March 9, 2000

The Grapevine!

by Bob Senn
 
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread and Two Decades of Winemaking in Santa Barbara County

Nobody gives a damn about broccoli!

I work in the middle of a broccoli field. I know.

And nobody gives a damn about Brussel sprouts, lima beans, pinquito beans, turnips or carrots or oats (except perhaps the Quaker Oats company) either.

But wine! Poets, philosophers, physicians, epicures, statesmen and lovers-lovers of food, lovers of life, and just plain lovers period-have had a never ending affair with this noble and chameleon of fruits and its fermented liquid we call wine since the beginning of time.

I call the winegrape a chameleon because no other fruit has the capability to take on the character of other fruits, berries and herbs like vitis vinifera. People wax poetic over wines saying "this chardonnay has nuances of banana in the nose," but I've never heard the obverse said--"This banana reminds me of a fine Chablis or Santa Maria Valley chardonnay."

As Sherrill Duggan from Buttonwood Farm has told me, "nobody ever comes into my tasting room and says 'this wine tastes grapey.'"

The countless smitten by the vine include the Roman poet Ausonius who had a vineyard in the Gironde Valley, Omar Khayyam who mused "a loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou," in The Rubaiyat, and Founding Father, third President of the United States and winegrower Thomas Jefferson who wrote "no nation is drunken where wine is cheap."

Even the folks at Oxford, the publishers of the Oxford dictionaries of the English language have published a 1088 page encyclopedia on wine called "The Oxford Companion to Wine" edited by Jancis Robinson.

The French have an axiom that the wine is made in the vineyard. The most influential California winemaker of the last century, the late Andre Tchelistcheff told me once that wine makes itself and that the winemaker is basically the midwife in the process.

Winemaking is artistic agriculture; modern winemaking is the blending of both art and science; wine production is really a glamour agri-business, and has been for many centuries.

So the elements are important. Weather is perhaps the most important variable along with farming practices. Vintage charts, therefore, attempt to categorize, systematize and quantify the variables for each harvest in a convenient manner for wine lovers and connoisseurs alike to be able to use and make sense out of.

The winemakers speak out on the vintages of the 90s in Santa Barbara County:

THE NUMBER ONE VINTAGE IS 1991

It was an unusually cool vintage according to Bob Lindquist, owner-winemaker at Qupe, where the wines he says "have better acidity and show more character and liveliness."

Jim Clendenen, the "mind behind" Au Bon Climat, has also called it a remarkable vintage along with 1986, 1998 and 1999 noting that the vintage was "cooler than even normal." (9.9)

THE NUMBER TWO VINTAGE IS 1998.

Ken Brown, the founding winemaker of Byron, believes that the two best vintages of the past twenty years is a tie--1998 and 1999, although he concedes that perhaps the jury is still out on the last vintage of the century. And even at this early stage, veteran winemaker, Richard Sanford, tells me the 1998 vintage ranks number one for pinot noir in his estimation.

Across the board, Ken believes we had much better vintages in the 90s than the 80s and that the reason for this is primarily weather related. He told me that "we've had more consistent growing temperatures in the 90s." He told me three additional factors make the 90s a better space in time than the 80s. First, he told me, "we understand canopy management better." Second, higher density vineyard planting based more on how they plant in Europe produces more intense fruit. Third, he noted, "we are planting new and better clones than what was available back in the 70s."

"Because vineyard technology and site selection has been so outstanding in the past ten years, it almost maes differences in vintages almost irrelevant-quality from new sites with the stunning wines being produced overshadows and vintage variability," vineyard consultant and owner of Coastal Vineyard Care Jeff Newton told me.

Bruce McGuire, winemaker at Santa Barbara Winery, added that both the 1998 and 1999 vintages were both cool, late and had long hang times.

Jeff Newton of Coastal Vineyard Care echoes this sentiment about the vintages as does Bob Lindquist of Qupe.

Inherent in these late vintages, though, there is a bit of a crap shoot involved. Mike Brown, veteran winemaker at Buttonwood Farm, told me that the 1998 and 1999 vintages were most difficult and that, in fact, 1999 could stack up among the worst because of the lateness of ripening. Basically, in his view the vintages are variable-the whites which ripened earlier are producing splendid wine, but the Bordeaux varietal red wines will perhaps suffer because of the coolness and long hang time. (9.7)

THE NUMBER THREE VINTAGE IS 1999

In the words of Jeff Newton, this is a "standout" vintage. The concensus is strong. Ken Brown ranks it as a tie for number one with 1998 since 1980. Jim Clendenen and Bob Lindquist have called it remarkable because of the coolness, and Bruce McGuire has typified it as both cool and late with long hangtimes.

But Mike Brown points out the lateness and long hangtimes might be a negative, especially for some varietals that wouldn't ripen for love nor money. (9.0)

THE NUMBER FOUR VINTAGE IS 1994

A controversial vintage--a vintage Bob Lindquist of Qupe calls difficult, a vintage Ken Brown of Byron considers to be one of the worst, a vintage Bruce McGuire of Santa Barbara Winery calls very good, yet spotty because of the unwanted rains during harvest. A lot of fruit from vineyards in the Santa Maria area was destroyed, or the wines had to be bulked out and sold off because of the inferior quality. (8.7)

THE NUMBER FIVE VINTAGE IS 1990

A drought year which produced very concentrated pinot noirs as Rick Longoria recalls, and a vintage Bruce McGuire calls one of the great vintages across the board, along with 1989 and 1996. (8.0)

THE NUMBER SIX VINTAGE IS 1996

A vintage considered very good by Rick Longoria, and great by Bruce McGuire. (7.8)

THE NUMBER SEVEN VINTAGE IS 1995

The most difficult vintage Jim Clendenen told me, where "frustration is implicit with such incredibly low yields." Lane Tanner and Chris Whitcraft would agree for this was the vintage of the mid 90s where pinot noir yields were off by some 70 percent because of shatter and poor berry set from cold and windy conditions in the spring.

Yet despite the frustrations inherent in the vintage, both Lane Tanner and Byron's Ken Brown have ranked it as the second best vintage of the two decades, and Santa Barbara Winery's Bruce McGuire told me 1995 has the potential for high quality wines, but also warned that despite the size, it was erratic. (7.5)

THE NUMBER EIGHT VINTAGE IS 1992

Overall, 1992 seems to be considered uneventful, a vintage that brought no raves or rantings from the winemakers with the perspective of some twenty years of winemaking in Santa Barbara County. (7.2)

THE NUMBER NINE VINTAGE IS 1993

A vintage Rick Longoria considers "just okay," but one that was Lane Tanner's top three picks for the two decade span. (7.0)

THE NUMBER TEN VINTAGE IS 1997

A recent vintage which has produced some remarkable wines, but a vintage many local winemakers like Bruce McGuire and Lane Tanner call suspect. Bruce told me it was a big crop year and suspect in terms of concentration. Although Lane's wines for the vintage were stellar, she told me this was the second worst vintage of the two decades because of the crop size and berry size.

Although a contrast to the sparse 1995 vintage, Bob Lindquist told me that 1997, a bumper crop year, was difficult in the logistics of winemaking because everything was ripening at once and that he was crushing and pressing juice around the clock. (5.6)

And Chris Whitcraft quipped the best vintage hasn't happened yet!

There is a bit of a moral here. Although vintage charts can provide valuable information for consumers and historians, any vintage chart deals in generalizations. That is to say it is possible for a given producer to make great wines of character and distinction for a vintage that might be regarded as marginal or "bad" by the concensus.

Vineyard consultant and manager Jeff Newton on the 90s: "Because vineyard technology and site selection has been so outstanding in the past ten years, it almost makes differences in vintages almost irrelevant-quality from new sites with the stunning wines being produced overshadows and vintage variability,"
 
 


SANTA BARBARA COUNTY VINTAGE CHART 1990-1999*
 
RANK VINTAGE SCORE
1 1991 9.9 Unusually cool; wines of character and liveliness
2 1998 9.7 A cool and late vintage with long hang time
3 1999 9.0 A cool and late vintage with long hang time
4 1994 8.7 Controversial with unwanted rains
5 1990 8.0 A drought year-many wines of great concentration
6 1996 7.8 An all-around good vintage
7 1995 7.5 Incredibly low yields and also erratic
8 1992 7.2 Uneventful
9 1993 7.0 Controversial among winemakers
10 1997 5.6 Prolific with high yields and variable results

*For all the details on on vintages 1980 through 1999, click here.
 

 

WINES OF ACCLAIM--WINEMAKER'S PICKS
 


By the way, a favorite wine from the past twenty years for this writer is the 1987 Kalyra Brut, a dry riesling sparkling wine made by Mike Brown of Buttonwood Farm from Babcock fruit. Work colleague, Dexter Johnson, and I had a recently disgorged bottle with the winemaker two days before the Millenium. Thirteen vintages later, the wine was absolutely exquisite!

Also, I have always admired the pinot noirs from the Hitching Post. Oftentimes to friends, he has referred to these wines made by Frank Ostini and Gray Hartley as "pinot noir's secret weapon" from this part of the world.

BIO'S

Ken Brown, after graduating from Fresno State with a winemaking degree, was the winemaker at Zaca Mesa Winery from 1977-85, and is the founding winemaker at Byron Vineyard & Winery which he founded with three other partners in 1984.

Mike Brown was the assistant winemaker at Zaca Mesa after graduating from UC Davis. He also worked at Los Vineros in Santa Maria, was the winemaker at Santa Ynez Winery in the late 80s and has been the winemaker at Buttonwood Farm since 1989. Australian-born, Mike Brown produces his own Kalyra wines too. Kalyra is the aboriginal word for "wild and pleasant place."

Jim Clendenen, a pre-law major and UCSB graduate would today be a Supreme Court Justice had he pursued a law career. Upon leaving UCSB, Jim became assistant winemaker at Zaca Mesa and founded Au Bon Climat in 1982. He also produces Italian varietals under the Il Podere Dell Olivos label.

Rick Longoria grew up in Lompoc, graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in sociology, and has been making wine in Santa Barbara County since the late 70s. He was the winemaker at Carey Cellars from the late 70s, and winemaker at Gainey since 1984, until quite recently when he and his wife Diana started their own winery. (Rick, by the way, has been producing limited wines under the "Longoria" label since 1982.)

Bob Lindquist went from social science which he studied at UC Irvine to owning Qupe Wine Cellars which he established in 1982. Prior to starting Qupe, Bob was a wine retailer and worked for Zaca Mesa Winery. Qupe and Au Bon Climat share the same winemaking facility at Bien Nacido Vineyard east of Santa Maria.

Bruce McGuire graduated from University of New Hampshire with a degree in entomology. Smitten with wine, Bruce migrated to California where he worked at Chateau Souverain, Fieldstone and R & J Cook. He has been the winemaker at Santa Barbara Winery since 1981.

Jeff Newton graduated from UCSB with a degree in economics and went on to UC Davis for a degree in viticulture. He owns a vineyard management company in the Santa Ynez Valley and consults such vineyards as Brander, Gainey and Santa Barbara Winery.

Richard Sanford, a pioneering visionary who established the famous Sanford & Benedict Vineyard almost 30 years ago, attended UCSB and went on to graduate with a degree in geography from UC Berkeley. Recent projects include the planting of Rancho Rinconada Vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills between Buellton and Lompoc.

Lane Tanner graduated with a degree in chemistry from San Jose State. She was mentored by the late Andre Tchelistcheff considered by many to be the "dean of California winemakers." In the early 80s when she came to Santa Barbara County she worked as the enologist for Firestone and then Zaca Mesa. She has been making wine since 1984 and established the Lane Tanner label in 1989.

Chris Whitcraft, a graduate of Cal State Fullerton with a degree in music and political science is an empassioned wine lover who managed  Mayfare Wines in Santa Barbara and hosted the long running radio wine show on KTMS FM. Now, the empassioned winemaker, he has been producing wines both commercially and as a home winemaker for close to two decades in Santa Barbara County.
 
 
 


SANTA BARBARA COUNTY VINTAGE CHART 1980-1989*
 
RANK VINTAGE SCORE in 2000 SCORE IN 1989
1 1989 9.6 9.1
2 1988 8.5 8.3
3 1987 8.2 8.2
4 1986 8.1 8.0
5 1982 7.4 7.4
6 1981 7.3 7.3
7 1984 6.8 6.7
8 1985 6.5 6.6
9 1980 6.0 6.2
10 1983 4.9 5.2

*For all the details on on vintages 1980 through 1999, click here.
 

 

Bob Senn writes The Independent's monthly wine column, "Grapevine," lives in the Los Alamos Valley and owns the Los Olivos Wine & Spirits Emporium.

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