The controversy over high alcohol levels in wine continues unabated. The subject seems to arouse strong feelings because it obliquely questions one's taste, and no one likes to be accused of having poor taste! Unquestionably, California produces too many wines that are impressively massive, but as undrinkable as cough syrup. While the underlying issue is that people have different ideas of what is good-I like oranges, you like apples-insecurity and pride get in the way, and the argument degrades into, "I'm right, and you're wrong." For me, every wine style has its place; I drink light, crisp, minerally rieslings with lower alcohol levels in the summertime and hearty reds like Châteauneuf du Pape and Amarone in the winter. One of the great joys of wine is that it is so varied-you can always find the right match for the meal and your mood.

However, after 30 years of winemaking, I have clear opinions of how wine needs to be structured in order to taste delicious and age gracefully. So much potential greatness is lost by waiting for more heft rather than picking grapes at just the right moment. In contrast to the general drift to pick riper and riper grapes, in the last five or six years we have redoubled our efforts to harvest ours in that two-to-three day period when one can capture every ounce of nuance and individuality that a special vineyard can produce. And I'm thrilled that the results of our efforts are finally coming in.

Yet, the quest for better-balanced wines is not only about alcohol and ripeness. New wood barrels are often used in the production of the finest wines, and many people confuse quality with the characteristic toastiness of a fine French oak barrel. I see oak as a potential destroyer of individuality, masking terroir, and since 2000 have scaled back its use dramatically. Our wines are still raised in wood; however, we now use mostly older, more neutral barrels to allow the personality of the vineyard to dominate.

We have also fundamentally changed the way we extract the flavors from red grapes. Grape skins contain a lot of character, and this is extracted by the juice during fermentation. The yeast convert the natural sugars to alcohol-which is a powerful solvent of harsh constituents in grapes-so we have modified our winemaking to capture more of the soft fruit and spice flavors earlier in the process, and avoid extraction later when the alcohol has reached higher levels. This has allowed us to make wines that are still fabulously intense in flavor but less heavy and tannic, with the added bonus that the wines that are both age-worthy and pretty tasty right now. This newsletter describes some of our latest successes with these refinements to our craft.

Adam Tolmach

2008 RIESLING KICK ON RANCH
Santa Barbara County

I had never thought much about riesling until I moved to Ojai full time in 1993. The summers here are hot, and I found myself drinking more and more white wine during those hot months. I don't care much for semisweet wines, but the dry style rieslings from Germany and Austria are quite thirst quenching-and surprisingly food friendly and versatile. That love of the classic dry rieslings led to my curiosity about a small vineyard way out west of the town of Los Alamos. By coincidence, it's just a few miles from where I got my start in the wine business. Old-timer grape king Dale Hampton once told me that this area was particularly well suited for riesling, but since grape quality and the economics of the wine business don't always jive together, almost all the Riesling in the valley was torn out and replaced with chardonnay. I had seen Kick On vineyard in the early days when it was just being planted but had forgotten it had riesling, so when I heard that some was available, I jumped at the chance. 2007 was our first offering, and it was a take-no-prisoners-styled wine that had searing acidity-and tasted terrific with goat cheese and crackers. This 2008 is also dry-and strikingly unlike other California rieslings if a bit more consensual. It has a beguiling lemon peel aroma and fresh, crisp minerally flavors, yet it is richer flavored and rounder than the previous effort.

2008 CHARDONNAY BIEN NACIDO
Santa Maria Valley

Some people get the wrong idea when I talk about making wines with better balance. It doesn't mean the wines are going to be thin and insipid, and this chardonnay illustrates how pleasurable wines of balance can be. Our 2008 Bien Nacido is wildly aromatic, with pear and coconut notes, and despite having seriously high acidity, it comes across on the palate as rich and generous, a character I attribute to the vineyard's age, a mature 37 years. Older vineyards are thought to give wines more length and intensity, and this is clearly the case here. We often have felt that this chardonnay can be a bit too much and have worked over the years to tip the balance away from excess and to avoid having the flavors too cloying. Since 2000, we have fermented and aged the wine in exclusively older French oak barrels to avoid the distraction and heaviness of new wood flavors, and we pick the grapes at reasonable sugars to keep the wine crisp and the alcohol in check. I think this one really works!



2007 PINOT NOIR FE CIEGA
Santa Rita Hills

Wow! This wine has a fabulous aroma that is very showy right now. It reminds me of a walk in our hills just after a rain, with scents of damp earth, sage, and thyme. Unlike all of the earlier vintages that we produced from Fe Ciega, this one is easy going, with gentle, savory cranberry and blueberry flavors. When a bottle of this wine is left open for a few days, it remains fresh but tightens up a bit, and the wine shows its tannin more clearly, which tells me that, despite its precociousness, it has a long life ahead. As always, our best pinot noir.

2007 GRENACHE THOMPSON
Santa Barbara County

Grenache always has more tannin than pinot noir, but this is one of our most supple efforts since our first in 1998. Two clones of grenache were used here, with a large dollop of mourvedre and syrah added for good measure-all from David Thompson's fabulous vineyard just outside Los Alamos. If you enjoy the critically acclaimed California and Australian efforts that are syrupy sweet and 16% alcohol, I guarantee that you will not even vaguely understand this grenache. However, those seeking a flavorful, aromatic, fascinating, food friendly wine will be amply rewarded. A personal favorite.

2006 SYRAH THOMPSON
Santa Barbara County

My criticism of Thompson syrah is that it tends to be a bit monolithic. To remedy this, since 2003, we have been adding increasing amounts of grenache and mourvedre, and we love the results. This 2007 has a beautiful aroma, a lively play of bright stone fruits and herbs, and reminds me of a modern style Châteaunuef du Pape-not a bad thing at all! Generally, these Thompson syrahs have been impossible to drink when young, but this one is different. It doesn't give up one ounce of intensity, but it's just a lot less awkward-and really downright charming. I see a drinking window from now through 2025.

2006 SYRAH MELVILLE
Santa Rita Hills

A very original aroma of black pepper, herbs, and roots, this Melville syrah expresses what is so special about cool climate syrahs. I like them because, although they are fruity, they go beyond simple fruitiness-there is another dimension of enticing aromatic spiciness. This syrah has great density of flavor, but is not overly heavy. It possesses earth and animal flavors, and has mouth-coating and delicious tannins.

2009 ROSÉ
California

Maybe it doesn't make sense to like rosé so much, but a good one is really good! In the old days we used to make it dark, soft, and full to the point that it could have been confused with a pinot noir. The wine was a meal in itself. But I have turned away from that style; I now prefer rosés light and zippy-so much easier to slurp with lunch on an unbearably hot day. Inspiration has come from rosés as diverse as the ultra expensive Château Simone to the completely unpredictable Francois Cotat, which when it's great, there's none better! This year we made ours from Roll Ranch syrah picked at a zippy 22 Brix sugar with a spot of added viognier and sauvignon blanc.

2008 CHARDONNAY
Santa Barbara County

So often California wines that try to be light and lively turn out to be less than inspiring. Here, by contrast, is a wine that comes across as light and easy, but is actually deceptively complex. This vineyard blend of chardonnay is brimming with aromas of pear, yet it has an intriguing nervy undertone. Bracing flavors of greenery and earth give an incredible fresh juicy quality to the wine, leaving you with a pleasant mineral aftertaste.

2008 PINOT NOIR
Santa Barbara County

This wine is the product of our quest to make exuberant California pinot that has a more European sensibility, and we are particularly delighted with the results. By picking grapes that are not over-ripe, we have achieved a wine that has better acidity, more aromatic thrust, and a deliciously fresh, fine-grained finish. Sourced from some of the best vineyards in Santa Barbara County, the blend is 52% Solomon Hills, 32% Bien Nacido and 16% Presidio.

2005 SYRAH PRESIDIO Magnum
Santa Barbara County

This is our first wine from Doug Braun's lovingly farmed Presidio Vineyard. Doug has been making wine for years, and recently found this property west of the Santa Rita Hills appellation and planted it with organic and biodynamic growing in mind from the start. His first crop was in 2004. I find his vineyard compelling for a few reasons. First and formost is the cool climate. The lack of heat preserves the distinct character of the grapes--their struggle to ripen at this windy site is essential for their unique personality. The vineyard is situated in a great spot on a gentle southerly slope, and the vines are planted close together in very poor sandy soil. Doug's commitment to organic and biodynamic farming has been great for grape quality because succussfully farming without the usual chemicals requires a special attentiveness to the needs of the vine, which has a direct bearing on what sort of quality the vines will produce. Although it's difficult to quantify all the differences between conventionally grown and biodynamically farmed fruit, perceptive growers I talk with think there are clear advantages to the natural approach. The wine we made was immediately a standout in the cellar. It bears the mark of being grown in a particularly cool spot by its spectacular aroma of bright berry fruits and peppery herbal earthiness. There is a density and sexy, musky vineyard personality that is hidden by its freshness, but it will become apparent with age. Immediately after bottling in March of 2007 the wine closed down and hid most of its promise. However, now, a year and a half later it is beginning to show its stuff. With a good decanting it is perfect with savory dishes, though it still has years to go before it peaks.

OJAI WHITE & OJAI RED
Non Vintage, California

Don't let yourself be distracted by the affordable price. These two wines are terrific, always full of charater and easy to enjoy. They are made with the barrels that did not make the selection for the single vineyard bottlings and they received the same care and dedication as any of our more recognized wines. The result is a winery blend that seems to follow it's own mind and achieve quiet elegance.