Graham is one of those passionate, wholly consumed winemaker types that found purpose at a young age and has already traversed an incredible path by his mid-thirties. For Graham, it all began when he landed his first part-time job for Santa Barbara Winery at the age of sixteen. The cellar grunt quickly caught the bug then made, and sold, his first wine before he graduated from high school. He worked cellar jobs in Santa Barbara as an unquenchable thirst for Riesling, of all grapes, continually grew. Finally, in 2003, he landed an opportunity with Weingut Knoll, who is arguably the most revered wine producer in all of Austria and consequently one of my top picks, where he fine-tuned his winemaking skills for Grüner and Riesling under the coveted guidance of Emmerich Knoll. Of his experiences there, he remarked, “I am appreciative of them…From hand sorting Trockenbeerenauslese at midnight; to building stone terraces in the snow using the methods of ancient Rome, I left with much more knowledge and experience than I came with and am eternally grateful.” Upon his return home, Graham worked as a winemaker for Martian Ranch, Brewer-Clifton and Ojai Vineyard as he labored to start his own brand. Finally, in 2008, Tatomer was born with an intent focus on Grüner Veltliner and Riesling. It’s been a critically meteoric rise ever since.

 

Today’s offer is the 2014 Tatomer Meeresboden Grüner Veltliner, which is derived from carefully chosen parcels that are nestled along particularly cooler hillsides of coastal Santa Barbara. The name Meeresboden translates to, “ocean soil;” a prerequisite amongst all of these cool weather sites, the soils consistently offer sand, Santa Barbara’s signature diatomaceous earth and loam, which lends the remarkable minerality that California so rarely captures but Austria offers in spades. Graham is currently producing just over a thousand cases and is considered a rising star of a winemaker for sufficient reason. His wine is undoubtedly the single best Grüner I have ever experienced outside of Austria and this 2014 vintage is the best I have tasted of his wines so far.