Finally, a winery in Bel-Air
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.
