IT never rains during harvest in Southern California -- except this year. On Sept. 20, Scott Rich, the winemaker for Moraga Vineyards, Los Angeles' lone commercial wine grape grower, had planned to harvest the last of Moraga's Sauvignon Blanc. Instead, he stood on the porch of Moraga's weathered barn listening to the dreaded sound of rain pattering on the roof, wondering if he'd begin picking the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in three weeks, as planned.
Located in a narrow Bel-Air canyon that runs parallel to Interstate 405, Moraga's vineyards are an incongruous sight to Getty Center visitors as they ride the tram up to the museum. To anyone driving up Moraga Drive, the vineyards' ivy-covered stone wall is typical of the manicured neighborhood of pretty white clapboard and stone homes. It's not until the vineyards' wooden driveway gate swings open that there's any clue that these hills are home to one of California's most highly regarded Cabernets.
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Finer wines
RICH has expected the 2005 vintage to be Moraga's best ever. For the first time, the juice from its grapes won't be trucked up to rented space in someone else's Napa Valley winery. Instead, Moraga has a brand-new on-site winery, the first to be bonded in the city of Los Angeles since the start of Prohibition in 1920.
It completes the consolidation of Moraga's operations that started last year with the excavation of a barrel cave 100 feet deep into the hillside of the vineyards. Moraga's L.A. facilities and eight acres of vineyards now are on par with some of Napa's most celebrated small wineries.
Still, unseasonable rain can wreak havoc in a premium vineyard. "The vines will suck up water like crazy, diluting the flavors," Rich says. "For the reds, the biggest danger is mold and mildew." But that won't happen here, he says, not this year.
An on-site winery, particularly one with small fermentation tanks and state-of-the-art cooling and heating capabilities, dramatically improves the odds of making amazing wine.
"We can pick exactly as the grapes ripen, picking only those rows, or even parts of rows that are ready," says Moraga's owner, Tom Jones. The Sauvignon Blanc grapes can hang on the vine until the untimely rainwater has evaporated. With the reds, workers will be able to hand-trim the leaves away from the grape bunches to slow fungus growth. Harvest can be staggered, with each bunch picked as it reaches optimal ripeness.
The pressure to compromise is gone, Jones says. No expensive refrigerated trucks are idling in the driveway, waiting for a full load before heading north on an eight-hour drive, he says. "You are obviously conscious of inefficiencies when that happens."
Jones may be an iconoclast in believing that it makes sense to grow grapes and make wine on some of the most expensive residential real estate in Los Angeles, but he doesn't squander his cash -- even on things he loves. The chief executive of Northrop Corp. for 30 years before retiring in 1990, Jones believes in making a profit on even backyard ventures.
"Part of the love is to make it a success. It wouldn't suit me otherwise," Jones, 85, says. "If you can't sell it for what it costs to make it, plus a profit, then you've failed."
And at $125 a bottle for his Cabernet, which includes 20% Merlot, and $65 for his Sauvignon Blanc, Jones certainly makes a profit on Moraga wine. He sells out his annual production of 600 cases to a list of 500 loyal mail-order customers, a handful of Parisian restaurants including Alain Ducasse, and a number of the most expensive restaurants in New York City and Los Angeles. Hotel Bel-Air carries Moraga as its "neighborhood" wine. And the wine is usually on the shelf at the only two stores that Jones allows to stock it: Wally's in Westwood and the Beverly Hills Cheese Shop.
Is it good enough to be one of California's most expensive wines? British wine critic Jancis Robinson called it one of her favorites when she tasted through a flight of 1994 and 1995 California Cabernets in 1999. But she hasn't tasted it since, she says. American critic Robert Parker gave the 1993 Moraga Cabernet an 89 on his 100-point scale.
That was enough criticism for Jones, who has declined to send samples to any more critics. Anyone who wants to judge Moraga wines has to arrange for a visit with Jones at the vineyard. "I don't want to be rude about it, but that's the way I feel," he says.
With the completion of the winery and barrel cave, Jones says his dreams for Moraga have been realized. "I may be an engineer," he says, "but it's emotional. I'm excited."
Jones and his wife, Ruth, planted their first grapevines at Moraga in 1978 "out of curiosity," he says. As they learned more about the land around their home, they realized the potential of their backyard vineyard.
