The California Cabernet Sauvignons You Never Knew

If you poke around the subdivisions in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, you may come across the remnants of La Questa Vineyard, which 100 years ago was thought to produce the finest cabernet sauvignon in California. It was first planted in 1884 by E.H. Rixford, a lawyer who modeled his 40 acres of vines on the blend used at Château Margaux. Now, the few remaining vines survive in one of the many yards in which residents enjoy the high-status hobby of grape-growing.But those vines left a legacy. Martin Ray, who proved that great wines could be made in the Santa Cruz Mountains, took cuttings of Rixford’s vines to plant at his property near Saratoga. That property lives on as Mount Eden Vineyards, which is perhaps best known for its chardonnays and pinot noirs but produces great cabernet sauvignons as well.It lives on at Ridge Vineyards, 2,400 feet up from Cupertino, where cuttings from La Questa were the basis for the original Monte Bello vineyard, planted in 1886. Paul Draper, Ridge’s chief executive, who for 45 years has made Monte Bello, perhaps the greatest of American cabernets, said he was originally inspired by Rixford’s guide to winemaking, “The Wine Press and the Cellar,” first published in 1883.And the spirit of Rixford and La Questa lives on in a half-dozen other cabernets that make the Santa Cruz Mountains the least-celebrated great U.S. region for cabernet sauvignon.“We hear from people all the time who are surprised to learn that Monte Bello is not from Napa Valley,” Draper said during a recent visit to Ridge’s hilltop winery near Cupertino.Today, the cabernet sauvignon produced in the region is among America’s best, particularly for fans of classically structured, savory wines, and is certainly among the best cabernet values. Yet only small amounts are produced, and that amount is unlikely to grow anytime soon.The appellation is the rare wine region defined by elevation. In the hills south of San Francisco, including land in three counties from Woodside and Menlo Park on the north to Santa Cruz and Watsonville on the south, the vineyards must largely be above the fog line, from about 800 to 2,700 feet. The region also encompasses the boundary between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. The San Andreas Fault passes through.The fault line divides the appellation into a cooler western portion, with newer pinot noir producers like Rhys Vineyards, and a warmer eastern section, closer to Silicon Valley.“Where cabernet grows the best is the Silicon Valley side, the high-value real estate area,” said Marty Mathis, president of Kathryn Kennedy Winery, which has made excellent cabernet sauvignon in Saratoga since Kennedy, Mathis’ mother, began planting her 7-acre vineyard in 1973.
 Mathis, the winemaker since 1981, knows firsthand the perils of high-value real estate. What was largely an agricultural area was overrun by Silicon Valley neighborhoods. Kennedy maintained her vineyard even as she received lucrative offers and suburbs sprouted around her. But she died in 2009, and most of the vineyard was sold last summer. Only one of the original acres remains.“I’m the only one who cared,” Mathis said. “The family wanted the money. It all would’ve been gone in 1975 if it hadn’t been for my mother. So I look at it as if I had 40-plus years as a gift.”The Kathryn Kennedy vineyard is an outlier, gerrymandered into the appellation, which was founded in 1981, even though it’s about 400 feet in elevation. The wines are richer than most Santa Cruz Mountains cabernets. Still, they typify their character. The 2013 offers rich flavors of red fruit and herbs with signature notes of graphite and vibrant freshness. A 2010 is dense yet graceful, with a beautiful balance of earth, fruit and a pronounced graphite minerality.The wines age well. The graphite aroma is still potent in a 1987. The fruit is pure and clear and the structure intact, with flavors emerging in a linear progression. A 1991 is stony, with an almost metallic minerality, not as structured as the ’87 but more lithe, while the fruit is richer and more pronounced in a 1996.What gives Santa Cruz Mountains cabernet its particular character?“It’s the only place in California where the variety is grown on the coast,” said Jeffrey Patterson, the winemaker and, with his wife, Ellie, the proprietors of Mount Eden since 1986. Left unspoken was his allusion to another coastal outpost for cabernet wines, Bordeaux.Unlike in Napa, Sonoma and Paso Robles, other California sources for cabernet, it’s a struggle to ripen cabernet in these hills. Maritime winds keep the nights cool, and the growing season typically stretches into October.“We’re in the raggedy edge of the perception of ripeness in cabernet,” Jeffrey Patterson said.The cabernets are generally leaner and more austere than those from Napa, and more savory, with briarlike herbal touches and that scent of graphite. This is partly because of climate and elevation, Patterson said, but also because of the different geology. His estate cabernets, grown primarily on Franciscan shale, are singular. Patterson also makes another Santa Cruz Mountains cabernet, Domaine Eden, grown mostly on loam.“The estate is an aria,” he said. “Domaine is a chorus.”The 2012 estate, which is to be released this year, is a beautiful wine, structured yet elegant with plenty of mineral and spicy red fruit flavors. A 2005 is meaty and mineral, with lovely violet and graphite flavors, while a 1990 is spicy and graceful, exquisitely balanced yet deliciously drinkable.Like Mount Eden, Thomas Fogarty also produces excellent pinot noirs and chardonnays as well as cabernet sauvignon, but not in the same place and not under the same label. Tom Fogarty Jr. said his father began planting his original vineyard, in the cooler northern part of the appellation, with pinot noir and chardonnay in the 1970s. But, inspired by Ridge Monte Bello, he wanted to grow cabernet, too. In 2000, the family bought Gist Ranch, an old Christmas tree farm on a ridge top in the warmer southern hills, and planted Bordeaux grapes. They bottled their first vintage, 2011, under the Lexington label.“We look on Lexington as a different winery,” Fogarty said. “The farming is different; everything is different.”
 
Ridge Monte Bello, of course, has set a standard for California cabernet sauvignon. The wines are complex, energetic and graceful. The current 2012 release was elegant with lovely red briary fruit and flavors of minerals and violets. The wines also age beautifully. A 1992 was full of spicy fruit with complex floral and mineral flavors. Monte Bello is not labeled a cabernet. But Ridge does make a wine from the Monte Bello vineyard labeled Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a pretty fair approximation of Monte Bello, although generally less concentrated, with less pronounced minerality, and far less expensive, around $50 to Monte Bello’s $175.Even at $175, Monte Bello is a great value as one of America’s great wines. Consider the Napa cabernets, with far less illustrious track records, which routinely sell for more than $200, to say nothing of the cult cabernets, which can go into four figures. Mount Eden’s estate cabernet is around $60, Lexington’s around $50 and Kathryn Kennedy’s, if you can find it, maybe $100.Not surprisingly, some of California’s brightest young winemakers have been inspired and want to make their own. It’s not impossible to find grapes to buy. Although only a small number of nationally distributed cabernet wineries are in the region, the hills are littered with family vineyards that also make a little wine and perhaps open their doors to visitors on weekends.Arnot-Roberts, a wonderful producer in Santa Rosa in Sonoma, has been buying cabernet grapes from Fellom Ranch in the northern part of the appellation since 2007. Its 2008 Fellom cabernet is richly floral with an attractive element of balsam.“The Santa Cruz grapes show the characteristics that make cabernet unique, that herbal quality mixed with forward fruit,” said Nathan Roberts, a proprietor.Kenny Likitprakong, also in Sonoma, makes a well-delineated cabernet under the Ghostwriter label from Bates Ranch in the southern part of the appellation. The 2013 was compact and graceful with a lovely herbal note.“The expectation of ripeness has to be a lot lower,” he said. “The green is really part of what makes the wine special.”John Raytek, who makes the excellent Ceritas pinot noirs and chardonnays on the Sonoma Coast, had no intention of making cabernet until he recently got the opportunity to get grapes from the Peter Martin Ray vineyard, near Mount Eden, farmed by the son of Martin Ray. It was too exciting to pass up, he said.The 2012 Ceritas cabernet is gorgeous and elegant, floral and herbal with flavors of red fruit, brush and minerals.The lineage of E.H. Rixford is in good hands.© 2016 New York Times News Service