In 1972 Rusty Ray lost control of most of his mountain and its vineyards to his shareholders and creditors. The winery became Mount Eden Vineyards, and today produces some of the finest wines in the state.

The family kept their house and a small vineyard lower down the mountain. With Ray's death in 1976 the land passed to his stepson, Peter Martin Ray. As you drive up the two mile dirt track that leads to Mount Eden Vineyards the first vines that you see, head pruned and sprawling, are the Peter Martin Ray vineyard. Planted in the 1960s there are around 5 acres in total of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The grapes are mostly sold to local producers. Duane Cronin was one buyer; he produced many notable vintages of Peter Martin Ray Pinot Noir in the 1990s. Current purchasers include Denis Hoey's Odonata label as well as Frank Ashton's Downhill.

2006 Downhill Chardonnay, Peter Martin Ray Vineyard
Nose of baked apples, vanilla and caramel. Sharp acidity, nice fruit with mineral notes. Oak is evident without being too obtrusive. Needs time. 88 Listed at $23

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I doubt that there's a winery anywhere in the country with as interesting a history as Mount Eden. Its history goes back to the 1940s, when Martin "Rusty" Ray sold Paul Masson's old Mountain Winery to Seagrams and purchased Table Mountain to the north west. In April 1960, Ray incorporated "Mount Eden Vineyards" and sold a handful of shares at $10,000 each. A few years later there was a legal action led by one shareholder who had purchased a number of shares. This led to a legal battle, which Ray lost. The story - or a version of it at least - is told in the book "Vineyards In The Sky". Martin Ray died a few years later, in 1976.

Mount Eden had a series of winemakers in the 1970s. Dick Graff, founder of Chalone Vineyards was the first. He brought on Meredith "Merry" Edwards, who in turn was succeeded by Fred Peterson.

In 1981 Peterson recruited a young graduate from Davis named Jeffrey Patterson as assistant winemaker. Just two harvests later Peterson left and Jeffrey Patterson took over as head winemaker. He has since become the majority shareholder in Mount Eden Vineyards and lives in the house that Ray built.

The drive up the mountain is ... interesting. The road is unpaved; in fact 'road' is far too grand a word for what is little more than a dirt track. When it rains Jeffrey re-grades the surface but in the dry season it's two and a half miles of rutted, compacted dust.

But once you reach the top the views are spectacular, particularly on a relatively clear day. You are looking down from 2000 feet on an unbroken panorama from Mount Umunhum in the south to Mount Diablo in the north, encompassing the whole south bay - that's what the Pattersons wake up to every morning.

At 45 planted acres, Mount Eden is currently the second largest vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, slightly larger than Bargetto's Regan Vineyard. It has gradually been replanted over the years, with the last of Rusty Ray's original vines being removed in the late 1990s and replaced with new rootstock grafted with the small berried Mount Eden clones. At the lowest elevation lies the 5 acre Peter Martin Ray vineyard; still owned by Rusty's adopted stepson. The contrast between the viticulture is startling; the old vines are head pruned and basket caned, with leaves trailing across the floor. The fruit is not purchased by Mount Eden; instead it's sold to other local wineries including Downhill and Bargetto.

The estate has recently been expanded further by the purchase of Cinnabar's old vineyards in Saratoga. The 13 planted acres are being renovated, with all the Cabernet Sauvignon vines being grafted over to Pinot Noir.

2005 Estate Chardonnay
Deep yellow colour. (I rarely comment on the colour of wines unless it's unusual)
Nose shows caramel/butterscotch and lemon zest, with creamy, floral notes. A richly concentrated wine; creamy with red apple and lime, good acidity. The oak is reasonably balanced for a young Mount Eden. There's a chalky, mineral note on the finish. 94

2002 Estate Chardonnay
By contrast the 2002 has a lighter nose; cream soda, apple and lime. Not so much of the caramel, it's more creamy, smooth and rich but less concentrated than the 2005. 93

2003 Estate Pinot Noir
Great nose; cherry, oak and earth. Good structure, with nice, spicy fruit; notes of citrus pith on the front of the tongue and a long, lingering finish 92

2004 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Also contains 22% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc
Nose shows vanilla and coffee, with lots of savoury blackcurrant. The tannins are fine, with good blackcurrant fruit, mint and a hint of eucalyptus. Good structure and a nice, medium length, tannic finish. 92

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First off, don't get excited - as far as I know it's still unreleased. I got this as a sample.

I'm sure that most people reading this know all about Martin "Rusty" Ray; he's pretty much a legend in these parts. But just in case, here's a brief recap: Martin Ray grew up in Saratoga idolising Paul Masson. He eventually bought the Mountain Winery before selling it to Seagrams and buying the next hilltop over, known as Table Mountain, which he named Mount Eden. He eventually lost the majority of the property in a legal fight with shareholders, but retained his 'chateau' and the 5 acre head-trained Peter Martin Ray vineyard, named after his stepson. You can read all about it in "Vineyards In the Sky" by Eleanor Ray.

I've yet to visit the vineyard; I'm told that it still has the original 40 year old vines but is in need of replanting. It has Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and a little Cabernet Sauvignon. The latter is sold to some local amateur winemakers, but the Pinot and Chardonnay was used to great effect by Duane Cronin and is now being purchased by Downhill.

The nose shows raspberry, cranberry and roses, with at times hints of pine, caramel and menthol. (It was also showing some 'heat' from the alcohol, but it's been very warm around here this past few days and the wine was at room temerature.) In the mouth there's quite a lot of rhubarb, along with cherry, cranberry, raspberry and a little earthiness. Light at first, the intensity of the fruit increased with air - although it was decanted it would surely have benefited from being open longer. It has plenty of structure; I'd give it at least 90 now with the expectation that it'll gain a point or two with time. Recommended. Unreleased, however the 2006 vintage sold for $28.

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The Santa Cruz Mountains has many winemakers who are enjoying a second successful career. Unlike most of them, Frank Ashton isn't a high-tech refugee. Instead he ran a specialty retail business for over 20 years before selling the company and taking on the role of general manager and winemaker at Byington Winery.

Not content with that, Frank has launched a side project of his own: Downhill Winery. The wines are made in Byington's facility and are occasionally available to taste there. I got a notification of two new releases, so went over to try them.

2008 Torrontés, California
The fruit is sourced from a small vineyard in Lodi whose owner has an interest in unusual varietals. Torrontés is a grape that is popular in Argentina and is believed to be related to Malvasia and to a similarly named grape found in Galicia, in Spain.
On first impression it resembles Viognier, having a fresh, floral nose with hints of peach. But on the palate it's closer to a Sauvignon Blanc, or possibly Gewurztraminer, with clean, fresh fruit and a hint of spice. The use of neutral oak rather than steel has given a rounded mouthfeel.

2008 Rosé of Barbera, California
A light, crisp summer rosé. Nose of wild strawberries. Bone dry, with flavours of fresh dough and a nutty finish.

2007 Chardonnay, Sleepy Hollow Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands.
A remarkably fresh Chardonnay, made with only 20% new oak and 50% malolactic. A crisp wine with good mouthfeel and nice apple and tropical fruit flavours. Great value; wines from Sleepy Hollow typically retail for at least $10 more.

2007 "Alessia" Barbera
While I'm not ordinarily that keen on Italian varietals, this is a nice wine. The earthy nose also shows smoked meats; the rich palate has currant fruit and more smoke with a round finish. Good acidity, light tannins.

2006 Pinot Noir, Peter Martin Ray Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains
The Peter Martin Ray vineyard used to be part of "Rusty" Ray's property. While most of the estate (considered by some to be one of the finest Pinot Noir vineyards outside Burgundy) is now Mount Eden, the family retained a small parcel.
Light in colour it appeared to be already showing some bricking (though the lighting didn't help). A beautiful perfumed nose, hinting at roses and cinnamon. Rich mouthfeel with good cherry flavours and a good, longish finish.

2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Giuliani Vineyard, Yountville, Napa Valley
Good fruity nose, with some traces of tobacco and mint. Nice blackcurrant flavours and a touch of coffee. A wine that can easily stand up to more expensive Napa brands.

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I've been very busy recently and haven't kept the blog up-to-date. I'm trying to catch up with some short posts on recent events.

My friend Wes Barton recently organised another Cronin dinner. As regular readers will know, K&L recently sold off much of the late Duane Cronin's wine library, which was snapped up by several local collectors. This was the third Cronin dinner that Wes has organised and it focussed on Cronin's Pinot Noirs. The guest of honour was Duane's widow, Nancy Cronin. It was a pleasure to meet her, but unfortunately she got called away early since her younger son Sam had a minor cycling accident.

Due to our babysitter cancelling at the last minute I wasn't able to take proper notes, so here are a few impressions.

Among the line-up was a pair of very early wines - a magnum of 1980 and bottle of 1981 Ventana Vineyard Pinot Noir. The 1980 was excellent; it had aged superbly and had plenty of vibrant fruit. The 81 had not fared so well; it had a strong flavour of shiitake mushrooms.

There was a vertical of Santa Cruz Mountains Pinots from 1993 to 1996. Of those the 1996 had fared the worst; it tasted older than he rest. The 93 and 95 got praise from the burgundy fans with the 95 (from a magnum) being pronounced very young. I enjoyed the 1994 with its slightly funky nose, though some tasters considered that it lacked complexity in comparison.

There was also a vertical of Peter Martin Ray Vineyard Pinots from the 1990s. The earlier vintages showed well, with good fruit, but the later vintages seemed overly acidic and unbalanced. Maybe they are in a "dumb phase" and just need more time.

There were also other Santa Cruz Pinots from McHenry and Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, but for my tastes none of them were anything like as good as the Cronins.

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