December 8, 2023 – Big Sur Food & Wine ups the ante every year with its enticing mix of venues and personalities, providing ample opportunities for sheer partying, along with chances to learn something new.
Arriving early at Big Sur Lodge for the “Cold Climate Vineyards” seminar, there were no immediate signs of a party, but appearances can be deceiving. Organizers and panelists alike were sorting bottles and deploying corkscrews, which was a good sign. At least there were corkscrews, as none of the wines had screwcaps.
Those arriving early got to chill out to the uniquely Big Sur vibe that sucks you in and blurs the distinction between minutes and hours. As my grandfather said about the peas and mashed potatoes that he religiously isolated to different areas of his dinner place, they all eventually go to the same place.
Sitting by the tranquil pool, watching the sun volley strobes of light through the trees, put me in the mood to taste wines from coastally proximal vineyards. The impetus behind the seminar came from Mike Lucia of Rootdown Cellars, owner of Cole Ranch in Mendocino, outside of Ukiah, where he grows Riesling. It could hardly be considered “cold” by any definition other than that it is much cooler than the Sanel Valley of Hopland, below.
The other winemakers on the panel were Ryan Beauregard of Beauregard Vineyards (Santa Cruz Mountains), Magan Eng of Kunin Wines (Santa Barbara), Trey Fletcher of Sanford & Benedict (Sta. Rita Hills) and Cole Thomas of Madson Wines (Santa Cruz Mountains).
We began with the 2022 Madson Wines Ascona Vineyard Chardonnay, foot-trod and left on skins for an hour, then left to settle for 24 hours before being put in a mix of standard sized and large format neutral barrels. After 9 months, the wine went into stainless steel for a bit of spiffing up for 4 months before bottling. Steely and stony, with a smack of reduction, this chardonnay bears crisp pear, lemon and bright apple on wings of fresh sliced apple and yellow peach. It’s practically weightless, yet not without intent.
Ascona vineyard is at 2,400 feet elevation on Skyline Boulevard, where trust me, it snowed significantly in February, 2023. “We busted out the snow boards,” admitted Thomas.
Next up was the 2021 Beaureagard Bald Mountain Chardonnay, from a white sand 32-acre vineyard at about 800 feet above the Pacific, and just three miles from the ocean in Bonny Doon. Own-rooted, it’s planted to the old Wente clone of Chardonnay, which given its age, produces very low yields. The wine tastes like fog. The aromatics are of chapparal and salt water, with sweet lemon shortbread, and it tastes like peaches, lemon, quince and lime peel, with gorgeous acid and a slight touch of almond cream from the 10 to 20% new French oak. The wine was aged for 11 months in oak and then spent 4 months in stainless before bottling.
The green gleam in the glass suggested to some of the panelists that it had come from an early pick and saw very little oak. “When I picked, 75 % of the seeds were brown,” explained Beauregard. “Some would consider the fruit underripe. 2021 was a supercool vintage with good fog and slow, even ripening. 2017 and 2022 were the hottest I’ve seen. It was 96 degrees when I picked at 2am in 2022. I always have cash on hand to pay the pickers, because labor is the hottest commodity during a heat wave. With 24 harvests under my belt, I’m just getting the hang of it.”
His great-grandfather purchased the 186-acre property in 1945 for $2,000. “As a fourth-generation winegrower, this is sacred land to my family,” said Beauregard, who started his brand in 2000, and with 3,500 cases annually (except for 2020) is 100% direct to consumer.
These two wines would prove to be the standard of measure for true cold climate, rocking with acidity that other areas just dream about.
Next up were two Chardonnays from Sanford & Benedict, founded by Richard Sanford & Michael Benedict. The 100-acre property is now 52 years old. Winemaker and GM, Trey Fletcher, said 2020 was the hottest vintage he’d ever seen. “Sanford & Benedict was founded on coolness,” Fletcher told us. “Michael (who died earlier this year at age 83) was a botanist and was driven by the premise that Chardonnay and Pinot Noir could grow in cool climates close to the ocean. They drove up and down the coast with a thermometer on the window. They found a suitably cool spot in what is now the Sta. Rita Hills in 1971 (later established as an AVA in 2001), and planted an own-rooted vineyard.” Fletcher explained that cool air off the Pacific is drawn into the east-west valleys of the Sta Rita Hills at Point Concepcion. “Basically, Bakersfield sucks in all the cool air.”
Fletcher also mentioned that Benedict lived on Santa Cruz Island studying botany, and was fascinated by the large commercial vineyard that had been planted in the Channel Islands, where it was close to the ocean, but isolated in a dry valley. The islands were within easy reach of steamships who could visit and onboard cargo to take to San Francisco and LA, the biggest wine markets of the time in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The 2020 Sanford & Benedict Chardonnay shows aromas and flavors of carrot cake with pineapple, along with lime, coconut and a richness of tropical fruit reminiscent of tutti fruitti gum. “At the end of the day,” Fletcher said, “This is the vintage we were handed.”
In contrast, the 2021 showed abundant lime, quince and apple with an almost hazelnutty finish. The wines spend two years in barrel and are bottled unfiltered. He chooses French oak exclusively, saying, “It’s easy to put a lot of fingerprints on Chardonnay.” It can also take a lot of time to come around. Fletcher likened it to a prison inmate or a deranged maniac, who can eventually come around and turn out to be respectable, sometimes even a star.
Winemaker Megan Eng describes Kunin as a 22-year love letter to all things Rhone. She’s also a big fan of the Loire and their style of Chenin Blanc. The 2021 Kunin Jurassic Park Chenin Blanc is from a vineyard surrounded by oil derricks and littered with fossils. “It’s not always the coolest place in Santa Barbara,” she admitted. “But the vineyard is own-rooted and is the oldest planting of CB in Santa Barbara, probably dating back to the late 1970s. I like to do skin contact and let the wine tell its own story.” This is a head-turner with its green floral aromatics, ripe pear and honeysuckle. But the flavors are the real stunner, with intense white grapefruit and biscuit, buoyed by vibrant and flowing acid. This wine has a story to tell that hooks you from the very first page.
Speaking of stories, the next wine, 2002 Cole Ranch Riesling, the last of the flight of whites, has a unique story as well. It’s from the country’s smallest AVA, Cole Ranch, which measures just 189 acres, about 60 of which are under vine. The own-rooted vineyard, established in 1983 by John Cole at 1500ft elevation on Highway 253 between Ukiah and Boonville, is all on St. George Rootstock. For nearly 20 years, beginning in 1999, it was owned by the Sterling family who owned Esterlina Winery in the Anderson Valley. They eventually sold the dry-farmed vineyard and it is now owned by Mike Lucia, who says he’s been replacing diseased vines, and replacing some of the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot vines with Riesling, of which he now has 13 acres. Lucia says he made the 2022 Cole Ranch Riesling in the dry Kabinett style, but it has about 2.3 grams of residual sugar. Others who bought fruit from this vineyard, including legendary wine columnist, Dan Berger, picked theirs earlier and leaner, with tremendous acid. It’s all about getting the chemistry of the grapes to your liking.
Lucia is bullish on the future of grapes that you might not know, including Savignin, Mondeuse and Trousseau. While Cole Ranch might not be the place coldest of the vineyards presented at the seminar, although it does snow there on occasion, it certainly is home to some very cool grapes.
About the author
Laura Ness is a longtime wine journalist, columnist and judge who contributes regularly to Edible Monterey Bay, Spirited, WineOh.Tv, Los Gatos Magazine and Wine Industry Network, and a variety of consumer publications. Her passion is telling stories about the intriguing characters who inhabit the fascinating world of wine and food.
