Laurie Daniel (LD): You make wine from various locations throughout the Monterey AVA. Do you find some common terroir throughout the AVA, or is it simply too big to be meaningful?

Annette Hoff (AH): Every part of the Monterey AVA is influenced by the proximity to the Pacific Ocean. The cooling afternoon ocean breezes and fog affect all vineyards, so this is what ties the AVA together. Otherwise, I have trouble with applying the concept of terroir to large AVAs such as Monterey. There tend to be commonalities between vineyards in small regions or microclimates. Within the AVA itself, there are far too many differences in soil types, soil depths, elevation, water quality, exposure, vineyard management techniques, clones and rootstocks, etc., to draw too many definitive conclusions about terroir.

LD: Much of the AVA has been carved up into smaller appellations, like the Santa Lucia Highlands and Carmel Valley. Are there still some areas that should be delineated as smaller AVAs?

AH: Yes, I believe smaller AVAs will be and should be established in Monterey County in the future. As more vineyards are planted in new areas, as current vineyards become established and as we get more experience working with the fruit from those vineyards, you’ll see many smaller AVAs appear.

AVA designations in Monterey County in general are still a work in progress because there is so much yet to learn. There is a vast array of microclimates and geographical factors in the region. Combine that with the fact that Monterey County is so big, and you can understand why there is still a lot of work to be done in identifying unique areas. We will definitely see more AVAs established in the future, and this is a good thing, as there will be more for those interested in wine to "sink their teeth into" when it comes to Monterey.

LD: Are there some parts of the Monterey AVA that come to mind at this point?

AH: Yes, Chualar Canyon comes to mind. Chualar Canyon is a small region in the northeastern Salinas Valley. There are a number of vineyards planted there, and it is a unique place. It is in the foothills of the Gavilans and consists mostly of decomposed granite. It is hilly, is elevated above the valley floor, protected from the winds and has great sun exposure, but because it is so far north it doesn't get very hot. We source fruit from a 10-acre vineyard there, and it is distinctive in that both the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay display more minerality than one might get elsewhere in the region.

There are also some projects going on in the little valleys on the north side of the Los Laureles range, which is north of Carmel Valley Road, that might warrant their own AVAs in the future. Also, something will probably need to be done with Carmel Valley, because there are so many new little vineyards in the lower Carmel Valley, many of which don't fit into either the Monterey AVA or the Carmel Valley AVA at this point.

LD: Is there a signature wine from the AVA?

AH: Chardonnay, hands down. I was very jaded with Chardonnay by the time I came down here and, frankly, really had no idea of what Monterey Chardonnay could be. While at Estancia, I got an opportunity to make a lot of Chardonnay from various parts of the Salinas Valley and got to try many different winemaking techniques as a result. I tried barrel fermentations in a variety of barrels (both American and French oak from many different coopers), tank fermentations, experimenting with different yeasts, acidity levels, ripeness levels, etc. In the end, no matter what I did with the wines, there was a purity of character that always came through -- crisp acidity, bright citrus and often stone fruit flavors and aromas. Most importantly, the wines consistently expressed the same characters year after year.

LD: It’s interesting that you would say Chardonnay is the signature wine, because it seems to me that Pinot Noir, especially from the Santa Lucia Highlands, is getting most of the attention these days. Why is that?

AH: Yes, the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA is getting a lot of attention and justly so. But the establishment of quality Pinot Noir in Monterey County has only just begun, and if you asked me this same question in 10 years, I would probably be hard-pressed to choose between Pinot and Chardonnay. Today, though, if you were to ask anyone "on the ground" here, especially anyone who has been involved in the industry for a length of time, I'm sure they would say "Chardonnay" as well, because it is the backbone of the industry here. More Chardonnay is grown here than anything else.

That’s probably because it’s relatively easy to manage -- much more so than Pinot. It is incredibly consistent from year to year, and a viticulturist can leave a pretty good crop on the vine and still get good flavor and character from it. There is Chardonnay from Monterey that has been recognized consistently over the years: Diamond T, Sleepy Hollow, Mer Soleil, Double L, Pinnacles Vineyard, for instance. Most of the Chardonnay that is planted here, though, goes to big blends, which is fine except that the distinction of where that Chardonnay came from is often lost in the blending. That's the reason someone outside of the region might not recognize Monterey immediately as a distinctive Chardonnay region, which is too bad. We tend to be classified as "Central Coast," which is such a broad and vague term that it offers no distinction.

LD: Are there some characteristics of Monterey wines that are readily identifiable, characteristics that make you say, “Ah, that’s a Monterey wine”?

AH: That's a difficult question to answer. As I mentioned earlier, Monterey Chardonnay is well-defined and consistent. Overall, we make wines here that are higher in acidity than most California wines, but in terms of style or character, I think the jury is still out. With that said, I think Pinot Noir from Monterey is becoming more defined. Monterey lends itself to subtlety and complexity in Pinot -- we tend to get more subdued combinations of herbal/mineral/fruit characters. These aren't bold, fruit-forward wines; they are wines to ponder. Beyond that, I would be hard-pressed to come up with a thread of distinction that runs through all Monterey wines. There are just too many new vineyards being planted and too many new varietals to work with here. I might have a better answer to this in five years, though.

LD: Your description of Monterey Pinot points to the difficulty in identifying a Monterey character. I think many of the Pinots from Santa Lucia Highlands are quite bold. Would you agree or disagree?

AH: Yes, I would agree with you that Santa Lucia wines can be bold, and maybe the more bold, the more noticeable a wine is. And yet there are plenty of wines coming from the Santa Lucia Highlands that don't necessarily fit that description. (With any wine, one can argue how much winemaking makes a wine "bold," but that's another issue.) Santa Lucia wines make up only a part of what is going on. Arroyo Seco has a lot of great Pinot planted there, the eastern side of the Monterey AVA has some wonderful vineyards, Carmel Valley is an up-and-coming area as well.

LD: You’ve also made wine in Carneros and in New Zealand. How does Monterey differ?

AH: Well, each of the regions share similarities. All of them are heavily influenced by their proximity to the Pacific Ocean and they can all be considered "cool climates," although Carneros the least so. Also, all of them are known for producing high-quality Burgundian varietals. But the similarities pretty much end there. At the time I went to New Zealand, I had no idea that I would end up in Monterey and I didn't know much about viticulture and winemaking here. So, when I started to explore the idea of working in Monterey, I had a déjà vu experience in that it was so similar to New Zealand.

New Zealand -- at least the Martinborough region of the North Island, where I spent most of my time -- is cooler than Monterey (the ocean currents there are cooler than here), and so the acidity in their grapes tends to be higher. But otherwise, they are very similar, both in soil types (decomposed granite, chalky soils, river rock) and in the nature of the winds that blow every day from the ocean.

Carneros, on the other hand, has different types of clay soils that can be quite deep in some areas. In addition, the winds there aren't as cold as in Monterey and definitely don't blow as strongly every day. There are many differences in how one approaches making wine in Monterey versus up north and I learned those differences in New Zealand as well. Most of them are concerned with how to handle acidity.

LD: What do winemakers have to do to handle acidity in Monterey?

AH: We tend to have a different ratio of malic acid vs. tartaric acid than in warmer regions of California. When I first came down here, I made wine under the auspices of a Napa-based company, and many of my winemaker friends who were working for other companies were in the same position. We were instructed to make Chardonnays that went through malolactic fermentation completely. This was aimed at producing a buttery, Napa-style Chardonnay, a style which was really selling well at that time.

Still, a lot of us thought that that was the wrong thing to do with Monterey fruit, because putting it through ML makes the wine lose its character completely. It becomes flabby, flat and lifeless. So, instead, some of us experimented with doing no or partial ML, which produced a bright, attractive wine, a style that eventually became commercially successful.

LD: Monterey County has twice as many acres under vine as Santa Barbara County. Yet, as far as wine goes, it could be argued that Monterey doesn’t have nearly the reputation or visibility of Santa Barbara. Why is that?

AH: There are two reasons. The first is that, historically speaking, most of the grapes grown in Monterey are shipped out of the county as either grapes, juice or wine and blended out into California or Central Coast designated wines. The second reason is that there are very few wineries in Monterey. There are around 25 bonded wineries in Monterey County, more or less. Compare that number to any other wine region in California! There are wineries here that have been making great wines for many years (Morgan, Pessagno, Paraiso Vineyards, to name a few examples), but we need more wineries to create a "critical mass" on which a reputation may be based. This is changing, though, and we will see more wineries in the future adding to the mix here.

LD: To go back to what you were saying about Chardonnay, you’re not the only person who’s been jaded at some point about Chardonnay. Is it harder for Monterey to build a reputation with Chardonnay as a signature wine?

AH: Yes, because in my mind, a region's reputation is built by having a "critical mass" of quality wineries crafting wines from that region. There are many quality wineries here, but simply not enough to garner the attention that other regions have received. There are always people who want a great Chardonnay, and I think we are seeing a renaissance in wine consumerism currently where folks are looking for something more food-friendly. Monterey wines tend to be more food-friendly because they are, generally, slightly more acidic. So, we have a lot more work to get the message out that there are great wines coming from Monterey, but I also think that the future is bright in terms of how the character of Monterey wines fit in with changing consumer tastes.

LD: What misconceptions do consumers have about Monterey?

AH: That it is inferior to other winemaking regions in California in terms of quality or reputation. Everyone I know in the wine industry here is fully aware of the potential we have for making world-class wines. It is just a matter of time and effort before everyone else will discover it, too.

~ Laurie Daniel, Regional Correspondent - Monterey County


To comment on Laurie Daniel’s writings and thoughts, contact her at l.daniel@appellationamerica.com