THE PHILOSOPHY
It's our belief that authentic wine is a direct reflection of the specific patch of earth it comes from. This ethos drives us to work with the most unique and rugged vineyards found on the central coast. These special sites have a story to tell unlike any other. We have two simple goals that direct every operation above all else: to present the narrative of the growing season in a delicious and transparent format, and to craft a wine with a strong foundation intended to age for decades. The fundamentals that we follow are old-school; dry-farmed, organic viticulture . We spend the majority of our time working in the vineyards, with our harvest season spent between monitoring natural fermentations to picking grapes and the overtime hours dedicated to fixing broken gear. Every year is unique, so the vineyard and cellar practices evolve annually to adapt to the changes each season brings forth. These simple methods require thoughtful, timely decision making, detailed work, and the patience to allow the wine to evolve at its own pace. The results are singular, authentic wines that represent a region, a site, and are a piece of living California history.
THE WINEMAKER
The path to becoming a winemaker was not at all clear, though my interests as a youngster helped stir the pot in that direction. I grew up in Contra Costa County, California, which is far more famous for housing subdivisions than for wine grapes. I spent my time exploring the “outdoors” which consisted of exploring the foothills of Mt. Diablo, fishing in the San Pablo bay, and gardening with my grandma. My interests in food developed with a job as a dishwasher for a culinary school during my summer breaks in high school. My focus on wine was sparked because of my wrestling (when you are deprived of food, you tend to dream about it…)
I chose to go to Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo because it had a great wrestling team and Cal Poly offered a degree in Wine and Viticulture. I shifted to focus on academics in lieu of athletics after a few seasons, as my interests escalated into minors in soil science, sustainable agriculture and plant protection science. My first internship was at Saucelito Canyon Winery in Arroyo Grande, CA where I learned to work with ancient, dry-farmed vines. Not far from Saucelito Canyon, I met my mentor, Justin Willett of Tyler Winery, while rock climbing in remote Santa Barbara County. This chance meeting led to a four year endeavor as the assistant winemaker at both Tyler and Lieu Dit Winery. In between harvests at Tyler, I traveled to work abroad in Margaret River, Western Australia and in Austria (Wachau, Weingut Tegernseerhof) before moving up north to work for the classic Santa Cruz Mountain winery Thomas Fogarty. Stirm Wine Co. is now located in southern Santa Cruz County near Watsonville; central between the key appellations we work with.
THE REASON FOR RIESLING (and now Cabernet Pfeffer)
We could just give you the obvious answer on why we make Riesling. We love it. It's not only our belief that this terpene-rich grape is the most dynamic, transparent and exciting white wine grape. To understand why we chose to pursue working with this grape here in California, a brief introduction to our states past is a great place to start.
The history of California viticulture goes back to the 1700's when Spanish missionaries brought their imported grapes here up from Baja California, Mexico. The first variety planted here earned the acronym 'Mission" grape; today also known as Listán Prieto originating in Spain. Up until around the 1850's, the Mission grape was virtually the only variety planted in California.
The "Gold Rush" that began in 1848 brought in a wave of immigration from the eastern U.S. and abroad. While most '49ers' failed to amass a fortune in gold, they discovered other areas California offered an opportunity to strike it rich; the abundance of fertile ground. As with many immigrants, these original entrepreneurs brought with them important pieces of cultural heritage to their new homeland. One of these pioneers, Agoston Haraszthy, is credited with introducing the first vitis vinifera vines to the state (he imported over 100,000 cuttings!) in 1852. In our opinion, one of his greatest early successes was Riesling.
Riesling enjoyed a massively popular era in California, the U.S., and Europe for over one hundred years (1850's-1960's). At times in this era, the greatest Riesling's were higher in price than the fabled wines of Bordeaux. Riesling was one of the most widely planted varieties in California, from the Santa Cruz Mountains to Napa. If history shows us any indication of future results, as we believe, we are once again betting on this grape to pave the path ahead.
As climate change continues to spur the unpredictability of weather and extreme weather events (with the notable exception we continue to get warmer annually), there are few white grapes better suited to withstand the impacts than Riesling. Here's some data to back the claim: it's drought-tolerant, has extreme winter hardiness, buds late, has good heat tolerance, ripens late, has very high acidity, and has stylistic variation unmatched in most other grapes. Much like it was done long before us, it's our mission to pioneer the new age of California Riesling.
Now that we as a winery have evolved since our early days, we have shifted to focus on creating wines from historic grapes in from our region. These include Cabernet Pfeffer, Zinfandel, Negrette, and Mission from the 1800’s to the newer Pinot Noir and Chardonnay (since the early 1900’s) that have thrived here for a long time. Cabernet Pfeffer specifically is only grown in San Benito County and limited to about 17 acres worldwide spready across five vineyards mostly in the Cienega Valley. Three of those vineyards have vines planted 120 years ago or older. Cabernet Pfeffer is originally from Bordeaux in France and was known as Mourtaou there. It was propogated and sold by William Pfeffer in the 1800’s to growers in San Benito, Santa Clara, and the Santa Cruz Mountains. With such a limited worldwide scope of the grape, it is of great importance to us to preserve the variety thru production and it’s now one of our most treasured varieties.