For a lot of sommeliers, the wine journey isn’t complete without trying to make some wine of one’s own. That’s how it was for Ted Glennon, who worked for years as a sommelier and in wine distribution before hooking up with winemaker Ian Brand to create Vöcal. 
Like Brand, who was San Francisco Chronicle’s “Winemaker of the Year” last year, Glennon is a strong believer in Monterey County—and, more specifically, the assorted coastal wine appellations that are influenced by the Monterey Bay. Lest you paint California’s Central Coast with a “Big-Ag” brush, Glennon/Brand are out to showcase world-class terroirs like the Enz Vineyard, nestled in the limestone-rich foothills of the Gabilan Mountains. Enz is the only vineyard in San Benito County's Lime Kiln Valley AVA, one of a string of Gabilan wine zones that includes Chalone and Mount Harlan. This area is one of the few real pockets of limestone in California and source of some of the state’s most ‘Burgundian’ Pinot Noirs (Chalone; Calera), but Enz reaches much further back into California wine history—to a time when newly arrived immigrants were planting all sorts of grapes, the identities of which were often lost through the generations. Brand makes a stellar Mourvèdre from Enz under his own label, while Vöcal has laid claim to a “mother block” of old, field-blended vines for today’s juicy, joyful “Sabroso.” Meaning “tasty” in Spanish, Sabroso contains Cabernet Pfeffer, a grape sometimes confused with Gros Verdot, the “lost” Bordeaux variety that ended up in California vineyards the 1800s. There may be a little Trousseau, Mourvèdre, and other stuff in the mix, too. But it’s not about the blend, it’s about the place, to which Glennon pays homage with this brightly fruity, whole-cluster-fermented delight. This is a Californian version of a French-style vin de soif (“wine for thirst”), and it is spot-on!