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By
Laurie Daniel
Special to the Mercury News
Recognition and accolades have been slow
to come to Monterey's wine country. Sure, there have been
a few references to it as ``the next Napa,'' or an ``area
poised for greatness.'' But if you ask the average wine consumer
outside the area to name the best three -- or even five --
wine-producing areas in California, it's unlikely the answer
would be Monterey County or any of its six sub-appellations.
Even some experts dismiss the area as a land of huge vine farms and
can't let go of the past, when poor planting decisions and
viticultural practices resulted in wines that seemed inextricably
linked to descriptors like vegetal.
``Monterey is the Rodney Dangerfield of viticultural regions,'' says
Jeff Kasavan, a Salinas native who has spent much of his 27-year
wine career in the county and is currently director of winemaking
for Robert Mondavi Coastal Private Selection, which relies
heavily on Monterey County grapes.
The less-than-flattering descriptions aren't entirely baseless.
Monterey has vast vineyards -- more than 40,000 acres, according
to 2000 state figures. That is roughly equivalent to Napa.
But the county has a paltry number of wineries -- a couple
dozen, vs. Napa's 250. About 80 percent of the grapes grown
in Monterey leave the county and many are blended into wines
with ``Central Coast'' or ``California'' appellations so consumers
may never know they are from Monterey County. As for those
``vegetal'' wines, they are mostly a thing of the past, though
they were a chronic problem 30 years ago.
Still, these negatives tend to obscure the exciting wines being made
today from Monterey County grapes by both large and small
producers, such as Talbott Vineyards, Morgan Winery, Lockwood
Vineyard and Delicato Family Vineyards, to name a few.
The cooler areas that once produced underripe cabernet sauvignon
are now planted with chardonnay and pinot noir, and many of
the resulting wines can more than hold their own against bottles
from better-known appellations such as Carneros and the Russian
River. Rich, flavorful, well-balanced cabernet is made from
vineyards in Carmel Valley and warmer portions of the Salinas
Valley. And syrah is showing tremendous promise in a number
of sites.
Monterey would, indeed, seem poised for greatness -- if people would
only notice.
Most of Monterey's grapes are grown in the 75-mile-long Salinas Valley,
which begins at Monterey Bay and runs southeastward between
the Santa Lucia and Gabilan mountain ranges. The valley acts
like a funnel, sucking fog and cold air in from the bay, along
with a cool wind that starts up nearly every afternoon during
the growing season. The northern end of the valley is too
cold for grapes. As you travel south, conditions get warmer
and less foggy. The cooler areas are perfect for chardonnay,
pinot noir and riesling.
However, cool, foggy conditions don't characterize the entire region.
The Monterey American Viticultural Area, or AVA, encompasses
six smaller AVAs with varying climates and soils. Carmel Valley,
for example, is hot enough during the day to ripen cabernet
sauvignon, but cold temperatures at night help preserve acidity
in the grapes. The 1,800-foot elevation Chalone AVA, east
of Soledad near the Pinnacles National Monument, is very hot
one year, cool the next. Its most significant feature is its
limestone and decomposed granite soil, which is unique in
Monterey.
The sheer size and diversity of the region can make it difficult
for consumers to get a handle on Monterey. There's no real
``wine trail'' for visitors to follow, just a handful of tasting
rooms in Carmel Valley Village and a few more scattered along
the Salinas Valley, far from the restaurants and bed-and-breakfast
inns of the Monterey Peninsula. In addition, though chardonnay
is by far the most widely planted grape, the climatic diversity
means there's not really a ``signature'' Monterey wine.
``People are doing different things,'' says Jack Galante, whose Galante
Vineyards in Carmel Valley produces several excellent cabernets.
``How do you market this as one voice?''
More small wineries
There's one point many of the vintners agree on, though: The county
needs more small, high-quality ``boutique'' wineries associated
with the area.
``We need a larger mass of wineries,'' says Dan Lee, owner of Morgan
Winery, which produces a fine range of wines, particularly
chardonnay and pinot noir. ``And not big wineries. We need
more small boutique wineries that are totally focused on quality.''
Robb Talbott of Talbott Vineyards, best known for its chardonnays,
agrees: ``You get your acclaim from the boutiques. That's
where you get the quality products in many cases, and the
interest and the excitement.''
Morgan, Talbott and Galante are among a handful of small wineries
producing world-class wines in Monterey. But such operations
are the exception.
The Monterey scene -- and vineyard acreage -- is dominated by big
growers, including companies based elsewhere, such as Robert
Mondavi, Kendall-Jackson and Delicato, which saw the county's
potential and relatively low land prices and moved in. Mondavi
owns or has long-term leases on nearly 5,000 acres. Kendall-Jackson
has 3,000 acres of estate vineyards. Delicato bought the huge
San Bernabe Vineyard outside King City in 1988. There, about
7,600 acres are planted with 22 grape varieties.
On a smaller scale, San Jose-based Mirassou Vineyards grows nearly
all its grapes on 800 acres near Soledad. And Wente Vineyards,
virtually synonymous with the Livermore Valley, owns about
700 acres in the Arroyo Seco area.
All these companies make some good to excellent wines from Monterey
grapes. But they are more closely associated with other geographic
areas, even if the label on the bottle says ``Monterey'' in
small print.
Of course, even a big winery can be an asset to a region if it produces
well-received wines and knows how to promote them. Take the
case of Delicato Family Vineyards, a Manteca-based winery
that produces 1.5 million cases a year of mostly lower-priced
California appellation wines but has received accolades for
its Monterey-labeled wines under the Delicato Monterey Vine
Select and Monterra brands. Those wines -- from San Bernabe
Vineyard -- account for less than 10 percent of the company's
production, says Kathy McAfee, vice president of marketing,
but ``we see our future in Monterey.''
Some labels vague
On the other hand, there's the case of Mondavi, whose identity is
firmly rooted in the Napa Valley. For its Mondavi Coastal
Private Selection brand, the company has abandoned the ``Monterey''
appellation on its labels -- even in wines that contain sufficient
amounts of Monterey grapes to meet labeling requirements.
Instead, the wines carry a ``Central Coast'' designation.
Among Mondavi's holdings are two vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands,
prime country for chardonnay and pinot noir. Kasavan is optimistic
that the ``fabulous wines'' he makes from those properties
will eventually be bottled separately, rather than going into
a big blend. But for now, people in the company ``are getting
a little tired of me pushing for a Santa Lucia Highlands appellation
or even a vineyard designation,'' he says. ``Showcasing Monterey
County . . . is a goal I definitely want to work on.''
The 18-mile-long Santa Lucia Highlands AVA on the western edge of
the Salinas Valley is one of Monterey's success stories. Some
of the wines are outstanding, and consumers have taken notice.
``The highlands is the little jewel right now,'' says Lee, who owns
a vineyard toward its northern end. Among his neighbors are
Talbott's well-known Sleepy Hollow Vineyard and Mer Soleil,
an offshoot of Caymus Vineyards in the Napa Valley. At the
southern end is Pisoni Vineyard, which sells pinot noir to
about a dozen high-profile wineries and bottles a little under
its own label.
Those wineries, Lee says, ``are preaching Santa Lucia Highlands across
the country.'' (Although nearly all those wineries are outside
the county, the wine labels state the grapes' origins proudly,
and most Pisoni aficionados are well aware of the vineyard's
location.)
Lifestyle issues
Saying that more small, high-quality wineries are the answer is one
thing. Attracting them is another.
Many of the newcomers who have flocked to Napa in recent years were
drawn by the wine country lifestyle in a valley replete with
stores like Dean & DeLuca and restaurants such as the
French Laundry and Catahoula. The Monterey Peninsula has plenty
of such high-end amenities for tourists. But the Salinas Valley
is another story. ``When the typical Napa winemaker pulls
into Soledad,'' it's a bit of a shock, says Chalone Vineyard
winemaker Dan Karlsen, who has worked in Napa and Sonoma.
In addition, getting started in Monterey can be expensive. Under
agricultural zoning, parcels must be at least 40 acres. In
a prime spot like the Santa Lucia Highlands, plantable land,
if you could find it, would probably cost $12,000 to $20,000
or more an acre, up 30 to 50 percent over five years ago,
real estate professionals say.
The Monterey Vintners and Growers Association is working with the
county to allow five-acre vineyard parcels in three designated
areas. The aim, says Ventana Vineyards owner LuAnn Meador,
is to make it ``more economical for a small artisan winery
to be built.''
Prestige isn't the only reason to encourage more small wineries in
the county, she adds. As other wine regions develop their
own vineyards, Meador says, they won't need Monterey grapes.
So keeping more grapes in the county makes good economic sense.
It's unlikely Monterey County will ever be like Napa, with 250 wineries
and scores of tasting rooms lining the major roads. But maybe
its wines will finally get their due.
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