Though more sprawling than many of the world’s prize vineyards, Santa Barbara’s Bien Nacido is blessed with east/west-running mountains that deliver cooling Pacific breezes, which prevent excessive sugar levels, and hence, unwieldy alcohol in the wines grown here.
PHOTO: Kirk Irwin
Legendary California VineyardsBy Jeff CoxEditor's introduction: In Steve Pitcher's June/July 2007 cover article titled "Monte Rosso Memoirs," the legendary vineyard was profiled as a patch of Sonoma County soil where, no matter who is producing or directing vinification, distinguished wines are the end result. The story garnered so much positive reader mail that Jeff Cox has set out to offer a larger sampling of California vineyards whose estimable reputations continue to grow in stature - in most cases eclipsing the personalities who vie for their fruit.
The twelve sites profiled here (as well as the 23 listed in the sidebar) were culled via a survey of our California contributors that was conducted by staff editors. Results were distilled and merged with the author's personal favorites to determine which California vineyards have earned lasting legacies similar to Monte Rosso's. Our final selections, though largely subjective, are based on each site's longstanding reputation for producing exceptional grapes that yield wines on par with the best in the world
Vineyards are a lot like people with special talents: Many produce good fruit, some produce excellent fruit and a favored few consistently produce world-class fruit, shining brighter than others for reasons that are largely intangible. While European winegrowers have for centuries celebrated certain parcels where climate, soil and variety converge seamlessly - Romanée-Conti and Chambertin in Burgundy, for example - through much of California's comparatively nascent modern wine era it was the winemaker, rather than the vineyard, who was doted upon. It has taken some time, but as the 21st century dawned, a subtle shift of attitude in the collective California wine consciousness (among publicists, brand managers and critics) refocused la cause célèbre from vintner to vineyard. If there is a recurring theme among these legendary vineyards, it's the fact that most have had to struggle to achieve their fame. For winemakers, struggle is a good thing because vine stress yields small berries with a high solids-to-juice ratio, and it's from the solids, or skins, that a wine's chief flavors are imparted.
BACKUS
Vineyard owner: Joseph Phelps Vineyards
Appellation: Oakville, Napa Valley
First planted: 1975
Backus Vineyard, of Joseph Phelps Vineyards fame, lies on the steep eastern hills in the Oakville appellation. The east and west sides of the Napa Valley are radically different: The cooler west side is fringed by tall conifers and dense deciduous trees that clothe the Mayacamas Mountains and receive slanted afternoon light as the sun descends behind them; the east side is considerably warmer and the aspect of the foothills that hem the Vaca Mountains is such that afternoon sun is absorbed head on. The vegetation there, other than vines, is short scrub mixed with protected pockets of trees.
It is here that the Backus vines struggle so valiantly. While most of the vineyard is planted to cabernet - the 2003 Backus was 100 percent cabernet sauvignon - there are small amounts of petit verdot and malbec, too, which are reflected in minuscule portions in both the 2004 and 2005 Backus vintages.
The Phelps family sourced fruit from the 6.75-acre plot from 1977 until 1996, at which time owner Marian Backus offered to sell the entire 45-acre parcel to her client; the winery enthusiastically bought it and began expanding the plantings to today's 21.5 acres of steeply terraced hillside vineyard characterized by brick-red soil, so colored from the minerals carried down the slopes over millennia. But even the Phelps folks were unprepared for the extraordinary quality that has emerged from this vineyard in the last few years.
Backus's depth of texture is nothing short of amazing. "It's powerful when it's young and has great balance that means it has great potential for aging," notes director of winemaking, Craig Williams, who cites mocha, spice, chocolate and black fruit, as well as an expression of the old bedrock, volcanic riolite on which the vineyard sits, as its profile.
At the higher elevations, the pH is low at about 5.0, meaning it's acidic and the topsoil is scant; at lower elevations there's more organic matter in the soil and the pH is about 6.5, or just slightly acidic. Williams says the vineyard team applies lime to the soil to sweeten it and release potassium, the mineral that's so important for the transport of nutrients within a plant and the balance of acid, sugar and tannins in the fruit. "It's the same technique they use in Champagne and Chablis," he notes.
Irrigation, however, is delivered solely by Mother Nature, which is among the vineyard's finest natural assets. "There's water availability at the root tips and the strong, late afternoon sun [promotes] ripe, well-integrated tannins," Williams says. Water that falls on the Vaca range during the winter rainy season takes many months to work its way down to the valley floor, and must travel through some dense volcanic soil to do so, hence these Backus vines never lose contact with water, a feature shared by many of the great vineyards of the world.
"This is a weathered, low-vigor soil, like the better soils in Bordeaux," Williams continues, "so the grapes gain maturity without the greenness that can happen at sites with richer soil."
Contrary to the tenets that inform conventional agriculture, the highest-quality wines are grown on poor, barely hydrated soil. At Backus, the vines respond magnificently with reduced yield, smaller, concentrated berries and smaller clusters of grapes - all factors necessary to produce wine for the ages.
BIEN NACIDO
Vineyard owner: Miller Family
Appellation: Santa Maria Valley AVA
First planted: 1973
In a precious few places in the world, a cool, ocean-influenced climate coexists with a sunny, Mediterranean-type climate. There's the Casablanca Valley in Chile, the region around Perth in Western Australia, Capetown in South Africa, Bordeaux and coastal California's Santa Maria Valley, home to the sprawling Bien Nacido Vineyard. The combination of summer-warming sun on the skin, together with the caress of delightfully cool, dry air, is energizing to both man and wine grape.
The mountains that hem the aptly named Santa Barbara County site - Bien Nacido means "well-born" in Spanish - rise to about 1,800 feet (mountains farther inland reach up to 4,000 feet). Rather than paralleling the coast, they run east/west, forming a natural funnel that delivers tempering morning fogs and cool afternoon ocean breezes 18 miles inland from the Pacific to Bien Nacido's 600 acres of undulating vines. This is the coolest Region I territory on the Winkler scale of heat summations - perfect for chardonnay (180 acres) and pinot noir (190 acres). There are also smaller amounts of merlot, syrah, pinot blanc, pinot gris, roussanne, viognier and even barbera and nebbiolo.
Bien Nacido's prestigious grapes are sold to 35 clients by specific vine row, rather than the standard by-the-ton measure. This novel strategy solves a recurring problem between California's grapegrowers and winemakers: When grapes are sold by the ton, it's in the grower's interest to get the maximum tonnage from his acreage, while the winemaker wants restricted yields (three tons per acre or less ) that translate to the highest-quality grapes. At Bien Nacido, however, the rows are farmed according to each client's preferences for viticultural practices, such as sustainable, organic or biodynamic, tonnage and harvest timing.
In 1969, the Miller family, fifth-generation California farmers, purchased the 1,400-acre ranch, all that was left of an original 9,000-acre land grant made in 1837 to Tomas Olivera. The Millers reunited the ranch with an additional 600 acres that had been part of that original grant. Stephen Miller and his late brother Bob conceived the custom by-the-row contracts. Today Stephen is president and CEO, and his son, Nicholas, handles public relations.
While the family does not produce its own Bien Nacido label, the vineyard has a slew of clients that produce a vineyard designate from this designer fruit, including Au Bon Climat, Foxen, Gary Farrell, Landmark and Qupé.
For a vineyard the size of Bien Nacido, where vines climb from the valley floor (200 feet above sea level at the lowest point) up gently folding slopes to about 900 feet, there is naturally going to be marked variations of aspect and soil type.
According to vineyard manager Chris Hammell, "The soils are light textured and very deep and well drained for the most part, especially where the Sisquoc River and Tepusquet Creek have deposited loams and sandy, alluvial outwash from the water. They become heavier toward the hills, where the soils are thinner." Annual rainfall is sparse - about 12 to 14 inches per year on average.
"Even though there's variation in soils," Nicholas Miller adds, "there's a definite spice box character in the nose across all the winemakers' [bottlings]. And because of the cool climate, the fruit keeps its acidity." Cool temperatures also ripen the fruit very slowly, so it hangs for a long time and reaches full flavor maturity without an overabundance of sugar and consequent high alcohol levels - a prospect that is just as refreshing as the chamber-of-commerce weather.
PAGANI RANCH
Vineyard owner: Pagani Family
Appellation: Sonoma Valley
First planted: 1880s
It's not uncommon to see cars parked along Highway 12 in Kenwood with their drivers out on the swale, cameras in hand, snapping pictures of the vineyard, Victorian home and barns that make up the Pagani Ranch. If there were ever a picture-postcard view of an old California wine farm, this jewel in the Sonoma Valley appellation's crown is it.
When Felice Pagani bought the ranch in the 1880s, some of the vines in the western portion were already established. Even after more than 130 years, they have trunks no more than 4 to 6 inches in diameter because the soil in this elevated parcel west of the old railroad berm has dense clay aspects that make the vines work hard. He later bought the eastern parcel in 1904; its 104-year-old vines, now 8 to 12 inches in diameter, didn't struggle quite as much in the flat, eastern portion that flanks Highway 12 because the brownish soils there contain more organic matter mixed with the clay loam.
The wines that hail from these 32 acres of field blend zinfandel are absolutely superb. In fact, the 1991 Ridge Pagani Ranch Zinfandel is among my top-five, all-time wine experiences. (Twenty acres of alicante bouschet, 6 acres mourvèdre and 3.5 acres of mixed heritage white grapes are also farmed here.)
What makes Pagani Ranch so special is that the massive trunks that support those old, head-trained goblet vines are reservoirs for the sap and nutrients that feed the leaves, which make the sugar in the grapes, and for the substances that form in the berries themselves. The roots of these ancient, dry-farmed vines strike deep into the soil, which keeps berries and yields small. These head-trained vines were set seven to eight feet apart in all directions without trellising, which enabled early grapegrowers to freely plow the weeds under with horsepower in both directions: up and down the rows and back and forth across the files.
After Felice Pagani died in 1926, his son Louis farmed the vines until he passed on just a few years ago. Louis's nephew Dino Amantite (pronounced ah-mahn-tee-tee) continues to work Pagani Ranch and has been doing so since he was a kid. Today, however, he is employed by St. Francis Winery and Vineyards as vineyard manager, and his duties include overseeing the Pagani Ranch. His mother, Norma Pagani Amantite, 72, still lives on the ranch.
While Ridge's Paul Draper makes a classic field blend Zinfandel from Pagani, St. Francis winemaker Tom Mackey makes a big, briary Reserve Zinfandel. St. Francis actually buys five-eighths of the fruit and Ridge three-eighths. In both cases, all the fruit from both types of soil is crushed together. Twenty-three more acres are planted to blocks of dark mourvèdre (called mataro by the Italian settlers) and alicante bouschet. The more esoteric plantings include some white grapes like sauvignon vert and golden chasselas.
A number of the old vines near the road have been lost over the years to the occasional out-of-control automobile careening off Highway 12. Louis Pagani never replaced them and Amantite has no plans to do so either. He estimates that there are about 85 acres of potentially top-quality vineyard land that haven't been planted yet. "I want to concentrate my efforts on planting open ground, rather than replanting the old vine vineyards," he explains. "I haven't decided whether to use head training or cordon trellising yet. If cordon is done properly - keeping the fruit to just one cluster per shoot - it should make better wine."
It's hard to imagine Pagani Ranch Zinfandel getting much better, but no one understands the vineyard's untapped potential better than Amantite.
MONTE BELLO
Vineyard owner: Ridge Vineyards
Appellation: Santa Cruz Mountains
First planted: 1886
Ridge's Monte Bello (beautiful mountain) Vineyard encompasses 103 acres perched high in the Santa Cruz Mountain appellation about 60 miles south of San Francisco. "The elevation runs from 1,400 up to 2,700 feet above sea level," notes Ridge CEO Paul Draper. "It's the highest vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was the highest in California until 30 years ago. It's higher than any vineyard in Europe."
Its superior elevation has much to do with both the caliber of fruit it delivers and the characteristic finesse of its claret style. The 72-year-old Draper, himself something of a legend, has been making his distinctive Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignons since the late 1960s. His impressive 1971 (Draper's third Monte Bello Cab vintage) came in fifth at the now-storied Paris Tasting of 1976. Thirty years later, the exact same wine lineup was tasted in a re-enactment of the first tasting; the second time around, the 1971 Monte Bello came in first. It had reportedly aged more gracefully than the competition, while retaining enough staying power to surpass the best wines California and France could muster.
The Ridge Monte Bello Cab is a Bordeaux-style blend that loosely reflects the vineyard's primary plantings: approximately 70 percent cabernet, 20 percent merlot, 7 percent petit verdot and 3 percent cabernet franc. There's also a little chardonnay and a tiny block of 19th-century zinfandel at a lower elevation that Draper says "barely ripens." Other than the zin, the oldest vines were replanted on the abandoned vineyard in 1949, before Draper's time, and the youngest in 1998, with the majority planted between 1968 and 1988.
Its exquisite, Bordeaux-like quality owes as much to the soil as to the blend. "The soil here is unusual for California," Draper explains. "The whole ridge is fractured limestone overlaid with sedimentary green stone. You can break the green stone up with your hands, so the vine roots penetrate it easily. The green stone topsoil is down in the swales, while the limestone surfaces at the top and on the slopes." Most of the vineyard aspects (how the vines are situated vis-à-vis the sun) face south, east and west, with very little northern exposure, promoting the maximum sun exposure needed to ripen wine grapes at a cool site such as this.
Draper says the Monte Bello Cab's pH is unbelievably low. "It can come in around 3.0, though 3.3 is more typical. That's because we're so high up, and just 15 to 18 miles from the ocean. The nights here are cool during the growing season, which maintains the acidity and gives the wine its brightness. It also extends the growing season so the grapes reach full maturity, while acids and alcohol remain in balance." He adds that "Monte Bello shows intense minerality - more minerality than any other California wine.
"Monte Bello ridge was formed on the ocean bottom south of the equator 100 million years ago," Draper continues. "About 67 million years ago, this submarine ridge on the Pacific tectonic plate collided with the North American plate, and was sheared off and left here. Because it was formed a far distance from any of the land that surrounds it today, geologists call this an 'exotic' terrain."
About 15 years ago, Draper commissioned what proved to be a revelatory stairway leading down to the winery. "The stonemason picked up all these exotic pieces of rock. Some looked like quartz, some like stalactites. It was all limestone in many of its forms, made by pressure, heat and the dripping of water saturated with lime," he explains.
Water may actually become more of an issue at Monte Bello in the future. "Right now, we only irrigate vines for the first four or five years. After that, the roots go deep enough to maintain contact with moisture through summer. But because of climate change, with its potential for less consistent weather patterns, we're thinking of putting drip irrigation on older vines. If severe drought occurs, I want to be ready."
FAY
Vineyard owner: Ste. Michelle Wine Estates & Marchese Piero Antinori
Appellation: Stags Leap District, Napa Valley
First planted: 1961
If anyone doubts the concept of terroir, they need only taste the FAY Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon or the CASK 23. The FAY makes a defining statement about this place on earth. CASK 23 refines and exalts it. Cabernet sauvignon had not been planted south of the area around the village of Oakville since before Prohibition because everyone "knew" it was too cool for it. But it generally takes someone less inclined to follow directions to foster change. In the making of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars FAY Vineyard Cabernet, it took two enological daredevils: Nathan Fay, who planted his vineyard to cabernet in 1961, and Warren Winiarski, a University of Chicago liberal arts professor who moved to the Napa Valley in 1964. Winiarski first worked with Lee Stewart at Souverain Cellars, then at The Robert Mondavi Winery where he developed his skills as a winemaker and a vision for making classic Cabernet Sauvignon like those in Bordeaux.
He was studiously sampling Cabs from around the valley when he came upon Nathan Fay's homemade wine. "The minute I tasted it, I knew that this was the kind of Cabernet [classic elements of fruit and structure, suppleness and balance] I wished to produce," recalls Winiarski, whose Polish surname serendipitously translates as "son of a winemaker." He then discovered that a prune orchard next door to Nathan Fay's vineyard was for sale, so he bought it and established Stag's Leap Vineyard in 1970; he then bought Stag's Leap Wine Cellars property in 1972; soon thereafter things started happening in a very big way. His 1973 vintage famously won in the red category at the 1976 Paris Tasting. In 1986, Nathan Fay offered to sell his vineyard to Winiarski, who was delighted to buy it.
Composed of 66 acres of cabernet and a half acre of petit verdot, FAY slopes very gradually upward from behind the winery eastward to the base of the Stags Leap Palisades - towering pillars and crags of volcanic rock that jut vertically into the sky. Over several million years, boulders, gravel, sand, silt and clay washed down from the heights and were joined by organic matter to create the base for the FAY soils. When Winiarski replanted FAY in 1987 because of dwindling yield, outdated rootstocks and the threat of phylloxera, he laid out various blocks. In the center of Block 8 Winiarski says there is an irregularly-shaped "sweet spot" that yields wines with an unusual expressiveness: concentrated flavors, but also a soft sensuousness. Fruit from the heart of this block has also been used in the flagship CASK 23 bottling.
In addition to FAY, 75 acres of other estate plantings are stewarded by vineyard manager Kirk Grace, who honed his considerable skills at his family's boutique Grace Family Vineyard. "FAY soils are highly influenced by topography," Grace observes. "In general, they are deep and well-drained. Their pHs are in the mid-sixes." This means with a pH somewhere around 6.5, the nutrient ratio and availability are ideal for feeding the vines. "In the upper elevations, the soils are derived from igneous rock tumbling off the Stags Leap escarpment," Grace continues. "Here the soils are young, reddish, their texture coarse. It's from these upper soils that we say FAY derives its 'fire' element. The soil from the flatter western portion of FAY is a deposit from Chase Creek as its course down the Napa Valley wandered back and forth over geologic time. Texturally, this lower portion is fine-grained clay loam. It's from these finer-grained soils that we say FAY gets its 'water' element."
Grace nurtures the soil with compost and trace elements, following the teachings of Dr. William Albrecht, a soil scientist who was one of the founders of the organic agriculture movement. While FAY is not yet certified organic, "A slow and steady progression into organics is essential," Grace asserts. Winemaker Nicki Pruss likes working with the purity of flavors she gets from Grace's different FAY blocks. "Within the vineyard is a diversity of soil … that provides fruit of different intensities, yet with a common theme - smooth tannins. It's somewhat akin to beautifully hued paints on a painter's palette that all have an attractiveness about them, alone and when blended. This vineyard gives you a lot of options," she says.
To sip FAY is to taste classic Stags Leap - a solid core of concentrated fruit yet with smooth tannins and a voluptuous mouth-feel. It's easy to imagine, too, why Winiarski was so bowled over when he sampled Nathan Fay's early effort, and furthermore why new owners Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and Marchese Piero Antinori were willing to pay him $185 million for the entire 200-acre wine estate last August.
MARTHA'S VINEYARD
Vineyard owner: May Family
Appellation: Oakville, Napa Valley
First planted: 1961
It's not clear whether Martha's Vineyard made the Heitz Wine Cellar label famous or if the late winery founder Joe Heitz made Martha's Vineyard famous, but vineyard and winery are exclusively and irrevocably wedded because of the truly legendary Heitz Cabernets (think minty, rich, chocolaty black fruit) that have reliably come from the property since the 1965 vintage.
Vineyard founders Tom and Martha May moved up from Santa Barbara to the Napa Valley in 1963 and bought a pretty Oakville vineyard already planted to cabernet sauvignon; it seemed natural to call it Martha's Vineyard - alluding to her name and evoking his Eastern Seaboard roots. Soon thereafter they purchased an adjoining property, planted it with budwood from their existing vineyard and brought their total vineyard acreage to 35. But no briny facets mar Heitz's quintessential 100 percent Martha's Vineyard Oakville Cabernet, the current vintage of which is 2003.
Sited on the west side of the Napa Valley on a fan of fine alluvium soil that has weathered down from the Mayacamas Mountains, the vines' roots strike deep to find moisture during the annual summer drought. "If you dig down there," notes David Heitz, Joe's eldest son and winemaker, "you'll find decomposed rock." Drip irrigation is installed, but, Heitz says, "It's only used to keep the vines from shutting down due to lack of water late in the season."
Heitz enumerates a lot of good things that come together here to make Martha's Vineyard Cabernet so distinctive: the climate, the soils, low yields (about three tons per acre, which yields about 3,500 cases per year), a minty character - "stronger in some years than others" - and the Martha's Vineyard clone of cabernet sauvignon. "It's a shy-bearing clone with small clusters and small berries, and a tendency to shatter," Heitz explains, but "where it came from is lost."
Interestingly, the vines are on modified Geneva double curtain trellises - a technique developed at the Geneva Agricultural Experiment Station in the Finger Lakes for very vigorous native American vines. It's not typically employed in California vineyards, but it cleverly opens the center of the vine to light and air, while keeping the clusters in bright shade.
The modified Geneva system must be an inspired choice because Heitz's Martha's Vineyard Cabs, aside from their minty quality, have come to be known for their impeccable balance. That balance makes them accessible early on, but also allows them to age gracefully for many, many years.
SANFORD & BENEDICT
Vineyard owner: Terlato Wine Group & Terlato Family
Appellation: Sta. Rita Hills, Santa Barbara County
First planted: 1971
The real treasure of the Sierra Madre may lie in its foothills in the Santa Rita Hills. Until Richard Sanford discovered that the region boasted the perfect conditions for pinot noir and chardonnay, and in 1971 planted a vineyard there called Sanford & Benedict, the area had been largely ignored by others. It didn't take long for outsiders to realize that Sanford's hunch was nothing short of prescient:
The Pinot produced under that vineyard designate - arguably the Chambertin of California - was as pretty as a meadow full of spring wildflowers. Today the 500-acre ranch has 135 acres under vine, 68 to pinot, 52 to chardonnay and the balance to a mix of other grapes.
Now the Santa Rita Hills is a designated AVA officially known as Sta. Rita Hills, and Sanford & Benedict is more treasured than ever, having established a formidable track record with cool-climate varietals. The place is literally terroir personified: well-drained, sandy soils provide a superhighway from sea to vineyard; Pacific fogs ride inland between the mountains each night and keep nighttime temperatures in the 50s and 60s; bright sunshine pushes the fog back out to sea by mid-morning; days are barely warm, in the 70s mostly, with low humidity and nothing but blue sky above; by late afternoon, cooling air is funneled back into the area on westerly winds, dropping temperatures back into the 60s; at sunset, things cool off, the fog begins to drift in and the cycle begins again.
This salubrious schedule ripens the grapes very gradually, giving them from 30 to 45 more growing-season days than most other California AVAs. This longer hang-time helps fruit reach full maturity before sugars (and hence, alcohol) rise too far.
In 2005, the Terlato Wine Group bought a majority interest in the Sanford Vineyard and Winery; in 2007, the Terlato family became sole owner of the sustainably farmed Sanford & Benedict Vineyard. Doug Fletcher, vice president of winemaking for Terlato, oversees vinification at Sanford (along with shepherding the juice at Alderbrook, Chimney Rock, Rutherford Hill and Terlato Family Vineyards wineries), but Sanford winemaker Steve Fennell is on site in Sta. Rita Hills. He notes that Sanford & Benedict imparts distinctive "dried herbs in the nose and a spiciness and light pepper on the palate" of his Pinot Noirs. A portion of the fruit from the 135-acre vineyard is under contract to a distinguished trio of wineries - Au Bon Climat, Bonaccorsi and Longoria - for use in their own Sanford & Benedict vineyard-designated bottlings.
The Terlato Group also owns Rancho La Rinconada (where Sanford Winery is located), whose 108 acres of vines are also farmed sustainably in the Sanford & Benedict mold.
TO KALON
Vineyard owner: Robert Mondavi Winery, 550 acres; Beckstoffer Vineyards, 89 acres; UC-Davis, 20 acres
Appellation: Oakville, Napa Valley
First planted: 1868
To Kalon, Greek for "the beautiful," was so named because of its reputation for growing exceptionally fine cabernet sauvignon. Hamilton Crabb planted the original 359-acre vineyard in the 1860s. It was eventually acquired by Beaulieu Vineyard and designated BV #4. In 1966, when the late Robert Mondavi was looking for a site for his winery, he bought 12 acres of To Kalon because he recognized that the fruit was underutilized by Beaulieu. As his winery flourished, he bought up more and more of the vineyard, and also added contiguous parcels to it.
Beckstoffer, whose parcel is trademarked Beckstoffer To Kalon, is hard-pressed to explain precisely why the site yields such wonderful fruit and such fabulous wine. "The vineyard is greater than the sum of its parts," he offers. "There's the location, midway between the warmer northern part of the valley and cooler region to the south. The barometric pressure. Rainfall. Soil. How it's farmed. Everything."
More specifically, he continues, "The quality comes from choosing the right clones of cabernet sauvignon and cab franc that suit the site. The job is to get the vines in balance between the fruit and the vegetative growth, adapting the vines to whatever level of natural vigor they get from the site. We do this by how we prune the vines, by dropping crop [to concentrate fruit quality] and manipulating the VSP [vertical shoot positioning] trellis." Beckstoffer generally gets about 3.5 to 4.5 tons of fruit per acre.
"When we bought the property in 1993," he says, "the fruit was going into the Beaulieu mix." He replanted it between 1994 and 1997, using the opportunity to refine the clonal selections. "Now we get to put the fruit into the hands of some great winemakers," including those at Atalon, Carter, Janzen, Justice, Macauley, MX, Paul Hobbs, Schrader Cellars, Provenance, Realm and Tor.
The vineyard lies on a slight slope, rising from 100 feet above sea level to 150 feet between Highway 29 and the Mayacamas Mountains to the west. Like most vineyards that hug the foot of a mountain, it's planted on an alluvial fan. "It's heavily cobbled sandy loam that has washed down from the hills," Beckstoffer notes. Very well-drained soil such as To Kalon's is a plus for quality, yet there's a risk toward the end of the growing season when the grapes are ripening. If the vines' roots lose contact with soil moisture at that point, they can shut down, abandoning fruit and losing leaves. Therefore, drip irrigation is on standby as a preventive measure.
Beckstoffer To Kalon client Tor Kenward, a retired Beringer executive who founded his eponymous label in 2002, produces a wine from the vineyard that critics have likened to a Pauillac. Of its clones, Kenward observes, "Having tasted dozens of wines produced from the myriad blocks in the To Kalon Vineyard over many years, I can say they have a commonality [in] their lush, round, luxurious mouth-feel, and the sexy, pure cabernet flavors, but [they] are also distinctly the soil." Kenward says the more western blocks tend to be less fertile than the eastern ones toward Highway 29.
Mondavi's acreage includes a smattering of non-Bordeaux reds, such as zinfandel, but it is being replanted to focus even more on cabernet-dominated wines. Winemaker Rich Arnold says To Kalon's Cabs are unique: "We often get black olive aromas, nice berry fruit flavors and big, huge, round tannins." If Napa has a quiet, beating heart that pumps out the best the county has to offer, it is arguably To Kalon. >
SANGIACOMO
Vineyard owner: Sangiacomo Family
Appellation: Carneros & Sonoma Coast
First planted: 1969
Greg La Follette, one of California's most esteemed winemakers, enthuses that "There is no one in the industry better than any member of the Sangiacomo family," and he is equally enamored by the fruit they grow. He buys 12 to 14 tons of pinot noir and 13 to 16 tons of chardonnay from the family every year.
La Follette contracts the Sangiacomo fruit for his Tandem label and is extremely pleased with what he gets from every vintage. "The Sangiacomo Pinot Noir and Chardonnay always, to some degree, have those sauvage et animale characters that my wife finds so incredibly attractive, almost sexy," he says. "The Chard has always been downright sexy, to be blunt. It kind of gets you right in that center chakra. The Pinot is always our most Burgundian bottling, with lots of forest floor, mushroom, smoked venison and great Pinot fruit that, as it ages, takes on a bacon fat element that becomes a dead ringer for a Burg."
The main Sangiacomo Vineyard sprawls across 800 acres in the cool Carneros region at the south end of Sonoma County and was first planted in 1969 by Angelo Sangiacomo, the paterfamilias of the family, and his late brother Bob, his brother Buck and sister Lorraine. In addition to this large swath, the Sangiacomos farm 100 acres along Lakeville Highway, subject to the fogs and cool winds coming through the Petaluma Gap, and 100 acres along Roberts Road in the town of Cotati.
There's a fair amount of pinot noir, a bit of merlot and a little pinot gris, but 70 percent of the vines planted in these vineyards are chardonnay, which has made Sangiacomo Vineyard and its satellites famous, yet the pinot is of the same high caliber. Of the 65 wineries that buy Sangiacomo fruit, 22 bottle it as a single-vineyard designate.
Ages ago, the gently sloping land that today accommodates the big, 800-acre Sangiacomo block that rose from near sea level along San Pablo Bay to about 30 feet farther inland was bay bottom. Digging down into the soil about two to three feet reveals compacted bay bottom clay, like a hardpan, that vine roots have difficulty penetrating. So the two to three feet of topsoil provides the majority of the vines' nutrients. "This situation makes distinctive wines," notes Mike Sangiacomo, one of Angelo's three children. "Because the soils aren't deep, they reduce vine vigor. Add to that the influence of cool air from the cold waters of the nearby bay." The result is Chardonnay that's bright and crisp. Some blocks show more lemon-citrus flavors, others more tropical flavors. He reports, too, that Barbara Lindblom, a consulting winemaker in Sonoma County, has undertaken a project to evaluate the shared bright acid, structure and mouth-feel characteristics of Sangiacomo Chardonnays, along with their panoply of flavor elements.
Mike's brother Steve and their sister Mia's husband, Mike Pucci, share roles in farming and running the family vineyard. It seems like an idyllic place to work. "We have no titles," Mike grins.
His equally unassuming 77-year-old father has quietly been at the forefront of the evolution of Sonoma County's grapegrowing industry for 40 years, and was recently inducted into the Sonoma County Farm Bureau's Hall of Fame. Of his award, Angelo demurs, "That's what happens when you get older and stay with it."
THREE PALMS
Vineyard owner: John & Sloan Upton
Appellation: Calistoga, Napa Valley
First planted: 1968
You've never seen a more hardscrabble, hot, dusty place with poorer soil than Three Palms Vineyard, which is laid out in the northeast quadrant of the Napa Valley. In fact, if you want to plant a petunia here, you might consider using a jackhammer to open up the "soil," such as it is. Most of the vineyard is rock.
So the famous vines planted here struggle. They struggle for water. They struggle against the dry heat that not only bakes the vineyard during the day, but radiates back at night, giving the vines little surcease. They struggle to force their roots down far enough in the well-drained outwash of Selby Creek, that descends from Dutch Henry Canyon, to gather the nutrients and moisture they need to produce some of the richest, finest, most-sought Merlots known to California, bottled only by Duckhorn and Sterling as Three Palms Vineyard designates.
In the late 1800s, the parcel was the site of a summer home owned by San Francisco socialite Lillie Hitchcock Coit. She called her estate Larkmead, and here hosted parties well attended by the era's glitterati. It was she who planted the three Washingtonia palms whose slender trunks stretch 100 feet into the sky (or at least did until one died in the early 1990s; it has since been replaced by an adolescent 40-foot specimen, prompting local wags to nickname the vineyard Two-and-a-Half Palms).
Brothers John and Sloan Upton acquired the property from the Tamagni family in 1967. As the transplanted San Franciscans began tackling the stony soil, employing - in addition to shovels - steel bars and high-pressure water guns to get the vines planted, people "thought we were nuts," Sloan recalls. "City slickers planting a vineyard among the rocks!" Nuts or not, their gamble paid huge dividends as the vineyard emerged in a very short time as one of the most renowned in California.
From its 73 planted acres, Duckhorn takes 20 percent of the fruit and Sterling harvests 80 percent. The Bordeaux field blend on the Duckhorn parcel is 10.7 acres of merlot, 2.8 cabernet sauvignon, 1.5 cab franc and .75 petit verdot. Though predominantly merlot, too, Sterling's larger slice, with the inclusion of malbec, gives it the full complement of Bordeaux varieties.
Duckhorn winemaker Bill Nancarrow vinifies his merlot and each supporting Bordeaux cast member separately. "The warm, up-valley location gives us a shorter season," he explains, "but that can be influenced on an annual basis by the crop load, canopy size and health, and Mother Nature.
Flavor-wise, our Three Palms Merlot has red berry characteristics with some minerality that can make the wine quite austere at a young age. One of the keys is having the ability to create complexity by blending the other Bordeaux varieties with the merlot."
Sterling, now owned by Diageo, was figuratively born into its share of the vineyard's fruit; the Uptons are first cousins to Sterling's original owner, Peter Newton, who helped the brothers finance Three Palms's purchase back in the Sixties. This good deed in turn earned Sterling longtime use rights to the vineyard, which the Uptons parsimoniously irrigate as insurance against loss of moisture contact with the vines' roots. All the vineyard management decisions are ultimately made by the brothers, with the actual work done by crews from Duckhorn and Sterling. Because of the poor soil, vine spacing is expansive at 8x10 feet, giving each vine room to scavenge for the elements it needs. This math works out to a meager 545 vines per acre.
While Merlot is oftentimes thought of as the gentler, less-serious companion to Cabernet Sauvignon, Three Palms Vineyard designates readily defy the stereotype with their weight, depth and age-worthiness.
BV #1
Vineyard owner: Beaulieu Vineyard
Appellation: Rutherford, Napa Valley
First planted: 1900
Few vineyards in California, or America for that matter, have more history and consistency than BV #1, from which come the flagship wines of Beaulieu Vineyard, the great Rutherford appellation winery.
While the vineyard was planted to wine grapes by 1900, it was not plucked from obscurity until 1907 when Beaulieu founder Georges de Latour came along and bought the land at the base of Mount George that would become BV #1.
The story goes that when his wife saw the parcel, she exclaimed, "beau lieu," French for "beautiful place." The name stuck and the vineyard was on its way to growing California's first cult Cab.
The debut Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve was made from the 1936 vintage. Joel Aiken, vice president of winemaking, recounts that when Latour brought the newly fermented wine into his dining room at the Rutherford estate, its perfume filled the room. Latour himself said, "This is the wine I've always wanted to make!" Although he died before the wine was bottled, his flagship Bordeaux-style blend has been produced in every vintage since 1936.
Legendary enologist André Tchelistcheff arrived in 1938 to help make the wine that bears Latour's name. His first stint at BV would last 35 years (he left in 1973 and returned in 1991, remaining until his death in 1994). Tchelistcheff was arguably Napa Valley's first master winemaker; he helped set the stage for the glories the region would come to reap and mentored many of the vintners, such as Mike Grgich, the late Joe Heitz and the late Robert Mondavi, who would define California's modern wine era. Aiken even had the privilege of working side by side with Tchelistcheff during the latter's final tenure at BV.
Aiken, who has now been with the Rutherford winery for 26 years, believes that it is the ripe tannins achieved in BV #1 that help hold the wines' quality through long cellaring. Georges de Latour Private Reserve bottlings are known for their age-worthiness, a quality that's all about provenance. "It's the site," Aiken says. "Look who's around us - Hewitt, Rubicon, the old Inglenook estate - the whole middle of the valley in Rutherford is great, especially as you go west from Highway 29."
BV #1 is just shy of 80 planted acres with 64 under cabernet sauvignon, 11 under merlot, 3 under petite verdot and roughly 1 in malbec. Its relatively flat terrain slopes gently uphill toward the Mayacamas Mountains to the west. Latour chose well when he purchased the parcel that would become BV #1. From its alluvial soil came an enduring wine that has carried his name into the 21st century and likely well beyond.
ROBERT YOUNG
Vineyard owner: Robert Young Family
Appellation: Alexander Valley, Sonoma County
First planted: 1963
The Robert Young Vineyard designate is Chateau St. Jean's flagship Chardonnay, and half the grapes for its succulent Sonoma County Reserve Chardonnay come from the Young vineyard, too. Margo Van Staaveren is St. Jean's director of winemaking and she is completely in love with the site. "It's near the Russian River, but not on it," she explains. "It's a relatively warm site [for the variety] and grows lovely chardonnay." There are 13 different blocks and many different soils, all of which give her lots of blending options. >
Second in import to site is the Robert Young clone, which, Van Staaveren says, was originally the Wente clone. "[It] has smaller clusters and berries. So, really, the quality of the wine comes from clonal differences and the poverty of the soil. This vineyard has unique and distinct reproducible characteristics."
Winemakers enjoy working with a vineyard that delivers consistent character from vintage to vintage because it enables them to establish a singular house style and meet consumer expectations, too. Robert Young Vineyard's very distinctive fruit comes from a 317-acre site at the western base of the Mayacamas Mountains dominated by 3,455-foot Geyser Peak. In winter, when the air in Alexander Valley is cool and moist, plumes of steam from the active geysers along this mountain range can be seen from all over the county. About 200 acres fan across the Alexander Valley floor. "And half of that is alluvial soil, washed down over eons from the mountains," explains Jim Young, whose 89-year-old father Robert embodies a vital connection to the early days of vineyard development in the Alexander Valley. (In addition to his earning a reputation for spectacular chardonnay, Robert is also credited with being the first to plant cabernet sauvignon vines here in 1963.)
Along with its alluvial composition, there are other soil types flavoring the Young vineyard, including the silty clay loam on which Young's famous chardonnay is grown. Because of the clay component, "in the summer, when the soil dries out, big cracks open up and the chardonnay has to struggle," Jim notes.
The Youngs went from farmers to vintners in 1997 when they founded their eponymous brand, Robert Young Estate. They have about 100 acres of red grapes up on the hillsides (including cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc and petit verdot) that they bottle as Scion (the red fruit is also contracted by St. Jean and others). Yet the name Robert Young Vineyard is synonymous with Chardonnay. Winemaker Kevin Warren says he strives to make "a good, rich, creamy, ripe California Chardonnay. It's leesy and goes through 100 percent malolactic fermentation."
Van Staaveren makes her Robert Young Chards in a non-malolactic style because she says the fruit "has such lovely texture and density. It's not acidic, but it has a firm structure," she continues, "that's why we don't mess with the acid by putting it through malo."
Rather than resonating with the tropical flavors ordinarily associated with California-grown chardonnay, Van Staaveren says Robert Young fruit "shows lemon oil, pear and honeysuckle qualities" - atypical attributes whose sum yields rich, extraordinary wines.
Sonoma-based Contributing Editor Jeff Cox is the author of From Vines to Wines, Cellaring Wine and the more recent Organic Cook's Bible.
Legends in their own right
Deciding which twelve California vineyards would be featured was a next-to-impossible task with very little consensus among the editors. Ultimately, about 40 legendary vineyards were considered, but space constraints allowed only a dozen profiles. Those sites listed below are peers whose stories should be trumpeted on future pages.
Bancroft Ranch
Vineyard owner: Jim Bancroft
Appellation: Howell Mountain
Dehlinger Octagon Vineyard
Vineyard owner:
Tom & Carole Dehlinger
Appellation: Russian River Valley
Dollarhide Ranch
Vineyard owner: Skalli Family
Appellation: Napa Valley
Eisele Vineyard
Vineyard owner: Bart & Daphne Araujo
Appellation: Calistoga
Garys' Vineyard
Vineyard owner: Gary Franscioni & Gary Pisoni
Appellation: Santa Lucia Highlands
Gravelly Meadow
Vineyard owner: Boots Brounstein
Appellation: Diamond Mountain, Calistoga, Napa Valley
Harlan Estate Vineyard
Vineyard owner: H. William Harlan
Appellation: Oakville
Hillside Estate Vineyards
Vineyard owner: Shafer Family
Appellation: Stags Leap District
Hirsch Vineyard
Vineyard owner: David Hirsch
Appellation: Sonoma Coast
Hudson Vineyard
Vineyard owner: Lee Hudson
Appellation: Carneros
Hyde Vineyard
Vineyard owner: Hyde Family
Appellation: Carneros
J Rochioli Vineyards
Vineyard owner: Joe Rochioli Jr.
Location: Russian River Valley
Lancaster Estate
Vineyard owner: Ted Simpkins
Appellation: Alexander Valley
Les Pavots
Vineyard owner: Sir Peter Michael
Appellation: Knights Valley
Philip Togni Vineyard
Vineyard owner: Togni Family
Location: Spring Mountain
Renaissance
Vineyard owner:
Fellowship of Friends, Inc.
Appellation: North Yuba, Sierra Foothills
Rosemary's Vineyard
Vineyard owner: Talley Family
Appellation: Arroyo Grande Valley
Tablas Creek Vineyard
Vineyard owner:
Haas & Perrin Families
Appellation: Paso Robles
The Narrows
Vineyard owner: Goldeneye
Appellation: Anderson Valley
Toulouse Vineyard
Vineyard owner:
Vern & Maxine Boltz
Appellation: Anderson Valley
Red Rock Terrace
Vineyard owner: Boots Brounstein
Appellation: Diamond Mountain, Calistoga, Napa Valley
Sea Smoke
Vineyard owner: Robert Davids
Appellation: Sta. Rita Hills
Volcanic Hill
Vineyard owner: Boots Brounstein
Appellation: Diamond Mountain, Calistoga, Napa Valley
Tasting BAR
The assemblage of wines that follow - a collection of some of California's premier offerings - were tasted open by the author at a private tasting. Scores are based on the BuyLine rating system.
Beaulieu, 2004 Georges de Latour Private Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford - $105: Generous nose redolent of cigar box, black tea and cedar. Flavors are somewhat closed due to its youth yet it shows great promise and offers fine minerality together with a wealth of as-yet-undefined fruit and beautiful balance of elements. In a decade, it will be absolutely superb. Score: 92
Foxen, 2006 Bien Nacido Vineyard (Block 8) Pinot Noir, Santa Maria Valley - $54: A pretty nose of violets, cinnamon, raspberry and some toast from its 16 months in 60 percent new French oak. Firm structure yet rich and round in the mouth with deep, extracted flavors of black cherry, plum and red currant. Score: 90
Heitz, 2001 Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville - $135: This quintessential Oakville Cab is seamless; indeed, if asked to name a perfect wine, I'd say this 2001 Martha's would fill the bill. It offers a bit of mint, bay leaf and sweet dried hay in the heady, sensuous nose. Lavish flavors of cherry and chocolate, sweet plum and currant. Rich and at the same time elegant; it's one of the most distinctive wines in the world and displays the much-sought-after terroir of its vineyard. I was simply floored by this wine. (Please ship me several cases immediately!) Score: 98
J. Wilkes, 2006 Bien Nacido Vineyard (Hillside Block) Pinot Noir, Santa Maria Valley - $42: Flowery, spicy, herbal, sweet aromas arise from this stylish Pinot Noir. Elegant, restrained flavors of strawberry and raspberry are more evocative of a Beaune or Pommard than a fruit-forward California Pinot. Score: 92
Phelps, 2004 Backus Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville - $225: The Backus Vineyard's aspect on the east side of the appellation, terraced on a very steep slope, results in enormous intensity. Its color is brooding, dark and mysterious. Its aroma is pure cabernet sauvignon with a perfume of lilac and vanillin oak. Its purity extends to the palate, which embodies classic Cabernet with its rich black fruit, chocolate, espresso and mineral aspects. Its texture is thick and fat, but certainly not flabby, and its structure is sturdy and masculine. Score: 96
Ridge, 2005 Monte Bello, Santa Cruz Mountains - $145: Soft, velvety aromas with the precise smell of cabernet sauvignon dominant. Remarkably approachable with smooth tannins and rich, deep, chewy flavors of dark black fruit, including damson plum. Hints of spice and dried meadow flowers on the lengthy finish. (70% cabernet sauvignon/22% merlot/6% petit verdot/2% cab franc) Score: 94
Robert Mondavi, 2006 Fumé Blanc Reserve, To Kalon Vineyard, Oakville - $36: Pleasantly, not aggressively, grassy with bright lemon notes in the nose. Crisp, acidic, focused flavors of grapefruit and sweet citrus. A long, finish resonates with classic sauvignon blanc characteristics. Score: 90
Robert Young Estate, 2004 Scion, Alexander Valley - $60: Arrestingly gorgeous, deep ruby color. Aromas of tobacco leaf and chocolate. The mouth bursts with baskets-full of bramble berries - red raspberry, black raspberry, blackberry - and clove. Licorice aspects emerge in a medium finish. Firm tannins and lean structure will plump up with time in the cellar. Score: 92
Sanford, 2005 Sanford & Benedict Vineyard Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills - $50: A light ruby color belies rich aromas of cherry and raspberry with a subtle cola fragrance. Spicy, bright flavors of ripe red cherry plus blackberry and crushed hazelnut on the finish. Crisp acidity and smooth tannins make for a very appealing wine. Score: 92
Schrader, 2004 Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville - $495: Classic Oakville Cabernet. Enticing scents of licorice, tobacco and elderberry. Generous flavors of Bing cherry, peach and nectarine, along with the pure taste of the cabernet grape. Huge and rich yet displays great balance between all its elements. Delicious now, it will be much, much better in years to come. Score: 96
St. Francis, 2004 Pagani Ranch Vineyard Reserve Zinfandel, Sonoma Valley - $45: Inky, dark color. Raspberry dominates a complex nose. Youthful and brash with strong, rough-hewn tannins that will be tamed by time. Flavors of ripe red and black fruit are a tapestry of chewy, spicy blackberry, marionberry and plum. Very alcoholic and extracted. Score: 90
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, 2003 FAY Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District - $80: Vanillin oak, nutmeg and rosemary flit through the nose. Structurally it shows finesse and elegance yet its mouthful of flavors are opulent: red currant, black cherry, peach and plum, along with cocoa nuances. Soft tannins make it drinkable now, but it will benefit greatly from some years in the cellar. Score: 94
Sterling, 2004 Three Palms Vineyard Merlot, Napa Valley - $60: This world-class expression of Merlot offers dark fruit, clove, vanilla and toasted coconut scents. Layers of blueberry, plum, caramel and cocoa framed in a structural core open like a flower. Oak, acid, fruit, tannins and alcohol are in perfect balance. The finish lasts for nearly a minute. Score: 96
Tandem, 2006 Sangiacomo Vineyard Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast - $42: Very Burgundian in style. Bouquet of medium-plus toast, along with dried wildflowers. Flavors of apple, pear and hints of tropical fruit fill the big, round middle of this nicely balanced wine. Its Montrachet-like flavors recede slowly in the lengthy finish. Score: 92 - JC
