Discover Pacific Coast precision in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Paul Masson is often misremembered as a maker of California ‘jug wine’ and missed altogether for his outsized impact on California viticulture and the state's wine evolution.

It was the Burgundy-born Masson who brought Burgundian cuttings of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Burgundy to the Santa Cruz Mountains, specifically a site he planted in Saratoga, California, way back in 1896.

The vines, originally from Louis Latour, are among the groundbreaking Pinot Noir plantings that would lay the genetic groundwork for many of the now-famous ‘California heritage clones.’

Famous names like Mt Eden, Swan and Martini have their origins in Masson’s early plantings.

The Santa Cruz Mountains, however, have not become identified with a single variety.

Instead, it is this region’s great diversity that radiates, and perhaps makes it somewhat of an enigma in terms of how consumers and even wine collectors understand the place.

Cabernet, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah shine together here in ways that strike me as completely unique to a cool California coastal appellation.

A cool all its own

So what is it about the Santa Cruz Mountains that allows it to sufficiently ripen Cabernet and Syrah crating elegant expressions of these varieties, alongside the more delicate Burgundian varieties of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay?

‘There are a few things that set the Santa Cruz Mountains apart from other cool climate regions in California,’ says Cole Thomas, winemaker at Madson.

‘The first is that we experience ocean wind much differently. Most of California’s cool-climate regions experience very high prevailing ocean winds, whereas our vineyards do not.

‘We have perpendicular ridge lines and tall redwoods that moderate wind speeds. This makes a massive difference in how the fruit ripens because the vines do not shut down during the warmest and windiest time of the day.

The result is ripe skin tannins earlier.

‘The other key difference is the elevation vs proximity to the ocean. It is rare to have both such a high elevation and ocean exposure together. It seems many places don't have both,’ Thomas concludes.

Fog among the vines

Comparing the Santa Cruz Mountains to another cool-climate appellation where he grows Pinot and Chardonnay, Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley, Rhys Vineyards winemaker Jeff Brinkman notes how that ocean proximity affects peak temperatures in each region.

‘One difference that is quite important is the way both regions accumulate heat during the growing season. On paper, they have a similar average temperature, but that doesn’t tell the whole story,’ Brinkman explains.

‘In the Anderson Valley, mornings are often foggy, but it’s a higher-elevation fog that doesn’t linger in the vineyard.'

He continues: 'The daily high temperature occurs in the early afternoon, and there’s often a late-afternoon ocean breeze that cools things off quickly. It has a larger swing in daytime high-to-low temperatures.'

This diurnal shift means warm-to-hot days and very cool nights as ocean winds and fog move into the valley.

‘The Santa Cruz Mountains are totally different,’ Brinkman continues. ‘The day-to-night swings are much lower because of the proximity to the ocean, the elevation, and the fog is often right in the vines.

Think of it as a very gradual curve with the daytime high spread over a much longer span of the afternoon.’

Classic Cabernet Sauvignon

Marty Mathis is the second-generation winemaker and grower at the winery his mother, Kathryn Kennedy, founded in Saratoga.

Having returned to the region in 1947, Kennedy, who graduated from Stanford at the age of 19, decided to plant a vineyard in the early 1970s, as California's fine wine boom was underway.

Clone 8 Cabernet, planted on its own roots because Kathryn couldn’t afford the grafting, went into the ground in Saratoga in 1973.

The wines made over the years by Kathryn and, now, her son, Marty Mathis, are among the country's most ethereal.

They are beguiling, elegant, and with a long-lived ageability to rival the iconic brands at the top of the mountain from them, Ridge and Mount Eden.

‘This part of the Santa Clara Valley had a wine reputation which in some ways predated Napa Valley,’ says Marty Mathis, of his mother’s decision to plant at home.

‘In 1885, wines from this part of the Santa Clara Valley were often labelled as Medoc. They included Cabernet, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Though the use of Merlot in this part of California seems to have faded away after prohibition,’ Mathis explains.

Geographic outlier

The Kennedy wines are certainly a product of this cool climate appellation, but as they sit at the foot of the mountains, they're an outlier geographically, yet they show a consistent mountain style of the region.

Mathis believes it's about the soil. ‘The soil is fairly rich in the top, 18-24 inches,' he says.

But below that is a low fertility mix of Clay, sand, sandstone, and quartz pebbles. This provides less vigorous vines and a more mountain-style yield.

Mathis continues: ‘We have two bodies of water that can provide cooling breezes during the most intense heat waves.

'Obviously, the powerful Pacific Ocean flows cool air over the mountains, but we also receive cooling breezes from the south San Francisco Bay when the wind blows from the interior.’

Such savoury Syrah

For a region built on Pinot Noir, it is now best known these days for the Cabernet and Cabernet-based wines of Ridge and the neighbouring Mount Eden.

In my tastings, Syrah, which has proven difficult to market, may just be the region’s most compelling wine.

These are wines of staggering complexity, floral refinement that meets a gamey, umami depth with ferrous minerality and undeniably elegant red fruits.

This variety finds a sweet spot in coastal conditions, where sufficient heat and a long growing season allow the necessary phenolic ripeness at lower sugar levels.

The finished alcohols are often listed between 12.8-13.8%. The acidity and tannin, with varying use of whole bunch maceration, craft ageable wines evocative of the Northern Rhône with dazzling freshness and lifted ‘New World’ fruit.

‘I think the intersection of shallow sedimentary soils and cool climate is key for our Syrah,’ says Brinkman of Rhys Vineyards.

‘The cool climate provides the savoury elements we typically have. I'm thinking specifically of the olive, game, and peppery components. The shallow soils, to me, provide the briny element, good acidity, and naturally lower yields needed for good Syrah.’

Madson’s Cole Thomas is in full agreement, saying: ‘Syrah needs a bit more elevation to ripen. The best sites sit above the fog-line and experience warmer daytime temperatures than most of our Pinot Noir and Chardonnay sites.

'Still, these sites are cool, and sugar accumulation can be a challenge. We typically harvest in late October or early November. Again, poor sandstone soil limits yield and intensifies flavour, while the coolness provides delicate aromatics and freshness in the wine.’

Charming Chardonnay

The elegance that balances depth in the Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnays sticks out across producers and styles.

Perhaps no producer is as synonymous with the variety there as Thomas Fogarty, perched high on the northern flanks of the Santa Cruz range.

It produces six or seven bottlings from an array of single vineyards across its deeply forested estate, a Heritage Oak and Fir preserve.

Here, the vines rub shoulders with the intense and endemic mountain chaparral: California bay, eucalyptus, black sage, Monterey pine and a variety of fragrant manzanitas.

The Fogarty single blocks, eight in all, are planted on a mix of sites. The oldest Chardonnay vines are at Damiana, which sits at the very top of the estate, over 2,000 feet above sea level.

This original block was planted in 1978. The first vineyard was carved out among the trees, after clearing low brush and shrub land.

This approach has informed the others, mostly planted from the early to mid 1980s.

Nathan Kandler leads the winemaking at Thomas Fogarty, and uses a similar approach across all the Chardonnays, allowing the single vineyards to really show their diversity.

‘Most of the differences in the wine stem from soil and exposure in the vineyards,’ explains Kandler.

‘The heterogeneous nature of the various sites leads to pretty amazing differences in the variety of Chardonnays we make. The rootstock and the clonal selection are pretty static.

'The soils, however, range from volcanic basalt to sandstone and shale mixes.’

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