Santa Cruz
Mountains – California’s Hidden Gem

BY ANTONIO GALLONI |&nbsp;NOVEMBER 07, 2023Tucked into its own little corner of the world, far away
from most of California’s better-known regions, the Santa Cruz Mountains is
home to a number of world-class estates and equally notable vineyards. Readers
who enjoy focused, nervy Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs will find much to explore,
as will those who appreciate the more savory, structured side of Cabernet
Sauvignon. Although I have not tasted all the wines yet, 2021 is shaping up to
be an extraordinary vintage here.

I have written extensively about the Santa Cruz Mountains in
the past, so I won’t repeat all the basic information that can be found in
previous articles, all linked below. In short, the Santa Cruz Mountains benefits
from proximity to the Pacific Ocean, elevation and a complex matrix of soils
that result in pedigreed wines of extraordinary nuance, delineation and class.

The region remains largely under the radar because of a
unique set of factors that is not likely to change. Although quite easy to
reach from many parts of Northern California, most notably the hub of Silicon
Valley, the Santa Cruz Mountains lacks the infrastructure to support classic
wine tourism. Only a few estates are close to others; vast expanses of land separate most. Additionally, a number of the best wines are made by
producers in other regions, mostly in Sonoma, who purchase fruit here but who
do not have a physical presence.

As a result, the Santa Cruz Mountains is a place where
single estates have carved out identities for themselves but where the region
remains an enigma for most consumers. All that makes for an appellation full of
potential for discovery. This article focuses on the Santa Cruz Mountains, but
I also include wines from other, smaller, nearby appellations.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1699368005401-SCM_Nov2023+Cover.jpg">Rhys’ Skyline Vineyard. Exploring Recent Vintages Many of the wines I tasted for this report are from the 2021
harvest, a year that is, so far, shaping up to be exceptional here. When all is
said and done, 2021 could very well turn out to be one of the all-time great
vintages in the Santa Cruz Mountains. One of the most important factors in 2021
was severe drought. At Rhys, proprietor Kevin Harvey reported that rainfall was
50% of normal. The situation was even more dramatic at Mount Eden, where
Jeffrey Patterson reported that the estate received just 1/3rd of
its typical rainfall. Patterson added that rainfall these days is rarely the
average but rather swings of either very low rain, as in 2021, or well above
average, as was the case in both 2019 and 2023.

The growing season was marked by mostly even weather, with
no shock events and cooling temperatures at the end of the season. In tasting,
the Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs marry intense, rich fruit with bright, vibrant
acids. Many wines are spectacularly vivid and beautiful. The 2021 Bordeaux reds
have not been released yet, so it is too early to have a complete view of the
year, but the first signs are very positive.

I also tasted a number of 2020s this year. As readers no
doubt remember, 2020 was marked by intense heat, drought and then a series of
fires at the end of the season and during harvest. Some of the fires were local,
while others impacted the region more through smoke and blocked sunlight rather
than the direct effects of the fire itself. Another consequence was a lack of
accessibility to vineyard sites and winemaking facilities during what was a
period of catastrophic damage.

The wines are uneven at best. Some sites were picked
unnaturally early, for some producers, a better choice than risking the entire
crop. Those wines are not necessarily tainted or flawed, just light wines made
from fruit that was not physiologically ripe. Other wines are muddled and
unfocused, clearly affected by conditions, but good for the year. I also tasted
a few wines that showed clear signs of smoke taint. There is no way of getting
around the fact that every wine in 2020 is affected by fire in one way or
another. In some cases, the effects are minor; in others, they are quite
significant.

I was not in California during this time, but I got a very
good idea of what fire and smoke can do when New York City was affected by
wildfires from Canada earlier this year. That smoke, at elevation and from
fires many hundreds of miles away, meaningfully affected air quality. To think
that far more serious conditions around and during harvest in wine-producing
regions did not have an impact is simply not realistic.

A handful of 2019s in this report confirm my earlier
impressions of an attractive but lighter vintage. Higher than average rainfall
yielded wines that are quite pretty aromatically but that also have less
density than the very best years, vintages like 2021 that are more complete.

I tasted the wines in this article in September and October
2023.© 2023, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.<hr> You Might Also Enjoy<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/santa-cruz-mountains-the-compelling-2018s-&amp;-2019s-may-2022">Santa Cruz Mountains: The Compelling 2018s &amp; 2019s</a>, Antonio Galloni, May 2022 <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/santa-cruz-mountains-wines-of-breathtaking-pedigree-sep-2020">Santa Cruz Mountains: Wines of Breathtaking Pedigree</a>, Antonio Galloni, September 2020 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZFgg4gaoyY">A Conversation with Kevin Harvey and Jeff Brinkman of Rhys</a>, Antonio Galloni, July 2020 <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/exploring-the-santa-cruz-mountains-oct-2019">Exploring the Santa Cruz Mountains</a>, Antonio Galloni, October 2019<div><div></div></div><div><div><a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/santa-cruz-mountains-the-gorgeous-2016s-aug-2018">Santa Cruz Mountains – The Gorgeous 2016s</a>, Antonio Galloni, August 2018<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/santa-cruz-mountains-the-2015s-and-2014s-aug-2017">Santa Cruz Mountains – The 2015s and 2014s</a>, Antonio Galloni, August 2017</div></div>

Content

Engage

Vinous

Social