"To Understand California Wine's Present, You Gotta Understand Its Past"
And that past is this: In the 1970s, California wines made a breakthrough when a few California wines beat out French wines at a competition in what became known as theJudgement of Paris. After that, two things happened: 1. A lot of brands grew to enormous sizes and started producing low-quality wines. 2. About a decade later, a new group of young winemakers decided they needed to re-establish the state's prestige, which led to respected but incredibly expensive "cult" wines. Both of these phenomena led to some wariness on the part of serious wine drinkers. "When I moved to California 15 years ago I was having existential issues with California wines," recalls Jon Bonne, a wine writer and author ofThe New California Wine. "They didn’t go very well with food and they were mostly interested in being self-important."
But that's the past, man. California wine has now finally entered the future.
"Those Big, Jammy Reds? They're gone."
One of the hallmarks of the older generation of California wines? "Big," "jammy" red wines. These wines were high in alcohol and possessed a level of fruity flavor that smacked you in the face when you drank it. Luckily, these fruit-bombs aren't nearly as prevalent as they once were. "We are now entering a new golden era in California wine," says Bonne. "These new wines being produced don't taste outsized." That's thanks to the newest crop of California wine makers, most of whom are under 45, that are making easy-drinking wines—the type of bottles you'd put on the table during a meal. (A few wine terms to drop when describing these wines: "Fresh" and "sunny fruit." Because thereisfruit—it's justfreshfruit.
"California's Wine Growing Climate isSoDiverse"
We tend to pigeonhole all of California as having one style of wine. But the truth is the state is no one-trick pony when it comes to soil-type and climate. "If you think about the size of California and the diversity of soils and climates, it’s as diverse, or even more so, than France," says Bonne. And some of these new Cali wines aren't just from the northern part of the state (Sonoma, Mendocino, Napa Valley), but also Santa Barbara and even San Diego.
"California Wine is Cheap now! Kind of."
One of the biggest issues with the "cult" wines of the 90s were their extremely high prices. This new class of California wine maker is producing wine with consumers in mind, aiming to make less expensive wines. "One thing people have done is to focus on some forgotten grape varietals that were essentially being sold to make cheap jug wine," says Bonne. Carignan and chenin blanc are a couple of the lesser-known grapes winemakers are using to get the price of wine down without sacrificing quality. But no matter what grapes are used, "the twelve-dollar bottle may never happen," explains Bonne. "The simple cost of labor and land that you have to account for in California is just really high." That's okay—California wines are getting to be worth the money again.
3 Bottles to Buy
2013 Sandhi Santa Barbara Chardonnay - $33The price tag may be a bit high, but this entry-level option from Sandhi is worth the splurge. You'll get a classic example of whatnewChardonnay looks like: No buttery oak, all fresh, juicy purity. Buy ithere.
2014 Broc Cellars White Zinfandel - $24Chris Brockway is one of the stars of this new California wine movement. His white zinefindel is a great place to start—sunny, fresh, and endlessly drinkable. Buy ithere.
2012 Vesper Vineyards Rosé- $21 Yes, there's incredible rosé being produced in San Diego by a husband-and-wife team. Buy ithere.
