2010 Syrah Clary Ranch

Duncan Meyers and Nathan Roberts are now settled into their own facility, a small, highly efficient setup just south of the Healdsburg town square. "It's walking distance from home," according to Meyers, "which is better than having to make down to Forestville," where they previously made wines alongside Pax Mahle at Wind Gap. He added that rapid growth was not part of their short-term game plan, despite the fact that these wines sell quickly. Roberts said that 2010 "was a vintage that gave us pretty much what we want. We were able to get the grape maturity that we needed but the fruit kept its acidity." Arnot-Roberts helped to pioneer the low-octane but intensely flavored style is all the rage now, which is amusing given the fact that this winery only began in 2001. "Yeah, we're the old guys," the mid-30-ish Meyers told me.

Arnot-Roberts is one of the most exciting young wineries in California, or anywhere for that matter. Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Lee Roberts have put together a compelling set of wines that highlight the personalities of some of the cooler-climate sites in Northern California. Most of the wines are made with a high percentage of whole clusters. Vinification takes place with the native yeasts and bacteria, and the wines are bottled without fining or filtration. The latest addition to the lineup is a Cabernet Sauvignon from Fellom Ranch, a vineyard on the Montebello Ridge in the Santa Cruz mountains not too far from the parcels from which Ridge crafts their iconic Montebello. Readers who want to learn more about Arnot-Roberts may want to check out my video interview on this site.