Ordinarily a discussion of outstanding white wines from California’s Central Coast would likely begin, and possibly end, with Chardonnay. After all, from Santa Babarba to Monterey there are thousands of acres of Chardonnay vineyards, making Chardonnay the vast region’s most reliable money crop.
To be sure, Central Coast Chardonnay is a worthy wine. Yet I’ve recently indulged myself in a couple of unusual white blends that make me suspect the potential for great white wine in the Central Coast goes well beyond Chardonnay, no matter how good.
The wines are the 2009 Trenza Blanco, Edna Valley and the 2010 Ranchero Cellars Chrome, La Vista Vineyard, Paso Robles. Trenza Blanco is a 50-50 blend of Albarino and Grenache Blanc; Ranchero Cellars Chrome a 70-30 blend of Grenache Blanc and Viognier. These are not blends you will find every day in the cellars of any California winery, though the world of California wine would be a better place if other wineries embraced the daring, innovative thinking of the two winemakers involved, Christian Roguenant (Trenza) and Amy Butler (Ranchero Cellars).
Christian, a native of France’s Burgundy region who came to this country a couple of decades ago to make the ill-fated sparkling wine, Maison Deutz, has a long track record for both the skill of his winemaking and his willingness to experiment. He is the guiding hand behind the Tangent wines, including Tangent’s outstanding Albarino, and also recently introduced a Gruner Veltliner under the Zocker label.
He also makes the Baileyana wines, which along with Trenza, Tangent and Zocker give the Niven Family of Paragon Vineyard fame one of the most impressive portfolio of brands in all of California. Not only do they make great wines at their Edna Valley operation, they dare put them in bottles with screwcap closures!
Butler’s story is a bit more modest, but no less interesting. She is a specialist in the Rhone grape varieties and made numerous award-winning wines at Edward Sellers in Paso Robles before departing to start the Ranchero Cellars project.
She entered three of her wines — Chrome, the 2009 Carignan "Old Vines" Columbini Vineyard, Mendocino County, and the 2010 Viognier La Vista Vineyard, Paso Robles — in the Sommelier Challenge wine competition in September and won silver awards with both whites and a gold award for the Carignan.
All three wines rock, but I’m most enamored of the Chrome because it bolsters my argument, along with the Trenza Blanco, that the Central Coast has a very bright future in eclectic white blends, if only more winemakers would head down that path.
My recent review of the Trenza Blanco for WRO and the Creators Syndicate:
Trenza, Edna Valley (Central Coast, California) ‘Blanco’ 2009 ($20): Trenza’s blanco is a shining example of the potential for unusual grape varieties to do well in many of California’s cool, coastal appellations. The grapes are unusual only in the sense that traditionally they have not been widely planted, if planted at all, in this country. This is a 50-50 blend of Albarino (the delicious white from the Rias Baixas district of Galicia in western Spain) and Grenache Blanc, a staple of the white wines of the southern Rhone Valley of France. The Albarino provides the zing, the Grenache blanc the heft. It’s a lovely combo that shows aromas of red citrus, such as tangerine, and crisp pear. There is a flinty, edgy minerality throughout. I absolutely loved it. 94 Robert Whitley Sep 6, 2011
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