Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard

For 30 years, Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard was located at one of the oldest continuously operated vineyards in California, originally established in 1863 as the Jarvis Brothers Vineyard. Ken Burnap started the winery in 1975, setting out to make the finest Pinot Noir possible in California. Ken had done years of research into what conditions were necessary to produce good Pinot Noir, and the Santa Cruz Mountains region ended up being his final choice as the area with the greatest potential for excellent wines. The first release under the Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard label was the highly regarded 1975 vintage.

In 1979 Ken hired Jeff Emery for part-time cellar work and vineyard tending while Jeff was working on a degree at UCSC. By the time he graduated (in geology) he was hopelessly seduced by the joys of growing grapes and making wine and couldn’t possibly look for a real job. A wonderful apprenticeship and collaboration was established between Ken and Jeff. By the time Ken retired in 2002 Jeff had fully taken over the day-to-day business operations and the winemaking. In the summer of 2004, Ken sold the vineyard property on Jarvis Road, and the winemaking operations for Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard moved with Jeff to a new location, to its present location on the west side of the City of Santa Cruz. Jeff Emery practices a natural approach to vineyard management and winemaking. His vineyards are farmed both sustainably and organically, with minimal yields, wild yest ferments, and use of neutral oak. The resulting wines have achieved a wonderful balance of acidity, flavor and low alcohol.

 

 

Cabernet Sauvignon "Lucchesi Vineyard"
The Luchessi vineyard is a perfect example of a rough and rugged mountain vineyard that produces wine with tons of character. It was planted in 1981 on a very steep hillside on the east side of the Santa Cruz Mountains a little northeast of Montebello Ridge. It is an old-fashioned vineyard with head-trained vines and no trellis wires. The site is too steep to have wires, as tractors need to be able to cultivate either direction depending on the slope. This vineyard just looks like it has to make wine of character, and it does. Year after year there is an incredible depth of Cabernet Sauvignon fruit.
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Bailey's Branciforte Pinot Noir

This is a Pinot Noir Vineyard located in the Vine Hill area near our old Estate Winery location on Jarvis Road. It was planted in 1999 and consists of Dijon clones 667 and 115. It is meticulously tended and is a showcase vineyard for showing off Pinot Noir cultivation in the Santa Cruz Mountains at its best. The Vineyard is at a high enough elevation (around 1,200 feet) to be out of the fog on most days but is low enough to have very cool nights from the Pacific Ocean. These conditions produce a very intense wine with great depth of flavors and the ability to age beautifully for at least two decades from the vintage. There is a very rich and deep fruit component along with a lot of the earth and spice of the Santa Cruz Mountains Appellation Pinots. This wine is big and powerful but it also has elegance and complexity in its youth that comes from a perfectly farmed vineyard. Wild ferments, neutral oak, meticulous winemaking lead to achieved balance!

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Branciforte Creek Pinot Noir

Branciforte Creek Vineyard is located on Jarvis Road in the Vine Hill area of the Santa Cruz Mountains, just a mile away from our well-known Estate Vineyard on the same road. The vines were planted in 1988 in a site that originally had grapes since 1863. This vineyard has low yields of very flavorful fruit year after year. This vineyard represents the best of “old school” Pinot Noir, before all of those cola-cherry focused “modern” clones became so popular. This vineyard is Pommard Clone, a clone that results in a more traditional, Burgundian take on the variety. You don’t just get lots of cherry/berry fruit – you get all kinds of intriguing back flavors and aromas. Things like dried leaves, damp earth, warming spices and fennel can be found in nuances layers behind and around the fruit. Wild ferments, neutral oak, meticulous winemaking has helped this wine achieve balance.

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Vine Hill Reserve Pinot Noir

Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard has been making Pinot Noir from the historic Vine Hill District of the Santa Cruz Mountains since 1975. This region is called Vine Hill from the fact that there were hundreds of acres planted to wine grapes in the latter part of the 19th century.
In years that we think have great quality, we go through and pick out a handful of our very favorite barrels from each of the two vineyards we work with from the Vine Hill District. We release it at least 4 years from the vintage, to give the wine more time to develop in the bottle.
Branciforte Creek Vineyard was planted in 1988 and is Pommard clone. Bailey's Branciforte Ridge Vineyard was planted in 1999 and is Dijon 155 and Dijon 667 clones. Both vineyards range in elevation between 800 and 1,200 feet above sea level and are less than two miles apart from each other.

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Borden Ranch Grenache Blanc
Grenache Blanc originated in Spain as a mutation of Grenache (a red grape). Though it is often blended with other white varieties, it also makes a very interesting wine on its own. While it is now the fourth or fifth most planted white variety in France it is still relatively unknown in California. The California climate of hot days and cool nights seems to be perfect for the varietal and encourages its two prime qualities: richness with crisp acids. Ours is un-oaked, dry, crisp, and aromatic. The wine has a lovely floral perfume with hints of pear and vanilla. It is rounded and supple with lovely tropical tinged fruit and has a nice underlying crispness. One can find flavors of peach, mandarin orange, and tropical fruits, wrapped around a bright acidity that wakes up the taste buds. Enjoy with a wide range of food or alone as an aperitif.
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Hook Vineyard Grenache
Grenache is a wine that works great with many foods. It is really making a come-back in California as it can be a very versatile wine that will go with foods that you may not normally drink wine with, such as Indian, Mexican or Asian food. Grenache has the pizzazz to work with such exotic, and spicy, food selections. This is a relatively new source of Grenache for us, the Hook Vineyard, part of Smith & Hook Estates in the Santa Lucia Highlands. The Santa Lucia Highlands appellation of Monterey County is Pinot Noir country, so it has to be cooler, and when you put Grenache in this climate you get bright fruit along with some zippy spicy elements. We feel that Rhone varieties pushed into cooler growing regions of California tend to produce wines that are much more like their Old-World counterparts than the average California style expression. This is classic Old-World style Grenache, with raspberries and white pepper aromas. This dance of fruit and spices continues through the taste and long into the finish. It has a medium structure that will stand up to heartier foods, yet there is a brightness and tartness that allows it to fit with less hearty fare as well.
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Pierce Ranch Petite Sirah
The variety known in California as Petite Sirah has its origins in France where it is called Durif. It was named after Dr. Durif who propagated it from a cross of Peloursin and Syrah in 1880. Only in the U.S. is the variety called Petite Sirah – elsewhere in the world it is called by its correct and original name Durif. Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard has worked with this variety since 1977. The grapes for this wine come from the relatively new appellation of San Antonio Valley in southwestern Monterey County. This high valley, west of Highway 101 is well suited to slightly warmer climate grape varieties. The block that these grapes come from is on top of a well-drained, shale covered hill. We are using a relatively new approach in fermenting our Petite Sirah. The variety is famous for over-extracting tannins, often making wines of great fruit intensity, but commonly having a lot of astringency. Starting in 2005 we went to a method of whole berry fermentation of our Petite Sirah and we are very excited about the results. When the grapes are processed they are only de-stemmed, not crushed at all. We de-stem them into small, one ton lot, fermentation bins. By not crushing the berries we release fewer of the harsh tannins during fermentation. This release has a lot of wild berry fruit character along with smoky, peppery spiciness and some tannins at this young age. This is a wine to enjoy with hearty comfort foods like stews, roasts and rich pasta sauces. We suggest giving it some time in a decanter to wake up everything lurking inside, or cellar it for a few more years.
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Zayante, Syrah

An Old-World expression of Syrah with lots of smoky, spicy, meaty elements around deep core of dark fruits. From an older, organically farmed vineyard, not on grafted rootstock.
We are very happy to be able to offer this wine from Zayante Vineyard for the first time in about a decade. We made it many years ago, and now are getting the grapes from the new owners.
This wine is just starting to become what it will be. Decant ahead of time if drinking soon, in order to wake it up and bring out all that is hidden here.

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