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Letters to the Editor

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.