Small Sellout Vineyards

Unlike Europe, where land and climate suitable for noble vines are very limited and the great wine estates are centuries old, California has a vast amount of hospitable acreage and an ever increasing number of nouveaux wineries. While the state has a dozen long-established firms that annually produce more than 2 million cases (4.5 million gal.) each, some of the most interesting wines are being made by comparatively small estates that have started up in the past two decades. They are owned by engineers and airline pilots, big businessmen and corporations. Most of the bottles shipped by such wineries as Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, Chappellet, Santa Ynez, Burgess, Joseph Swan, Sanford & Benedict, J. Lohr, Keenan, Heitz and Chateau St. Jean are instant sellouts--often at higher prices than comparable French, Italian or German vintages. A tasting:

Sterling Vineyards. One of the biggest of the smallest, Coca-Cola-owned Sterling is the largest winery in the U.S. to produce only estate-bottled wines, European style. Opened in 1973 on 400 acres in the upper Napa Valley (Napa is Indian for "plenty"), Sterling is best known for its reds, notably a subtle Cabernet Sauvignon that sells for up to $20 a bottle. Under Dutch-born Winemaster Theo Rosenbrand, Sterling plans to increase production from 65,000 cases a year to 90,000 by 1985, at the same time narrowing its range of varietals to concentrate on Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Its 1976 Cabernets and Pinots Noirs will be released this month, but should be put down for at least two years before they are uncorked. Sterling is probably the only winery in the world where visitors board an aerial tramway en route to the sampling room; they get an intoxicating view of the vine-dappled valley below and Mount St. Helena beyond.

Joseph Phelps Vineyard. A medium-size winery (170 acres) with an annual crush of some 45,000 cases, Phelps is known for its fruity, aromatic Riesling. Winemaster Walter Schug, who came to California from Germany, plans to keep production at the present level while concentrating on improving quality. Joseph Phelps, a Colorado-based construction tycoon, planted his first vines in 1973 on the slopes of Napa's Spring Valley area. The winery is made of lumber from century-old railroad bridges; its vineyards range from 200 ft. above sea level to 660 ft., where mists and cool breezes are ideal for noble whites. Phelps also makes Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, some of which are sold under the label Le Fleuron at a sensible price (around $5.75). In another of its several microclimates, at Yountville, Phelps grows Gewurztraminer, whose sweetish, slightly musky flavor is comparable to the famed white from its ancestral vines in Alsace and Germany. Says Schug: "The grape comes first. We don't aim for a certain market. If you make fine wine, there are always people who will buy it."

Ridge Vineyard. Situated eight miles south of Palo Alto in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Ridge owns only 50 acres but crushes grapes from Napa, Sonoma, San Joaquin and Amador counties. Founded in 1959 by a group of Stanford electronics engineers, it is a prototype of the so-called boutique vineyard: it produces a small quantity, only 25,000 cases, of well-made, pricy wines. Most are reds, with a big, intense Zinfandel the finest and best-known vintage. For the Zinfandel, Chief Winemaker Paul Draper, who majored in philosophy at Stanford and mastered oenology in the vineyards of Burgundy and Chile, seeks grapes from older vineyards that give the wine the chewy body prized by aficionados. In addition to the well-priced Zinfandels ($4.75 to $9), Ridge produces a dark, full-bodied Cabernet that sells for up to $20 under the Montebello label. Ridge does not intend to increase its production, which now is about equal to that of Bordeaux's Chateau Latour. Says Draper: "We think something is lost when you go above, say, 50,000 cases."

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