From Cabernet Sauvignon to Zinfandel, California’s Napa and Sonoma counties continue to fashion outstanding California wines, but these prized areas are far from the only games in town. Many of California’s most compelling wines now flow from two little-known American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) tucked into the hills of Santa Barbara County: the delightfully named Ballard Canyon and Happy Canyon. Together, these small AVAs are producing compelling Syrahs and Cabernet Sauvignons that outperform many of the better known and more expensive red wines from Napa and Sonoma.

Ballard Canyon

Ballard Canyon enjoys its own distinctive AVA within Santa Barbara County, thanks to pioneers Tom, Judy, and Steve Beckmen of Beckmen Vineyards, Tom Stolpman of Stolpman Vineyards, and several other like-minded individuals who recognized the unique climate and terroir of Ballard Canyon decades ago and pioneered its planting.

Ballard Canyon enjoys cool maritime influences from the Santa Rita Hills to the west and warmer temperatures from Happy Canyon to the east. With wind, soil, and climate all conducive to the production of great Syrah, Ballard Canyon has become a premier source for exceptional Syrah.

Possessing the finesse and complex aromatic profiles of the finest Syrah from France’s Rhône Valley, as well as the beautiful fruit and physiologically ripe tannins that make California’s red wines so appealing, Ballard Canyon truly shines with Syrah, so much so that Ballard Canyon is becoming synonymous with great Syrah throughout the world. What Napa Valley is to great Cabernet Sauvignon, Ballard Canyon now is to Syrah.

Happy Canyon

Happy Canyon is emerging as one of California’s most exciting wine regions for the production of Bordeaux varietals. It is one of the smallest and least traveled viticultural areas of California, yet in spite of its diminutive size, Happy Canyon and its splendid hillside vineyards are making big names for themselves among savvy Cabernet drinkers.

Located at the far end of the Santa Ynez Valley, in the easternmost part of Santa Barbara County, Happy Canyon and its pastoral surroundings first gained renown for their premier orchards and sprawling cattle and horse ranches. It wasn’t until 1996 that vineyards first emerged on Happy Canyon’s bucolic hillsides. However, it didn’t take long to realize the canyon’s viticultural potential; with only a handful of vineyards and a tiny production, Happy Canyon gained its own official American Viticultural Area (AVA) designation in 2009.

Happy Canyon enjoys the warmest climate in Santa Barbara County, and the AVA’s unique microclimate and magnesium-rich, serpentine-laced soils provide ideal growing conditions for Cabernet Sauvignon and other high quality Bordeaux varietals – all of which are making cri
tics and wine lovers swoon.

Westerly and parent producer Crown Point Vineyards are two of the most compelling ventures in Happy Canyon. As one would expect, with a growing reputation for outstanding wines and only eight vineyards and three bona fide wineries to its name, Happy Canyon’s hand-crafted wines are highly allocated. Perhaps, the secret is already out?

Salud!
Don

The quintessential Tempranillo grape varietal figures prominently in the greatest red wines of Spain. Whether it is the iconic Vega Sicilia in Ribera del Duero, Valenciso in Rioja, or a bevy of extraordinary values from Castilla, Leon, Toro, La Mancha, and elsewhere in Spain, Tempranillo grapes reign supreme.

Tempranillo, a dark-skinned grape variety indigenous to Spain, is Spain’s noble red grape varietal.  It is grown throughout Spain, though it thrives in Ribera del Duero, Rioja, and in the interior of Spain, where the climate is continental rather than Mediterranean. The grape derives its name from the Spanish word temprano, meaning “early,” for its propensity to ripen earlier than other red grape varietals.  In some parts of Spain, and especially in Ribera del Duero, Tempranillo shines on its own as a varietal, while Rioja and other Spanish wine regions blend Garnacha, Mazuelo, or other grape varieties with a predominance of Tempranillo. Tempranillo yields a medium- to full-bodied wine, which benefits greatly from extended ageing in French and American oak barrels.

The list of incredible Tempranillo wines from Spain is nearly endless, yet no one consistently produces a better portfolio of estate grown and bottled Tempranillo wines than the legendary Alejandro Fernandez, the “King of Tempranillo.”  Fernandez fashions four outstanding Tempranillo wines at his four estates: Pesquera, Condado de Haza, Dehesa La Granja, and El Vinculo.  Pesquera and Condado de Haza bear the great Ribera del Duero DOC, while Dehesa La Granja hails from a prized property in Zamora along the Duero, a sprawling ranch which once served as Spain’s greatest bull raising ranch. El Vinculo hails from La Mancha, whose vines are over 80 years old.  For consumers searching for great Spanish red wines, they need look no further than Alejandro Fernandez’s four Tempranillo jewels.

Salud!
Don

Aussies call it Shiraz, Americans refer to it as Syrah, but for all intents and purposes, it’s the same great grape.  Syrah reigns as Australia’s premier grape variety, garnering the accolades and attention reserved in America for California Cabernet.

Yet, American Syrah is every bit as exciting as Australian Shiraz, and it’s often more complex and compelling.  Furthermore, premium California Syrahs remain veritable bargains in comparison to the Golden State’s top Cabernets.  So, why don’t we drink more Syrah?

The fact is, America is just starting to discover Syrah, and California’s acumen with the nation’s other great red varietal may, in the not so distant future, rival Cabernet Sauvignon in popularity and quality.

Napa Valley, Santa Barbara County, and California’s Central Coast contain a trove of great Syrah wines. From Napa Valley, one can always count on outstanding Syrah from Colgin, Konsgaard, and Phelps, to name just a few of Napa’s iconic producers of this varietal, but at a price.

Equally persuasive and even more complex are the Syrah wines from Santa Barbara County and California’s Central Coast region.  Alban, Beckmen, Carlisle, Jaffurs, Olai, Sin Qua Non, Stolpman, and Tensley fashion pure, polished Syrahs to make even the most diehard Cabernet drinker swoon.  Moreover, many of these Central Coast Syrahs provide tremendous pleasure even in their first few years of life, unlike the state’s top Cabernets, and these Syrahs can be cellared to perfection for up to a decade or more.

Best of all, one doesn’t have to be a billionaire to drink great California Syrah.  Producers such as Beckmen and Stolpman fashion Syrahs that qualify as the finest quality and value wines among all premium California varietals.  Enjoy!

Salud!
Don

John Steinbeck would have no problem finding Hollister, California, or making his way through the nearby Cienega Valley to taste the fruit of the vines that grow upon the slopes of the Gabilan Mountains or in the valley of the Salinas River.  But, how many of the wine tourists that crowd the tasting rooms of Napa Valley would know where to begin to look for Hollister or the Cienega Valley?

Off the beaten path and under the radar of the masses who travel to more trodden wine destinations, Hollister and the Cienega Valley offer the thirsty traveler in search of fine wine a trove of affordable treasures.  Located on the San Andreas Fault in the northern half of California’s Central Coast AVA, Cienega Valley may well be the most unspoiled wine country in California.

Calera is perhaps the region’s most recognizable name and the most lauded winery in Steinbeck country. Year in and year out, Calera’s wines are consistent favorites among critics and consumers, especially its award-winning Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays.  Who knew that Calera wasn’t in Napa or Sonoma?

Pietra Santa is another Cienega Valley jewel.  Pietra Santa’s Tuscan-born winemaker, Alessio Carli, possesses a magic touch with Sangiovese, as the estate’s recently released 2010 Pietra Santa Sangiovese will attest.  Equally compelling is Pietra Santa’s Sassolino, a delicious, age-worthy super Tuscan red consisting of a blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Recent Pietra Santa Signature Selection Pinot Noirs merit special attention, too, as does the 2014 Pietra Santa Estate Chardonnay and Amore Pinot Grigio, easily one of California’s finest Pinot Grigios. In addition, remember that Léal and Derose are two other noteworthy Cienega Valley wineries.

If you are in search of a wide variety of high-quality California wines at affordable prices, wander the road less taken and beat a path to Cienega Valley.

For nearly a half century Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon have captured America’s palates and become its most beloved wines. It’s not that other wine varietals or blends have not enjoyed their ascendency and even ridden tides of popular demand (i.e. Merlot, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, etc.). Rather, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon have never fallen out of favor as the United States Department of Agriculture will attest. According to USDA records, California alone had 300 grape varietals and 496,313 acres of wine grapes under cultivation in 2014, of which 185,798 acres were either Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon. These two ever popular varietals account for more than 37% of the total wine grape plantings in California, the source of the vast majority of wine consumed in the United States.

Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon immigrated to the United States more than a century ago from their native France. Chardonnay hails from France’s Burgundy and Champagne regions where it gained fame as the world’s most prestigious white grape varietal, while Cabernet Sauvignon is indigenous to southwest France and Bordeaux, in particular, where it figures predominantly in many of Bordeaux’s greatest red wines (Châteaux Haut-Brion, Lafite, Latour, Margaux and Mouton among others). From its native France, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon have traveled the world, gaining adherents everywhere, but nowhere more than in the United States where the names Chardonnay and Cabernet have become nearly synonymous terms for white and red wine.

California remains the source of most of America’s greatest Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon wines, with Napa and Sonoma counties enjoying top billing. However, savvy consumers need to know that some of California’s most compelling and often most affordable Chardonnays and Cabernets emanate from small family owned wineries in the big two appellations as well as from wineries outside of Napa and Sonoma. Anderson Valley in Mendocino County, Arroyo Seco and the Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey County, as well as many areas of Santa Barbara County all fashion outstanding California Chardonnay, while Lake County in northern California and California’s Central Coast (Paso Robles in particular) are increasingly sources of exceptional Cabernet Sauvignons at prices some of us can still afford, so enjoy!

Salud!
Don