Sept 9, 2014 – The wine scene continues to build like a crescendo of waves amped up by a hurricane, with multiple new tasting rooms opening locally in the last few months.
Among them are Armitage and Bottle Jack, as different as two scenarios could be, yet both fueled by the passions of young men influenced by overseas life experiences.
First, there’s Brandon Armitage’s new tasting room, tucked away in a shopping center in Aptos, where you seriously have to hunt to find him. But it is worth the effort, especially if you crave well-made pinot noir, his lifequest varietal.
He’s pretty much devoted to this grape since he fell in love with it while studying viticulture in New Zealand. Up until then, the Oregon native with a passion for horticulture, confesses, “I’d tried to like wine, but it was so inconsistent from bottle to bottle. I’d try one merlot and love it, then another, and it would be awful. With most of the pinots I tried in New Zealand, I found a consistency that was refreshing.”
Armitage found his way to Santa Cruz in 2006, where he took over winemaking at Roudon-Smith. In 2010, he started his own label and not long thereafter was tapped to make wines at Heart O’ The Mountain.
When you step up to the elegant bar in the nicely appointed tasting room, which is available for private parties, you’ll be met with a chardonnay, a pinot rose and two pinots, all 2012s. The chardonnay hails from the Big Sur’s sole vineyard—Clown’s Folly. One pinot comes from Veranda Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the other from Dry Hole in Chalone, while the rosé is from Albatross Ridge in Carmel Valley. The $10 tasting fee is waived with bottle purchase.
Armitage Wines
105c Post Office Drive
Aptos, CA 95003
831-708-2874
Tasting Room Hours: Tues – Fri 2:00PM – 7:00PM; Sat – 12:00PM – 7:00PM; Sun – 12:00 – 6:00PM
The origin of Bottle Jack stems from winemaker John Ritchey’s experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in Moldova, where he helped his host family press their wine using a bottle jack. Celebrating life occasions in Russian Orthodox culture involved drinking copious amounts of homemade wine from very small glasses. “Custom is you have to down the whole glass or you insult the host,” says Ritchey. “The camaraderie around wine was pretty special.” It was in Moldova that he met his future wife, Katharine, also serving in the Peace Corps.
A stint at Beauregard Vineyards from 2005 to 2006, followed by an uninspiring foray into the legal world in Chicago, led him to follow his heart into winemaking. That old pneumatic jack in the farmlands of the former USSR became the name of the imaginary winery that was part of his senior project while studying enology at Fresno State.
After graduation, Ritchey was on his way to Merry Edwards in Sonoma, but was suddenly offered a position as enologist at David Bruce Winery, where he worked until 2012. He’s been helping out Nicholson in Corralitos ever since.
Since 2008, he’s made small amounts of wine under the Bottle Jack label waiting for the day he could have his own tasting room. That day finally came in May when he convinced his Dad to move his classic car collection out of the old barn so he could move his barrels in.
Ritchey hopes to establish regular hours soon, but is open for SCMWA Passports and tasting by appointment. Join the mailing list to receive notice of upcoming tastings, including the release of his newly bottled Sangiovese, scheduled for September 27, 11 – 4p.m., at the winery.
Current selections include merlot, syrah, zinfandel, cabernet and a blend, all from Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Clara Valley fruit. “Everybody else here makes chardonnay and pinot,” says Ritchey. “I love the taste of new American oak and the varietals that can stand up to it.”
Bottle Jack Wines
1088 La Madrona Drive, Santa Cruz
831-227-2288; open by appointment and SCMWA events
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.
