Upper Ojai, Ventura County
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Our Roll Ranch Viognier is a different kind of California Viognier. We planted these vines in 1993 on their own roots in Upper Ojai, a classic Southern California valley with ample warmth and sunshine, but our Viognier shys away from being billowy soft and oversaturating. There’s just enough blossom filled aroma and mid-palate texture to be identifiably Viognier, but ours stands out with a taut and zesty feel.
The 2017 vintage gave us a problem child of sorts with this wine. Picked fully ripe with an alcohol of near 13.5%, the juice was abundantly high in acidity, and we encouraged the wine to undergo the acid-softening malolactic fermentation (ML), which it resisted. Along with several extra months in barrel, it took a lot of stirring the yeast lees back into the wine to encourage the process. That lees stirring added some savory bread notes and seemed to augment the body, which was a welcome outcome since it steadfastly refused to finish ML.
The aromas show off our earthier house take on Viognier, elevating gravel dust minerality and walnuts along with pretty white flowers. As the wine reacts and warms with some air that opens up to more nectarous white fruits that finish snappy and bright. As much as its uniquely earthy disposition, what’s also interesting with Roll Ranch Viognier is that the fruit is uncommonly cool hued. Fennel and lime streak through the more succulent flavors, enhancing what is in many ways a super refreshing Viognier. It’s versatile as can be—a great standalone aperitif, well suited to many types of cheese, and it stands up to richer curries and pork dishes nicely too.
Blend: 100% Viognier | Alc: %13.5 | Vinification: Barrel Fermented in Neutral French Oak | Barrel Aging: 11 Months | Total Production : 120 cases
Vineyard Notes:
Roll Ranch is located under the dramatic striated bluffs of Topa Topa mountain in Upper Ojai, and the roots of our vines there plunge deep into poor rocky soil that was once part of those bluffs. It’s a warm generous climate and the wines from this site are gutsy.
Our history with Roll Ranch goes back to 1992, when Suzanne and Richard Roll’s ranch manager Larry Finkle approached me for advice about planting a vineyard at their place in Upper Ojai. Suzanne was just launching her eponymous restaurant in downtown Ojai, and they had the momentum to get several acres under vine too. They wanted to plant some Chardonnay and Cabernet Aauvignon because, well, that’s what most people want to plant. I told them Syrah and Viognier would be better choices for our climate, and so Richard bought a bottle of Guigal’s famous Coté Rotie called La Moline, which is made from Syrah and a dollop of Viognier in the northern Rhone. He tried the wine and thought if I could make something like that it would be okay, so we planted five acres of syrah and two of viognier (all own-rooted) and harvested the first crop in 1995.
What’s unusual and consistent over the years with Roll Ranch is that the fruit there retains acidity remarkably well for a warm climate vineyard. Warm sites tend to give grapes with lots of sugar and too little acidity, which often means overstuffed and sweet flavored wines. I’m not sure if there’s some soil voodoo to thank, or the magical abilities of vineyard manager Martin Ramirez (who planted Roll Ranch with Larry and has farmed it since), but some combination of factors has contributed to what seems to be an inherent balance to this site.
No doubt though, there used to be a real Californian exuberance to Roll Ranch wines. In the early years, many Roll Ranch Syrahs were big bruisers with over 15% alcohol, and the viognier was often so unctuously ripe that I would only make dessert wine with it. After a while I felt the over-ripeness presented a problem: our wines from the Ojai Valley were so saturating you would only want to drink them on cold rainy winter nights, and we rarely have them in our warm climate!
So, over the years we’ve tinkered in the vineyard and the cellar to temper some of that opulence. We’re fermenting the Syrah fundamentally differently than our cool climate sites now. And these days we’re finding no shortage of flavor when harvesting a bit earlier. The wines are better for it actually (when a wine has so much to say it does not need to yell!). They are fresher with more cut and intricacy than ever. Making wine from Roll Ranch has been a 20-year evolution; learning to listen to what a vineyard has to say and trying to capture its spirit is a slow process!
Press Reviews
Antonio Galloni
“A highlight in this range, the 2017 Viognier Roll Ranch Vineyard is laced with apricot, mint, tangerine and dried flowers. Light tropical notes add character, but this remains a gracious, floral, mid-weight expression of Viognier. The 2017 offers a lovely combination of freshness and creaminess. Fermentations took longer than the norm to finish in 2017. As a result, the wine spent 7 months more in barrel, but that only seems to have helped give more complexity.” 91 Points Antonio Galloni
Jeb Dunnuck
“Plenty of apple blossom, apricots, and orange blossom nuances emerge from the 2017 Viognier Roll Ranch Vineyard and it’s a medium-bodied effort that has solid texture and depth of fruit, integrated acidity, and a clean, crisp finish. It has a kiss of saltiness on the finish that’s going to make it shine on the dinner table.” Jeb Dunnuck 91 Points
