In California's wine country, young wine and spirits producers are taking the region’s reputation beyond cab sauv—and back to tradition
Editor's note: This story was originally published shortly after the Californian wildfires of autumn 2017. The author, Victoria Chow, writes: "It was only five weeks after I had visited Napa and written this article that one of the deadliest wildfires in California history spread through wine country. A series of 250 wildfires, fuelled by the unlucky combination of low humidity and high winds, rampaged through the area in October 2017, destroying 2800 homes and over 245,000 acres of land. One of the casualties includes the stunning tasting room at Mayacamas, featured in this article. Luckily, the winery itself was spared. It was a time that truly demonstrated the resilience and community spirit of Napa, Sonoma, and Santa Rosa, and while it is easy for us to feel helpless on the sidelines, the best thing I can recommend now to indirectly help rebuild the industry is to plan your next trip there as soon as possible, and drink more California wines!"
It was a rough morning for Braiden Albrecht, the 30-year-old winemaker at Mayacamas, when we first met on the estate. A fancy dinner at The French Laundry the night before was taking its toll in the form of a red-wine hangover. His brother, Ian, was already armed with big bottles of pink coconut water and locally-made kombucha.
While it may be easy to write them off as stereotypical millennials, my trip to Napa Valley and the wider Northern California region showed me a new generation of producers with the drive to make the wine and spirits industry a more sustainable place—and embracing every bit of hard labour that comes with it. The move towards “organic everything” sounds faddish, but it was obvious to me that these young people were ready to get their hands dirty, literally, to bring us back to the earth.
As we drove around, exploring the mountainous terrain of Mayacamas, Braiden reminisced on his time at the University of California, Berkeley—he majored in environmental economics and, while I spent the weekends of my youth drinking wine, he would spend his harvesting grapes and actually making the wine. He joined Mayacamas a few years ago with a mission to reinvigorate the brand. This includes moving it towards organic farming to better nurture its mini-ecosystem, all the while embracing the classic aspects of its cellars—namely, ageing in historical casks.
“Creating food and beverages to sustain and enrich our existence is a tradition dating back millennia,” reflected Braiden, who then added, with a smile, “Except now, we have an app to help with that”—referring to the real-time monitoring of vine health and the apps that control fermentation tank temperatures from his smartphone.