Wine 101: In land of pinot noir, one name crops up

The first weekend in December, my wife, Nancy, and I joined two of our best friends for a wine-tasting road trip to Santa Barbara County. We had made reservations for dinner in the caves at Cottonwood Canyon in Santa Maria and thought we would do some wine tasting during the early part of the day in the Santa Rita Hills portion of the county.

We found out the Santa Rita Hills wineries were holding an event called Holiday Cheers in Wine Country this same weekend. It was a holiday-themed open house where multiple wineries were pouring at several locations.

We started at one of our favorites, Clos Pepe, and moved on to other wineries at this first location. We then headed off to the Terravant Wine Center. There were nine wineries pouring there, but I was most anxious to visit Ken Brown Wines; his have always been favorites of mine.

When you ask people familiar with Santa Barbara County pinot noirs who their favorite winemakers are, Ken Brown often is among those mentioned first. From his early days at Zaca Mesa Winery to his 20-year tenure at Byron Vineyard and Winery to his small family operation at Ken Brown Wines, he has continued to experiment with clones, rootstocks, soils and techniques, exploring the area’s tremendous potential for pinot noir.

Brown focuses on small lots of pinot from the finest vineyards of Santa Rita Hills. His annual production is about 2,000 cases. He works with growers to hand-select vineyard blocks for his program. The vineyards include Cargasacchi, Clos Pepe, Rio Vista and Sanford & Benedict. When I asked Wes Hagen, the winemaker for Clos Pepe, who he felt did the best job with his grapes, he quickly singled out Brown.

At the Terravant event, I tasted and purchased Brown’s 2006 Santa Rita Hills and Santa Barbara County pinot noirs. I had tasted them before and they were great as usual. My only disappointment came when I noticed he did not have any of his other wonderful pinot noirs there. I plan on taking another road trip soon to taste the others and I will be ordering his 2006 Clos Pepe pinot upon release.

In an area where pinot noirs reign, Brown is one of the pioneers and kings of this varietal. If you are heading to the area, I suggest you make a stop at Ken Brown Wines. The winery offers tastings by appointment but asks for a few weeks’ notice.

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