the Virgin of Guadalupe over the central plaza and the Thai Buddha directly opposite it). The winery is open for touring only by appointment and only on Saturdays.
5010 Santa Rosa Road. (805) 688-3300.
La Purisima Mission. Tucked away in one of the folds of the Purisima Hills, the mission offers a great taste of California history, as well as being a terrific place for a picnic. Founded in 1787, it has been sensitively restored, and includes a working kitchen, farm animals and vegetable garden.
2295 Purisima Road. (805) 733-3713
Babcock Winery & Vineyards. Bryan Babcock is the wizard of the Santa Ynez Valley, spinning off so many wines of such high quality that it is sometimes difficult to keep them straight. While his Fathom, Troc and Cuvee Lestat labels pull grapes from the eastern valley as well as the Santa Maria Valley and points even farther afield, many of the Babcock wines come from estate vineyards, which were begun in 1980. Pinot Noirs are particularly good, especially from the Casa Cassara and Mount Carmel vineyards.
5146 East Highway 246. (805) 736-1455.
Melville Vineyards & Winery. While the bottlings from Brewer-Clifton are getting most of the buzz (and are almost impossible to find, even at relatively steep prices), you can sample some of Greg Brewer’s winemaking style more affordably at this winery. It is run by the very hands-on family of financier Ron Melville. All of the wines are made from estate grapes and are very good, but be sure to ask about the “Inox” Chardonnay. Made completely in stainless steel without a whiff of oak, it is a knockout.
5185 East Highway 246. (805) 735-7030.
Solvang Farmer. He’s certainly not the only farmer in the area to grow vegetables, but because of the farm stand he’s run just outside of Solvang since 1985, Arne Jacobsen is the Solvang Farmer. Although he’s well-known for his corn and melons, the real draw in the fall is his pumpkin festival.
On Highway 246 about 2 miles west of Solvang.
The Hitching Post. One of the Central Coast’s legendary restaurants, the Hitching Post in Buellton has been grilling steaks and pouring the best of the local wines since 1986 (the sister restaurant near Santa Maria has been operating since the ‘40s). Owner Frank Ostini even makes his own wine, under the house label and as Hartley-Ostini. This is an old-fashioned place: Steaks are large and well-cooked and come with soup or shrimp cocktail, salad and your choice of potato.
406 East Highway 246, Buellton. (805) 688-0676. Dinner only.
Brothers Restaurant at Mattei’s Tavern. For several years in the ‘90s, brothers Matt and Jeff Nichols, who had worked at restaurants such as Spago and Ocean Avenue Seafood, ran a very nice restaurant in a small house in Solvang. Then they just seemed to disappear for more than a year. This summer they reappeared at the helm of this turn-of-the-century stage stop and it’s a beaut. The setting is elegant (well, for Los Olivos) and the cooking takes chophouse fare to another level. Be sure to try the pure-flavored corn soup, credited to the Solvang Farmer, and the veal chop with mustard-flavored potato puree and porcini essence. The wine list offers a very well-chosen selection of all-star wines from both the eastern and western Santa Ynez Valley.
2350 Railway Ave., Los Olivos, (805) 688-4820. Dinner only.
