Over the years, the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation has inspired wine critics and sommeliers to take notice of the world-class wine that’s pouring out of this unique terroir. The rather large appellation is home to small, homegrown producers that are making some of the best wine in all of California. Thanks to the breathtaking mountains, valleys and plateaux, that look straight out of Tolkien’s middle earth, the Santa Cruz Mountains are home to a myriad of microclimates. These particular vineyards enjoy distinct influence from Monterey Bay. The adjacent deep-sea trench results in an upwelling of water, which delivers the fog and wind that are so crucial to these cool weather varietals. It is here that Vöcal, through the passion and determination of Ian Brand and Ted Glennon, crafts two pristine European varietals that rival the old world.
Their Grüner Veltliner, recently poured amidst a sampling of Austrian examples, fooled a table full of seasoned tasters. Sourced from Richard Alfaro’s 300-foot elevation vineyard of alluvial, clay and stone soils, this wine was whole-cluster pressed then fermented in 50% used French oak and 50% stainless steel, without malolactic fermentation, where it aged for eleven months. The resulting wine delivers the clarity and fresh expression of its Austrian counterpart with the inimitable minerality of its unique coastal California soils. In a recent tasting this Grüner showed better than every Austrian example on the table. This wine is the real deal.
The 2014 Grüner Veltliner displays a pale straw yellow core with green reflections on the rim. Classic and intense aromatics of green apple, white peach pit, a touch of mango peel and cucumber envelop a tantalizing core of white pepper, radish and freshly picked white flowers. The medium-bodied palate is intensely packed with concentration of flavor, reminiscent of the nose, with additional notes of celery leaf and crushed stone minerality. This stunning wine is ready to drink now. Simply decant for thirty minutes and serve in large Bordeaux stems at cellar temperature.
The 2013 Vöcal Pinot Noir perfectly encapsulates the incredible potential of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Derived from vines rooted in sandy loam, encircled by redwoods, at a south-facing altitude of 650 feet, this beauty is crafted with 30% whole clusters before it ages nineteen months in less than 25% new oak. It reveals aromas of beautiful redwood forests tucked inside wild berry aromas and inevitably walks the delicate tightrope between the old and new world.
The Pinot Noir exhibits a dark ruby core with pink and light ruby highlights on the meniscus. Intense, fruit-forward aromas are ideally balanced with floral, forest and earth components that will delight both California Pinot and Burgundy lovers. Aromatics of freshly picked wild berries, strawberry, black cherry and huckleberry are delicately laced with wet red and purple flowers, tree moss, black tea, dew-kissed redwood forest, wild lavender, sage and intricately woven exotic spices. Incredibly silky and rich with fruit, this palate evolves to reveal wild floral and herbaceous notes that, layer by layer, deliver a near perfect new world Pinot Noir. Although beautiful in its youth, this wine will divulge its true beauty in 3-4 years. You must taste this wine; it over delivers in spades.
