—California’s wine history began in San Diego. The Spanish friars who came here in 1769 planted the first vines near the Mission and some of their hardy transplants are still around today. Though the local wine industry has grown considerably in recent years, many of the local wineries are not well known, even though their output is sometimes exemplary. At a recent gathering at North Park’s Caffé Calabria last month, CEO Arne Holt tried to shed some light on some of San Diego’s vintners.
The event showcased the efforts of the San Diego Vintner’s Association, a trade group that since 1994, has worked to improve the wine business and influence the direction of the San Diego County wine industry. The event, headed by Gloriosa Vineyards’ John Brunetto, presented 20 wineries from around the county. Most of these are small operations with miniscule outputs per year, though the quaility of the wines overall were very good.  It seems that the coffee roaster outed a secret that had been kept too long; San Diego’s micro wine makers know what they’re doing.
Several offerings stood out among them; Jenkins Winery offered an apple port that was unique and uncommon, to say the least. The small winery located in Julian produces less than fifty cases per year of the port and 2009 marks the seventh year of their output. In addition to the apple port, they offer a Dolcezza, a dry apple wine as well as a rosé made from Syrah grapes. Another was a fine Montepulciano from Witch Creek Winery in Carlsbad. Twin Oaks from San Marcos offered a one of a kind blend of Syrah and Viognier grape called a Syrenade; this left a particularly memorable finish.
The wineries included in the exhibition usually produce less than two hundred cases of their offerings per year and some of them offer far fewer than that. Most of the wineries on exhibition at Caffé Calabria are less than ten years old and some of them are located in places not usually thought of as wine country. Gloriosa Vineyards is located in Campo—and John Brunetto praises the conditions there as perfect for wine making. Mahogany Mountain and Lenora are in Ramona at an elevation not usually associated with California vintages. The heights do nothing to detract from their wines; Lenora’s Barbera and Mahogany Mountain’s Zinfandel were proof of that. Warner Springs, Julian, Alpine, Carlsbad and San Marcos all host vineyards—most of these are less than one hundred acres in size.
Typical for San Diego, there are some excellent creators of some of life’s better things that are too little known and under-appreciated within the larger community, and it’s no less ironic that a coffee roaster would showcase these quality wine makers and help them find a market. Caffé Calabria’s Arne Holt has expressed similar hopes to bring local beer breweries a better following in the future, too. ESPRESSO wishes all such makers of the better things in life well and prosperity in 2010 and urges the coffee connoisseurs of the region to sample what’s growing virtually under their noses and to engage local producers first when thinking of what to enjoy.