View Older Post
Tucked between Highway 246 and Santa Rosa Road on the eastern edge of the Santa Rita Hills there exists a peculiar and isolated corridor. This unique geographical point marks a divergence in Santa Barbara County's landscape where its coastal hills begin to taper off and open up to the greater Santa Ynez Valley. Although still heavily influenced by thick cooling fog and consistent winds, which spill in daily from the Pacific Ocean through the area's distinct transverse mountain ranges, this corridor's greater distance from the coast allows it slightly warmer average temperatures than the rest of the appellation. These conditions help to create a series of particularly interesting mesoclimates that have potential to produce absolutely outstanding wine.
In the heart of this extraordinary corridor the Ampelos Vineyard has emerged as notably interesting site. Its 82 acre property was first planted to vines in 2003 and it now boasts 25 total acres of hillside vineyards. While Pinot Noir dominates a majority of the acreage there are also plantings of Syrah, Grenache, Viognier, and even some Riesling that thrives here. The fascinating juxtaposition of warm and cool climate varieties present in the Ampelos Vineyard would be impossible to pull off in most regions, but this special site has just enough warmth and a long enough growing season to produce high quality examples of a wide spectrum of grapes. Intrigued by the character of this unique vineyard we recently decided to schedule a visit to stop by and explore it for ourselves.
Upon our arrival at the Ampelos property we were greeted by none other than owners and proprietors Peter and Rebecca Work. This husband and wife team has made their home on the estate and personally overseas all happenings in the vineyard and winery. After our initial greetings we sat down with these two to chat about the story behind Ampelos and how the whole operation came into being.
Peter and Rebecca explained that in prior lives they both had extremely successful corporate careers. They lived fully entrenched in their work and nearly all of their time and energy was spent on one business venture or another. That all changed on the morning of September 11th, 2001 when Peter was scheduled to attend a meeting inside the World Trade Center. Miraculously the meeting was canceled and Peter was not in either of the buildings when tragedy struck, but the close call forever changed the way these two would look at life. Shortly thereafter Peter and Rebecca sold their stake in their businesses and decided to escape the chaos of corporate America to start a slower life. They moved to a piece of land they had previously purchased in Santa Barbara County and lived in a trailer while building themselves their new permanent home.
Without fully knowing what they were getting into Peter and Rebecca decided to plant a vineyard on their property. They entrusted the help of some great local consultants and dove head first into their newest pursuit. With their vineyard established they boldly decided to also found their own winery, called Ampelos Cellars, as a vehicle to craft wine from their special new creation. It was a daring and difficult adventure, but Peter and Rebecca gleefully expressed that they wouldn't change a thing.
The story of Ampelos' founding is quite wonderful and of course their property itself is no less impressive. After our introductory conversation was complete Peter graciously walked us through the estate and briefed us on everything there is to know about his vineyard. First and foremost Peter dove into explaining the nuances of how the property is farmed. Notably the Ampelos Vineyard is farmed completely biodynamically, which involves an intricate process that takes things one step past traditional organics. Vineyard maintenance is done naturally without the use of harmful chemicals and pesticides, and biodynamics also calls for work to follow a specific calendar that is based on the earth's natural cycles. Peter explained how the Ampelos team uses special biodynamic mixtures to fertilize their vineyards and also allows other plant life to grow between the vine rows, which creates healthy symbiotic soils. With the help of their resident horse, Peter also maintains a large compost pile that is used for further organic fertilization. There are even around 100 chickens that live on the property specifically to serve as pest control - as they eat the ants and bugs that would otherwise harm the vines and fruit.
As Peter walked us through the vines and pointed out the many nuances of biodynamic farming it became obvious how this high level of intentionality was expressing itself in the vineyard. While most of the Santa Rita Hills countryside nearby has relatively dusty & sandy topsoils the dirt of the Ampelos Vineyard was visibly healthier and more nutrient rich. Interestingly after years of diligent biodynamic farming the soil had actually gained body and transformed itself into a dense sandy loam. We noticed plenty of diatomaceous Monterey Shale - a rock type common throughout the Santa Rita Hills - scattered throughout the vineyard, but for us the greatest distinguishing factor of the Ampelos Vineyard was definitely it's unique topsoil. It was unlike anything we'd ever seen before in our years of exploring Santa Barbara and left us completely intrigued.
Satisfied with our vineyard exploration we walked back to the house to continue our visit and taste through some of Ampelos' wines. Peter graciously opened a range of bottles to help give us an idea of exactly how the Ampelos Vineyard expresses itself through the medium of the entire spectrum of grape varieties planted there. As we laughed and conversed with Peter and Rebecca we tasted our way through a rosé, a Riesling, a Grenache, and a Pinot Noir. The rosé and Riesling were both beautifully fruit-driven and expressive, showcasing generous acidity along with terrific balance. The Grenache was extremely impressive with a bright fruit profile that was high-toned and expansive while remaining remarkably floral and fresh. The Pinot Noir possessed terrific density and exhibited wonderful complexity. At each leg of the tasting we noticed these Ampelos wines had a distinct underlying earthiness about them, and we quickly attributed it to the property's well-cared-for and nutrient rich soils. We found all of the wines to be delicious and unique with the Grenache emerging as perhaps the standout thanks to its interesting Pinot-like weightlessness and freshness.
During our visit we discovered that the Ampelos Cellars team takes every aspect of production seriously, and it shows through with distinction in their finished wines. This is an operation led by two passionate individuals who cut no corners in making sure their wines are the very best they can be. Despite the rigor and high costs of biodynamic farming the offerings of Ampelos are priced extremely fairly and remain quite accessible to a large audience. Their annual production of about 8000 cases is distributed all around the USA, Europe, and even parts of Asia, which is quite rare for a boutique producer of this scale. For anyone nearby in California or as far away as Peter's home country of Denmark the remarkable wines of Ampelos Cellars should be sought out and experienced. These wines provide a one-of-a-kind taste into what the gorgeous Ampelos Vineyard - a place we're thrilled to have gotten to experience for ourselves - is capable of producing.
We cannot thank Peter and Rebecca enough for their generous hospitality in hosting us at their idyllic vineyard and home; it was an absolutely amazing adventure.