Ojai Vineyard 'Apricots' Santa Barbara 2013

Anyone who knows the stretch of Route 150 east of Ojai will recognize the water wagon depicted on this bottle’s label. Until just a couple of years ago, its one-word advertisement represented the apricot orchard set against the backdrop of the Topatopa mountains. In like fashion, the wine inside the bottle captures a snapshot of a time and a place: both remind us of an afternoon we might have known, windless and infused with dusty sunlight, in a southern California valley. Adam Tolmach, owner and winemaker at Ojai Vineyard, has been gathering such moments in bottle form for four decades. He remembers the happy accidents, such as the syrah-zinfandel blends he created in the mid ‘90s (from vineyards by the apricots wagon on 150) that displayed a “sinewy” combination of acidity and tannin reminiscent of Italian wines. This small-batch wine attempts to recreate those earlier “Apricots” releases with a different combination of grapes. Equal parts grenache and sangiovese, from vineyards in Santa Barbara County, this wine is aged in neutral oak for 16 months. The winery only releases each vintage after a minimum of five years aging in the bottle. This 2013, both wild and fruity, brings an aromatic spiciness to cherry, plum, and pomegranate flavors.