I drive though Sacramento a lot. It's VERY hot in the summers, with temperatures regularly exceeding 100 degrees Farenheit. I seldom stop to taste wine at the wineries just north of Sacramento, but I may have to re-consider treating this area as drive-by wine country.
One winery that has popped up on my radar recently is Berryessa Gap. I was particularly impressed by a Tempranillo that really seemed to capture the best qualities of Spain's favorite grape. I like the subtly oaked, fresh style of the wines from Berryessa Gap.
Based near the town of Winters, outside of Sacramento, Berryessa Gap represents the western part of Yolo County, a county and AVA that extends east to Clarksburg, near Lodi, farther inland, but all part of an inland area that is tempered by the inland extentions of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Delta.
The are area surrounding Sacramento is generally known for rich soils and industrial-size farming, but not necessarily fine wine production. Wine usually needs tougher, less fertile soils. What people mostly grow in Yolo County are almonds, walnuts, hay, alfalfa and, vegetables. Much of the county is ideal for growing just about anything, but those aren't conditions ideal for wine grape production.
Grape vines are a particularly durable, drought-hardy crop that performs best where nothing else will survive other than olive trees and hardscrabble scrub. Only the leanest hillside sites in Yolo County are suitable for growing high quality wine grapes. Even then, the climate is on the hot side, so grape selection and farming techniques need to be managed carefully.
The Martinez family farms about 800 acres of land near Winters They had propagated rootstocks in association with U.C. Davis on richer soils, but they needed leaner soils to actually make quality wines.
Their vineyards are planted on a leaner site the family purchased in 2000 - a site that wasn't so well suited for so many of the standard agricultural purposes like growing almonds, salad greens or all of the other stuff.
Enter winemaker Nicole Salengo, a former retail wine buyer and geologist who was largely trained by winemaker Mark West of Saintsbury before she eventually earned a degree in oenology.
Salengo's aesthetic presents itself prominently in Berryessa Gap's wines. There's little or no use of new barriques. The wines aim at and often achieve freshness and precision despite the admittedly hot climate. Salengo seems to be completely aware of the battles she is fighting, and more often that not, she seems to be winning, making wines that are fresh, fruit-driven and likeable, and also good values selling for $17 to $25 a bottle.
Oh, and did I mention that they are actually very good wines as well? When you succeed in making wines that aren't overripe and over-oaked, you generally succeed in making wines that accurately reflect the grape variety the wines are made from, and you might actually make something with a real point of view.
In some of the wines you see the limitations of the climate Salengo is dealt. The Albarino is a little sweeter than expected. The Zinfandel / Primitivo is plummy and a tad baked, but they are a result of the place and the basic nature of the grape. Some of that can be addressed with blending, but for right now, Salengo seems to be focused on deconstructing each variety, making naked, single-variety wines, and slowly sorting out how each grape performs in the Winters climate.
The Tempranillo is brilliant - fresh and on point. The Verdejo is also quite charming, and the Durif (Petite Sirah) also shows that the grapes that like heat can perform very well in the climate around Winters.
An unabashed Grenache and Cabernet Franc fan, Salengo is interested in exploring whatever works in the warmer inland regions of California. I'm curious to try some of her Grenache, a red grape that generally doesn't like a lot of oak and also doesn't age all that well. To that end, I'll be staying tuned.
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| Berryessa Gap winemaker Nicole Salengo. Photo courtesy Berryessa Gap. |
2015 Berryessa Gap Tempranillo Yolo County ($25) If you told me this was Spanish I wouldn't flinch. Maybe it doesn't have the minerality that you would get from a really special Rioja, but I seldom find California Tempranillo that captures the essence and beauty of Tempranillo the way this one does. First and foremost, the wine isn't over-worked at all. The color isn't over-extracted (a common American winemaker mistake), and it isn't over-oaked at all, it was matured in neutral barrels for 9 months. The black cherry, bay leaf, allspice and mulberry flavors are perfectly dialed in, the texture is supple and there's just a little bit of raspy tannin to add a little structure. It's a beautiful, drinkable, delicious Tempranillo. 92 Points 2017 Berryessa Gap Albarino Yolo County ($17) What do I look for in a Spanish Albarino? You expect hints of peach and maybe apricot, but they should be on the lean, barely ripe side, maybe some subtle herb notes, salinity, and a hint of granite minerality. You can tell this is a California wine for sure, the fruit is a bit sweet, but it does have appropriate peach and apricot notes. As it warms in the glass it has a soft, marshmallow-like note, and interestingly enough, there really is a bit of a drying saline note to it, which is probably in reality just some phenols from Albarino's fairly thick grape skins. All in all, a good effort, and a nice wine. 87 Points
2017 Berryessa Gap Verdejo Yolo County ($17) I think this variety has great promise in California's warmer inland reaches because is can retain acidity and a pleasant green apple flavored personality even in relatively hot climates. This is better than average take on Verdejo that is relatively fresh, but not quite as vibrant as some Spanish examples. Maybe it could have been picked a couple of days earlier? It's a really good wine, but a bit of refinement might make it even better. 88 Points
2015 Berryessa Gap Durif Yolo County ($25) Durif is more commonly known as Petite Sirah in the U.S. It's a grape that is high in color, high in tannin, high in acid, and just generally turned up to 11 all over the place. It takes a gifted winemaker to turn it into something refined. Here's a nice, just-tame-enough version with great, fresh violet, blueberry, blackberry notes and fine-grained tannins. A really impressive Petite Sirah. 91 Points 2016 Berryessa Gap Zinfandel, Yolo County ($25) The winemaker tells me this is made from Primitivo, which shares a common genetic profile with Zinfandel. To me, the two are fairly distinguishable. Primitivo is predictably more earthy and clunky, and that's on display here. It's not a bad wine, just in need of some blending. It has plummy, berry flavors, mostly red fruit, and it's fine. Double Gold Medal, 2018 SF International Wine Competition. 87 Points
2016 Berryessa Gap Malbec Yolo County ($25) There's a remarkable freshness on display in the violet and fresh blackbery notes at play here. Look, a lot of California winemakers love this stuff as a blending ingredient for its depth and concentration, but it can also be simple on its own. This is not a complicated wine, but it's a good one, and a very good value at that. 89 Points
- Tim Teichgraeber
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