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| Daniel Gehrs - A Wine Odyssey | ||
| I became a "wine enthusiast" during
my college years in the Northwest during the early '70's. I made small lots
of wine for myself and my friends, not all of it grape, not all of it good.
But for parties it was something besides beer and some of it wasn't even
too bad! I also started appreciating traditional wine and after going through the Boone's Farm-Rhine Castle-Mateus-Lancer's stage I got to liking things like Almaden Mountain Claret or Burgundy. On a "starving student's" budget, you can't be much more choosy than that. I got my degree - in Political Science - in 1973, got married, and headed back to California, tired of Pacific Northwest winters. I took up graduate school in the same discipline at UC Santa Barbara just when the wine industry was in it's infancy.  I got even more interested in wine and decided to "go for it", first concentrating my efforts in the local area, driving up to the Santa Ynez Valley where I knew there were vineyards being planted, but all to no avail. I was just too early for what was soon to follow. Too bad. I,I've heard it was fun. Not being overly discouraged I found a job at Paul Masson Vineyards, Saratoga, in the San Francisco Bay area. It was definitely "entry level" but that was ok; I was really in the wine business and I learned a lot the two years I was there between 1974 and 1976. I started making "real wine" in the fall of 1974 from grapes grown at the old "La Cresta" mountain vineyard that Masson himself had planted at the turn of the century with classic varietals and clones from Burgundy for his famous pre Prohibition champagnes. The property was subsequently sold to Martin Ray who in turn sold it to Jos. Seagrams & Sons in the mid 40's to establish his own vineyards and winery nearby. That property is now Mt. Eden Vineyards. While at Masson my wife Robin and I discovered an overgrown, mostly abandoned old mountain vineyard that was to become our first big venture: Congress Springs. We were at Congress Springs Vineyards(CSV) in the Santa Cruz Mountains from 1974 to 1990. At CSV we were able to make some memorable Zinfandels and Cabernet Francs from old, head trained vines that we rescued from oblivion starting commercially as a bonded winery in 1976 and thankfully, those vineyards are still producing fine wines today. We also leased and operated from 1978 to 1986, some of the old Novitiate vineyards in the nearby mountains above Los Gatos which produced our first "Spectator Selection" wine in the form of a 1978 Pinot Noir, a lifelong love for the Chenin Blanc grape, some memorable Pinot Blancs, all of which varietals we continue to produce and bottle today, albeit from newer vineyards and different appellations. We were the first winery to really make a name for the San Ysidro District, south-east of Gilroy in the Santa Clara Valley with Chardonnays that ranked consistently in the 90's with the Wine Spectator in the mid to late 1980's. Soon numerous other wineries were beating a path to that source for Chardonnay as well as other varieties and the grapes continue to be in demand today, years after our 1985 San Ysidro Chardonnay won 9 medals including 5 Gold Medals which made it the most awarded wine of all in the year 1986. When we left CSV in the spring of 1990 we founded Daniel Gehrs Wines. I was then winemaker at Elliston Vineyards for an all too brief period from early 1991 to early 1993. Elliston, a massive, century-old, hand-cut stone mansion and estate in Sunol, Alameda County produced Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and a bit of Pinot Gris from 15 acres or so in the Sunol Valley. Fortunately for me since the commute from our Ben Lomond home in Santa Cruz County to Sunol was a bit much, Elliston's owners bought a then recently defunct winery property in the Zayante district of the Santa Cruz Mountains, much closer to where I lived, and we made all the wine there in 1991 and 1992. The 1991 Elliston Chardonnay won both a Gold Medal and "best white" of the San Francisco Bay Region at the State Fair in 1992. In January of 1993 we made a momentous change when I accepted the position of winemaker at Zaca Mesa Winery in Santa Barbara County with the understanding that I could bring my Daniel Gehrs brand with me and continue producing it on a limited scale at Zaca Mesa. One condition, however, was that I could not produce anything that Zaca Mesa produced. I "commuted" back and forth for six months between the Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Cruz County while Robin, who was back to teaching elementary school, and the kids; Jennifer and Jeremy, finished the school year. The family moved down in June, I moved out of the motel and into a new house and my first vintage at Zaca Mesa produced a Syrah that went all the way to Wine Spectator's #6 in the top 100 wines of the year for 1995. The influence of that one wine can still be seen and felt now in the growing plethora of Syrah's and Rhonestyle wines being produced in the Central Coast today. I also had the pleasurable distinction of bringing the white Rhone varietal Roussanne to Zaca Mesa in 1993. The 1996 Roussanne earned the award of Gold Medal and Best of Show White at the San Francisco Fair in the summer of 1998. It was both a first and a treat to beat all those Chardonnays. I had decided to leave Zaca Mesa at the end of the year, after the 1997 vintage. I revived my consulting practice at the same time, concentrating on an exciting new startup in the Santa Ynez Valley. Bridlewood Winery is very much in the "Grand Tradition" of Chateaux and Great Estates and undoubtedly will make its mark in the years to come. Red wine and Syrah especially will be Bridlewood's forte. It was also a chance for me to design my "dream winery', something I could never do otherwise! During all this time since leaving CSV in 1990, Robin and I have had our own brand, Daniel Gehrs Wines. Starting out with a Loire-style theme featuring old favorites like Chenin Blanc, Pinot Blanc and Cabernet Franc the brand has been freed from contractual restrictions and now includes Syrah, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and small quantities of other enticing varietals and blends. After 25 years in this business (1999 will be my 25th vintage) we are basically doing what we most wanted to do from the very beginning and that is to have our own operation, free to pursue our own vision of fine wine. Our first wines from the 1991 vintage attracted the attention of Robert Parker who, writing in the Wine Advocate and Food and Wine magazine called them among the world's greatest wine values. (Always the "Populist Winemaker" I have long championed reasonable wine prices so that more people will enjoy wine). Among our latest efforts, the 1997 "Paso Robles" Syrah rated a "91" in the Wine Spectator, a "2 puff" in Connoisseur's Guide and a "Superior" rating in the California Grapevine. At the just concluded "Hospice du Rhone" celebration at the Mid-Stage Fairgrounds in Paso Robles a special barrel of our 1998 Syrah carrying a "Lonesome Oak Vineyard" designation went for $4,800 which was one of the higher priced lots and was well received indeed by many tasters at the barrel auction tasting. For the "broad market" we are now producing a classic, dry Chenin Blanc, true Pinot Blanc (both from the Pinnacles district in Monterey), Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc from Santa Barbara County and Syrah from Paso Robles. (When I say broad market you should take that with a grain of salt: the wines are all made in very small quantities and thus are not automatically easy to track down.) We are also producing extremely limited quantities of Viognier, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon as well as single vineyard designated varietals for sale only to our private mailing list and our new Vintage Club. Our total production, now 5,000 cases, may gradually climb towards 10,000 cases over the next several years. An exciting note for the future is a new program of planting contracts where I have been able to work out an arrangement with certain quality minded growers on long term contracts. Right now we have contracted for almost 39 acres in this manner here in Santa Barbara County including Pinot Blanc Vrai, Mt. Eden clone Chardonnay, four Dijon clones of Pinot Noir, Grenache Noir from Chateau Beaucastel in Chateaunenf du Pape, the Chapoutier clone of Syrah and Shiraz from Australia! Production will commence in 2001. |
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