FIRSTS Our sustainably produced wines face minimal contact in the winery, yielding modest alcohol levels and preserved natural acidity.
If someone could only try one wine that really captures the spirit and essence of Liquid Farm, which would you say it should be? White Hill, due to its minerality as you’ve noted. Do you have a favorite pairing with Liquid Farm wines? I’ve been told I make killer gougères, which lend themselves perfectly to Liquid Farm Chardonnays. What do you think makes Santa Barbara special for producing wine? The climate and soil are two of the biggest components which make SBC wines what they are, and distinguish them from other growing regions. I don’t know if you could get wines like the ones coming out of the Sta. Rita Hills anywhere else. In the words of Jeff: “The quality of the fruit, farming, and people in this valley is second to none.” 20
FOOD + HOME
Photo by Kim Reierson
It’s true, Liquid Farm wines — the Chardonnays especially — are known for their unmistakable minerality. In general, wines from the Sta. Rita Hills tend to have a noticeable saline-like quality, but is minerality something you attribute more to the region or to winemaking techniques? When we begin picking the grapes determines how the wines evolve once in the winery. So we believe that winemaking practices actually begin in the vineyards. We pick based on taste more so than on lab numbers. So yes, some of that minerality is attributed to the region, but pick time — restraint — is a large part of preserving the grapes’ natural acidity.
A new Funk Zone tasting hangout
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asked a friend to meet me at Doug Margerum’s new tasting room, and like the swallows who return to San Juan Capistrano, he landed at El Paseo. He needed to walk a little less than a mile to “Margerum” at the Hotel Californian. Slightly off the tourist-trodden Funk Zone path and tucked into a little pocket of Mason Street between State and Helena avenues, the highly regarded winemaker and his wife, Marni, have created a sophisticated and appealing indoor/outdoor two-story, 2,000-square-foot space to not only taste (or drink glasses or bottles of) his award-winning wines, but a pleasant oasis to have a nosh as well. Two fights are offered ($15 or $20 for four pours, “plus an extra credit pour, for those who behave,” notes the namesake proprietor). Hands down favorites for this imbiber were the 2018 “D” Sauvignon Blanc finished in neutral oak and the 2018 Margerum Estate Vineyard Syrah, made from grapes that were grafted onto old Italian vines in his Los Olivos estate vineyard. There’s a lovely charcuterie plate with three cheeses: manchego, drunken goat from Spain, and Reny Picot Camembert from France, and two cured meats: sopressata salami and capicola, all served on a platter with superb French Dijon mustard (sold here as well) and fab baguette from New York’s legendary Tribeca Oven. There are crudité plates, hummus, and delish thin-crust margherita or four cheese pizzas and paninis. Tasty toasts include the smoked salmon and absolutely scrumptious maitake, bunashemeji, enoki, and king mushroom atop mozzarella toast. Grab a friend, or two or three, buy a bottle to share, and keep an eye out for special events, like the recent book-signing with Julia Child’s grandnephew Alex Prud’homme. Top off your visit with Rori’s Amaro Ice Cream made exclusively for Margerum. Amaro is a superb, beautifully bottled, flavorful, herbal-infused digestive said to be medicinal. I bought a bottle to combat my winter cold and add panache to my liquor trolley. “We’re on the wrong side of the tracks,” Margerum laughed, “We wanted to be in the Funk Zone, but not funky. It’s like a return to early Wine Cask days: simple food, good wine and a place to hang out.” — Leslie A. Westbrook Margerum Tasting Room, Mason Street, across from the Hotel Californian entrance. Open until 8 p.m. (winter); 9 p.m. (summer). Special events can be hosted with more extensive food catered by Hotel Californian, Pete Clements, duo, or Rincon Catering. 19 E. Mason, (805) 845-8435— Leslie A. Westbrook W W W. F O O D – H O M E . C O M
