Grape Escape: Exploring Elevation in the Santa Cruz Mountains 

October 18, 2024 – Ahead of the Santa Cruz Mountains Trade Tasting and Wine Auction, a seminar offered attendees a taste of some of the region’s finest vineyards. Led by winemaker, and recovering sommelier, Ted Glennon, panelists included Ryan Beauregard, Prudy Foxx and Ken Swegles—each presenting two different wines from vineyards they manage. 

Glennon—a Salinas resident who has worked as a sommelier at restaurants like 1833, Quince and Post Ranch Inn and makes wine under his Vocal label—reminded the gathering of somms, wine writers and buyers that the Santa Cruz Mountains is a vast appellation, covering lots of geography, with relatively few grapevines, most of them Cabernet, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. 

He referenced the greats like Emmet Rixford, famous for planting Cab vines in the Woodside way before they were established in Napa, and a young Paul Masson for sourcing cuttings of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Corton Charlemagne and Louis Latour, which became progenitors of the vines that exist today at Mount Eden Vineyards. Budwood from these vines, then known as Mount Eden clone Pinot Noir, were used to plant the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard in Santa Barbara, as well as many vineyards in Oregon. 

The tasting, held this week at Thomas Fogarty Winery, began with two gorgeous 2022 Pinot Noirs made by Cole Thomas of Madson Wines, from two vastly different vineyards, both tended by Ken Swegles and Thomas. The contrast was remarkable: Toyon, along the Soquel Creek is at 400 feet, while Ascona on Skyline Blvd, is at 2,400 feet elevation. Both were done with native ferments with no additions and aged in neutral puncheons, bottled with no filtration. 

Being a warm year these 2022 wines both exhibit a certain lushness, with the Ascona being in the inversion layer for an extended period, allowing for the stems to fully lignify. 

The 2022 Madson Wines Toyon Vineyard Pinot Noir clocks in at 12.8% abv and opens with ripe strawberry and pomegranate, adding notes of elderberry and cranberry, still holding onto that tight cooler climate edge that gives it a wild cherry cough drop finish. Although the tannins are a tad scratchy, the wine finishes lush. 

The 2022 Madson Wines Ascona Vineyard Pinot Noir measures 13.3%, and is all Pommard clone, done 100% whole cluster. Swegles says the stems were completely lignified. “We try to choose sites that ripen seeds and lignify the rachis. The inversion layer at this elevation retains sufficient heat.” Not to mention the UV light impact of the 2,000 additional feet of elevation. The wine exhibits sweet raspberry and bay leaf aromas, and hits the palate with a vibrant burst of pure ripe red fruit, amped with green herbs, pine, curry and nutmeg. 

The impact of additional UV light at Ascona has led Swegles to very specific hedging practices, including never de-leafing above the clusters to avoid sunburn on the fruit. At Toyon, the serious mildew pressure at lower elevations forces early de-leafing in the fruit zone. Swegles mentioned the Sunseeker app as being specifically helpful in informing leaf-pulling regimens at different sites. 

Next up was Ryan Beauregard, 4^th generation winegrower. Legend has it his great grandfather Amos was the deputy sheriff who arrested the Bargettos during Prohibition. No harm, no foul; today they all get along. Beauregard’s Dad, Jim, planted nearly 200 acres in Bonny Doon and established Ben Lomond Mountain as its own AVA. Ryan farms Coast Grade, planted in 2008, as well as the 63-acre Home Ranch where his dad lives, plus Bald Mountain, a 39-acre ranch which he and his dad purchased in 2019 and partially replanted in 2020. The Beauregards had been farming the 32-acre Bald Mountain vineyard with a 30-year lease with purchase option and decided to exercise it and go all in. Beauregard has called it a once in a lifetime chance at a Grand Cru vineyard. 

The two wines presented were the 2022 Bald Mountain Chardonnay and the 2021 Beauregard Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Beauregard 2022 Bald Mountain Chardonnay is a thing of glistening beauty in the glass, with that hint of green cat eye that Ryan dearly prizes. He prefers to ferment hot to burn off all the extraneous aromas and leave the wine a pure reflection of the earth from which it sprang. “I want it to taste like gravel and sand. This is my goal: terroir-driven wines.” It’s a lemony salt lick with a texture of lemon curd that is reminiscent of lemon bars. A head turning, exciting and energizing wine. 

The vineyard section for this wine is own-rooted Wente clone. Beauregard says it reaches full ripeness at 21 Brix. “I leave a big cover of leaves to keep the fruit from being sunburned. I want it green.” He uses 5 to 10% new wood on this wine, and is increasingly enamored of concrete eggs, of which he has four now.

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon from Beauregard Ranch is made from the 337 clone, planted in 2004 in black silty soil, in the hottest part of the vineyard in Bonny Doon where it is warm enough to ripen Cab and Zin. “I like to pick when there are soft dimples on the berries.” These grapes were picked between 24 and 26 Brix, so the alcohol is 15.2%, but there’s zero hint of heat. In fact, the wine smells juicy sweet with a definite sour cherry note. It underwent a long hot ferment and was aged in 60 to 70% new French oak, mostly Taransaud.  On the palate, it’s smooth blackberry, plum, leather and the faintest hint of a pleasant cigar, like one being smoked in the next county. 

Viticulturist Prudy Foxx presented wines from two other standout vineyards: Lester in the Corralitos area on Pleasant Valley Road, which she planted, and the Zayante Vineyard, planted by the late Greg Nolten and his wife Kathleen Starkey, and now called Green Earth, owned by Charles and Sarah Liang. 

The 2021 Lester Estate Wines “Francisco” Pinot Noir was made by John Benedetti (Sante Arcangeli) from the Vosne-Romanée and 2A Wadensvil clones, and is pure joy to inhale, with its strawberry, rhubarb and raspberry perfume, framed by rosemary and thyme. The tannins are as melty as red licorice. Flavors are strikingly red apple with orange and tangerine notes, bright acidity and a hint of tarragon to keep it fresh. The wine was done with 25% whole cluster and hand punched, with batonnage 2 to 3 times per month over a 3-month period. Foxx described the Pleasant Valley growing region, known for its vast apple orchards, as a perfect fruit basket. Things grow well here. She says the wine reminds her of a taste of Burgundy that won’t bite you. 

Wadensvil is a Swiss clone that was one of the first Pinot Noir clones to be certified by Foundation Plant Sciences, and is the most widely planted in Oregon after the Mount Eden clone. 

The final wine in the seminar was a 2021 Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard Syrah from Zayante Vineyard made by esteemed winemaker Jeff Emery, who knows how to set up wines for eternal life. Most of the wines he’s made will outlive most of us. This site at 1,400  feet in a huge bowl facing the coast in Zayante, is utterly striking in its steepness and well drained soils. Greg Nolten planted the vines on their own roots in 1984 and only watered them for a year: they’ve been on their own since.  Clocking in at 13.2%, the grapes for this wine were picked on Sept 10, 2021 at 22.4 brix and fermented 100% whole berry, then aged for 2 years and 7months in French oak before bottling.

Aromatics of wild mountain weeds and fresh plum are engaging and gripping, and the flavors, which presently include vivid black and purple plum, soy, roasted meat and white pepper, are deep, diverse, haunting, riveting and evolving by the minute. 

Much like the Santa Cruz Mountains winegrowing region.