This story we will call the
Tale of Two Rieslings!

Riesling is possibly the most noble of the white wine grapes. It makes some of the most distinctive and beautiful expressions of both aromatics and flavors depending where in the world it is grown. I have been a fan of this grape since drinking Riesling from the Alsace region in France as I worked my way through College cooking in the kitchen of a French Restaurant. Most of the Riesling from that area is made in a dry, crisp style and that is what I fell in love with. However, in Germany (and a little in Alsace) Riesling is made to be slightly sweet – originally the sweetness was left in the wine because in the cold areas of the rivers in Germany the acidity was so sharp and almost sour by the time the rains were coming they would not ferment all the sugar to alcohol to help balance that acidity – giving them the sweet/tart result. The high acidity wakes the wonderful food wines! Well, there’s the motive for the story…I have wanted to make Riesling for a long time, but only if I could make something that was dry and crisp – not sweet and to be an expression of where it comes from – but be grown in the right place for this grape – because I can’t be in Germany or Alsace.

Five years ago I met two different growers that both showed promise in my quest to make Riesling – The first is Kelly McFarland – he is a 4th generation grower in the cool Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey – he owns the oldest producing Riesling Vineyard in California – I heard about the vineyard…and tracked him down. At the time the grapes were going into a larger wine made by a larger winery, and made slightly sweet. Long story short, I convinced Kelly to let me make a little bit of wine keeping his grapes separate and making it in a crisp dry style – a classy white wine for summer sipping and for as a serious aperitif wine. He agreed and this 08 is our Second vintage. The Sonoma Coast vineyard was a vineyard originally planted to Pinot Noir that the grower could not get to ripen because he was too close to the Coast to be warm enough to ripen…the perfect scenario for Riesling and with some arm twisting I convinced him to graft it over to Riesling for me and this 2008 is our first vintage from that vineyard…but that’s just the beginning of the Tale – really, the story is in the tasting!!…and you get to write it!

Grab some soft cheeses, and/or oysters, or other seafood and open a bottle of each wine.

The Sonoma Coast is floral and laced with hints of peach and spice from its long time on the vine and alluvial soils so near the Ocean. The texture is crisp yet still having a richness that makes it mouthcoating- a more fruit and floral wine with lots of interesting layers that keep unfolding as the wine warms up in your glass – Amazing with Halibut!

The Monterey is planted in heavy granite soils, very rocky, and the deep 60 year-old roots have a special relationship with the soil – so not only do you get the classic Riesling spice but a real minerality, aromas of being near a bubbling creek and of the wet stone – that character has wildflower and honey aromas too, yet also has no sweetness – to the Riesling aficionado it is said to have hints of “petrol” famous in some areas of Germany.

One is not better than the other – both great but both different – that’s the fun – In our Tasting Room at the winery the crowd is always split 50/50 as to their personal favorites.