bien nacido

As a syndicated wine columnist and EatSomethingSexy’s Editorial Director, I have the wonderful privilege of receiving invitations on such trips quite frequently. But the schedules on press tours are usually incredibly demanding and finding the time to dedicate to the travel can be tough. So I have to weigh each invitation very carefully and I find myself declining far more than I accept.

But this invitation……. well, after a quick juggling of the calendar, I accepted in a hot second.

Over the past few years, I’ve become a bit of a vineyard junkie. Most people fall in love with a specific varietal and region or winery or winemakers style. But I’ve found myself becoming increasingly interested in wines based on vineyards. When shaped under the skill of winemakers with a light touch, the terroir and growing techniques are the absolute heart and soul of a wine. And when a vineyard becomes well enough known that it becomes a buzz word on a label, you can pretty safely bet that the grapes are (almost always) going to be transformed into wine at the hands of a vintner who possesses the appropriate skill and finesse to enhance rather than overshadow.

Bien Nacido is one of those buzz-worthy vineyards that’s been on my radar for a while. And finally, I was going to have the chance to learn firsthand the secrets of the terroir and technique that put this vineyard on the map. Best of all, where there’s one good vineyard, there are usually more. The trip would afford me the opportunity to visit some of Bien Nacido’s neighbors and perhaps uncover a diamond in the rough.

Santa Maria is easily accessible, although a bit off the beaten path. It’s 170 miles north of Los Angeles and 270 miles south of San Francisco in a sleepy little pocket of northern Santa Barbara County. I’d driven through before, but never really stopped to stay awhile.

Our tour began bright and early on a Thursday morning. We would start with a tour of Bien Nacido (hooray!). Bien Nacido is owned by the Miller family, a generous and gracious bunch of fifth-generation California farmers. True wine industry visionaries, the Millers first planted their property with vines in the early 1970’s.

Obviously, soil and climate play their part in Bien Nacido’s growing notoriety as one of California’s finest cool climate vineyards. But its the Millers’ approach to growing that truly makes this place special.

The Bien Nacido team, led by vineyard manager Chris Hammell, works closely with vintners to customize the growing conditions in their individual blocks.

In a typical, generic situation, a vintner will simply buy the final grapes from what they–hopefully–feel is a trusted grower. The grape price is calculated by weight. Now, the grower wants those grapes to be nice and big, healthy looking and heavy to optimize profit. But those heavy grapes may not have the optimal flavor. Smaller grapes will be more concentrated but selling small, concentrated grapes at the going price per pound could put a grower out of business.

That’s why–or at least part of the reason why–at Bien Nacido, the vintner pays an agreed upon price based on the size of their vineyard block, not the weight of the grapes. That way, the winemaker can make the decision at what point the grapes should be picked, how the vines should be pruned, etc, in a truly customized fashion.

But the unique aspects of Bien Nacido don’t stop there. The Millers are working toward making their vineyard biodymamic, an extremely unusual and bold move for growers who sell their fruit.

Riding through the vineyard, we had the chance to learn about some of the demands of biodymanics that have transformed Bien Nacido from simply a celebrated pattern of vines into a vibrant working farm. There are plots of avocado trees to lend diversity and, best of all, gorgeous sheep and charming goats. Yes, I admit it, petting the young goats was a highlight for me of the Bien Nacido immersion.

The vineyard also serves as a major viticultural nursery, not only supplying new vines on the property but for the entire state. In fact, much of the Chardonnay planted throughout California over the past twenty years comes from Bien Nacido cuttings.

Now, of course, for a wine critic, a proper vineyard introduction can’t end with a stroll among the vines, even if it does include swiping a ripe grape or two!

After the tour, we sat down to taste wines from Bien Nacido Vineyard, the Miller family’s latest project. Here was one of those hidden gems I’d hoped to collect from the two-day excursion. After more than 30 years of growing wine for other vintners up and down the West Coast, the Millers are making their own wine. Having the opportunity to taste their expression of their vineyard with Nicholas Miller helped draw a connection between my brain and my senses of what Bien Nacido is all about. But it was later in the day, when we were afforded the opportunity to taste Bien Nacido-grown wines from labels like Foxen, Alta Maria and Paul Lato that hands-down, no question, earned B. N. a place on my list of Amy’s Favorite Vineyards. (For tasting notes of some of the trip’s highlights, check out this month’s Woman on Wine.)

I could happily end the story here, but as I mentioned earlier, where there’s one great vineyard, it’s usually surrounded by some other impressive vines. And certainly, this is the case in the Santa Maria Valley. The cool, coastal breezes and kisses of California sunshine help make not just Bien Nacido but all the rolling hills beyond a welcoming environment for varietal grapes, most notably Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Our chances to taste Santa Maria grown wines from wineries including Sierra Madre, Nagy, Riverbench, Byron and Kenneth Volk reminded me never to overlook Santa Maria as one of California’s finest cool-climate wine regions.

But just when I thought I had a total handle on Santa Maria, the very last leg of the trip took us to Presqu’ile. I had decided that Santa Maria was a place talented winemakers went to make Pinot Noir–one of the last places in California that an upstart could still afford to create their own label from high quality fruit. But it was not, in my mind, a place you go to taste wine. It was a place wine came from!

the view from presqu'ile

Certainly, when Presqu’ile opens its doors, it will show the way for the future of Santa Maria and its tourism potential. But will it ever be another Napa? There’s a small town, Mayberry sort of sensibility to Santa Maria and I think the locals all like it that way. I believe it will always remain a destination for the more adventurous wine lovers.

But when the day comes that they can visit Bien Nacido to taste Bien Nacido Vineyard wines, they will better understand Santa Maria. And when those visitors have experiences like Presqu’ile plans to offer that are so much than swirling, sipping and moving on to the next stop, they will buy. And they will share those wines with friends. And they will talk about Santa Maria. When that happens, Santa Maria Valley is going to become one of the biggest buzz words in California wine. (I’d consider stocking up now before the secret’s out!)

fruits of my labors

Ross Halleck Counting his Grapes

Car trouble kept me in the Wine Country a little longer than expected this week. So I took advantage of my auto repair’s “courtesy car” (curiously defined by Manly Honda as a car with Manly Honda printed down both sides and Courtesy Car silk screened across the back that you pay $35/day for the priveledge of driving-and perpetually advertising their business), to spent a day at Halleck Vineyards annual harvest party.

I first met the Hallecks years ago through a symposium for wine industry professionals hosted by Iron Horse Vineyards. Their impressive Pinot Noirs have kept me coming back both as a journalist and a simple chick who can appreciate a fine cup of juice.

Now, only in the Wine Country can manual labor be defined as a party, but there really is no other definition of a morning spent in paradise plucking delicious grapes from the vine (beverages are, of course, provided).

The Halleck Harvest Party was not my first experience with picking grapes. You may not have guessed it, but I was once a migrant worker. Once upon a time, I lived in Australia and worked as a picker for friends who grew grapes for Peter Lehman.

Though I was an experienced member of the cobbled-together crew, today I was no MVP. Distracted by the sunshine and my frolicking Chihuahua, I spent more of the morning lolling in the grass and taking photos than actually making my contribution to the ‘09 vintage.

Thankfully, at this party the size of your Pinot Noir pour was not measured by your contribution and I was allowed to continue from the picking portion to the drinking portion of the day without having to pull my weight.

Lunch was served on the Halleck’s Sebastopol, CA patio, overlooking the land we’d just picked. The crowd was a smart and savvy group of North Bay residents, all of whom knew good food and wine when they saw it. We ate lavishly and killed more bottles of Halleck’s Pinot Noir than I would ever care to count.

The day was best summed up by a friend who tagged along for her first grape picking experience. In the car on the way home through the rolling fields of western Sonoma County, she turned to me, sighed and pronounced, “I want to be you, Amy Reiley.”