Discovering the Undiscovered: Small-Production Wines in California's Ventura County
Nestled about halfway between Malibu and Santa Barbara, is an up and coming wine region few have heard about: Ventura County. This area is along the Pacific Ocean, but also nearby is rugged, mountainous terrain, with the sea and mountains being separated by only a 20 minute car ride. During this car ride, one will no doubt be struck by the quantity of agriculture; row upon row and orchard upon orchard of avocados, lemons, oranges, strawberries, and various other produce which fill every available piece of land. Yet, with all this agriculture, there’s not a whole lot of vineyards. While Ventura County actually has a thriving local wine scene with numerous wineries and tasting rooms, very few actually farm their grapes locally, instead sourcing their grapes from vineyards in Central and Northern California. Part of this is due to the difficult history of wine in Southern California. Once the epi-center of wine on the west coast, Los Angeles actually was called ‘the city of vines’ on its first official seal according to the Atlas Obscura. However, prohibition dealt a strong blow, backed up by nasty sharpshooter bugs that caused wineries to shift north, into the central and northern areas of California. Urbanization and the need for residential housing to supply the nearby Los Angeles basin certainly didn’t help the destruction of vineyards either.
However, in recent years, budding grower-makers in the wine industry have looked anew at this Ventura County region. In fact, the unique combination of sea and mountain has proven to be a boon for winemakers, and the area has seen an influx, of vineyards crop up. Vineyards situated in Ventura County share special combination of factors that lead to exceptional wines. From variation between the heat of California summers and cooling influence of the nearby ocean, to the ancient sea-bed geology, this area has the makings that many well known wine-making regions have.
Helping to inspire wine explorers to appreciate this undiscovered wine area, we sell wines from two small-production grower-makers in Ventura County: Ojai Pacific View and Clos des Amis. As Bruce Freeman, winemaker of Clos des Amis says, “I think Ventura County wines have great potential. I want to see it become like the South of France just coated with grapes. It’s a dream I am able to pursue, and I’m really excited about making some high quality wines in this area.”
Similar to many old world wine regions, the area was, in ancient prehistoric times, an ocean bed, and became land a little over a million years ago. This sea-life history can be evident in the vineyards, with fossilized fish and marine life often turning up among the Clos des Amis vines. Ojai Pacific View, at 3000 feet in elevation, has even unearthed a whale rib while digging their rain water irrigation, and neighbors the next peak over once found an entire whale jawbone. Even though being located in opposing sides of the valley, both Ojai Pacific View and Clos des Amis have remarkably similar soil. With limestone and diatomaceous soil running heavily through both vineyards, the vines soak up and impart mineral flavors that give a unique characteristic to the boutique wines made by Clos des Amis and Ojai Pacific View. Walking through the vineyards, looking at the limestone shale and rocks of the vineyards, one can’t help but draw parallels to famous wine regions that such soil can be found. Limestone and this ancient marine influence is seen not only in certain areas of Piedmont Italy (where Ojai Pacific View draws inspiration) but also in areas of France such as the Rhone valley, Bordeaux, and Chablis (where Clos des Amis is inspired from).
Who are some of the pioneers in this 'undiscovered’ wine making area?
Ventura County Artisan Wineries, Ojai Pacific View and Clos des Amis!
Masha and Sasha, two of Patti Mitchell’s rescued vineyard dogs, resting in the sunrise looking out over Ojai Pacific View’s famous, pacific view and Ventura County.
When one first rounds the corner on a bumpy dirt road onto Patti Mitchell’s beloved ranch, Ojai Pacific View, one’s first thought is often “so that’s where they get the ‘pacific view’ name from”. In an all encompassing 360 degree view the ‘mountain’, as Patti and her children affectionally call it, is perched high above Ventura with views of both the Topa Topa mountains and the beach. Patti says “on clear days we can see the surf on the ocean and the sailboats heading out to the channel islands.” Purchased in 2000 as raw land, Patti and her children have built the mountain up from nothing. In 2011, after finishing all major construction projects, agriculture was the natural path for the rural land. “Over the years we tried to start various orchards of the locally prevalent avocados, oranges, and lemons, but with no success,” says daughter turned chef Jacqueline Mitchell. She goes on, “they never thrived, and after talking to some winemakers in Ojai, we discovered that this might actually make it perfect for grapes.” Water and soils tests confirmed it, and with that the Patti and her children began the search for the vines.
After a family vacation in Piedmont Italy, Patti fell in love with the dolcetto grape. A red wine grape native to the area, she noticed while locals loved to tout Barbarescos and Barolos, they always started dinner with a dolcetto, and producers always kept a small corner of dolcetto vines for themselves tucked away in their vineyards. The final decision was made after a lunch when friend Ilario told Patti, “Forget the wine and go back to lounge on your beaches! Leave the winemaking and dolcetto to us.” That did it, and she was set on a path determined to show Ilario her mountain was perfect for good wine, and dolcetto. This choice was seen as a little controversial, as, in 2019, the California Department of Agriculture recorded a mere 86 acres of dolcetto being grown in the state. By comparison, popular merlot has well over 86,000 acres planted! But, with the help of experienced winemakers such as Dominic O’Reilly and vineyard manager Martin Ramirez (who also works with Clos des Amis at times), Ojai Pacific View’s dolcetto produces a fruit forward, delicious red wine. The beauty of this wine is also its fluctuating characteristics; due to a minimalist intervention philosophy, the weather and conditions of the vintage really shine through in the fruit, with the 2017 and 2018 vintages being actually quite different. BTW Stay tuned as Patti says any day now the 2019 vintage will be bottled. She expects it to be the best yet!
Clos des Amis winemaking couple, Bruce and Gretel in their ‘tasting room’, soaking up the California sunshine.
Looking off Ojai Pacific View’s peak, and across the Santa Clara river valley, our eyes land upon South Mountain, and Clos des Amis. Meaning “circle of friends” in French, Clos des Amis was inspired, much like Patti, to bring a little piece of Europe to this wine region. In fact, winemakers Bruce Freeman and Gretel Compton started their wine journey in much the same way! Of course, one may imagine with a French mother, Bruce was pretty much born with an appreciation of wine, but it was certainly honed on several trips to visit relatives in France and touring the area soaking up all the good food and wine it had to offer.
Artists at heart, Bruce and Gretel use the same creative joie de vivre (enjoyment of life) in their art as their winemaking. Bruce began winemaking in the vineyards and wineries of the nearby Ojai Valley and learned from some of the best in the area, honing his style and winemaking philosophy. Starting to make us own wine in the 90s, in 2011 he made it official by starting his own winery, and thus was born Clos des Amis. Gretel joined him soon after, having once been a student of Bruce’s, then growing into a digital marketer. Now ‘retired’, she works full time with Bruce and has recently even started experimenting with certain grapes to develop her own style and tastes. Bruce and Gretel have learned through the years, that good wine starts in the vineyard, and good management of the vines means it is easier to create fine wines in the barrel with “non-interventionist” techniques needed.
Knowing how important the terroir is, they have a deep love and passion for the land of the area. In fact, all their labels include flora and fauna local to the mountains surrounding them. Included in the art is also the map of local Ventura Country trail and hike; their website links each unique label and vintage to the trailhead website making it easy for you to plan a hike inspired by your favorite wines.
New World Wines Inspired by the Old World
Ojai Pacific View owner, Patti Mitchell, enjoys a glass (or two!) of her Dolcetto standing amongst the winter vines named for her children.
Taking hints and inspiration from Italy and France, the wines produced by Clos des Amis and Ojai Pacific View are all from grapes native to those countries. Clos des Amis sticks close to Bruce’s French heritage with his wines ranging from chardonnay to malbec, grenache, and pinot noir. Bruce also makes a delicious extended skin contact orange wine (born from an accident) that not only brings out the true nature of the Ventura County area, but also the spirit of Clos des Amis.
Patti at Ojai Pacific View for the moment produces only her limited production dolcetto, in both 2017 and 2018 vintages, but she hopes to soon expand into other areas of her 50 acre property with more Italian varietals.
While a little different than their old-world counterparts, all the wines from Clos des Amis and Ojai Pacific View try to stay true to their heritage, but all the while allowing small differences of the local terroir to express in the wines. After all, as Bruce preaches, good wine is made in the vineyard, and boy does Ventura County allow for some pretty good vineyards!
