Eat, Drink, Savor: Small production Kobza Wines succeed with restraint and elegance

I found Kobza Wines at Vertigo Espresso Roasters in San Juan Bautista one afternoon after I was there to conduct an interview for an upcoming article. It was a contented accident: Vertigo is without doubt one of the few locations in San Benito County you could buy these outstanding wines.

Vertigo supervisor Ryan Morris stated that he hopes to inventory each wine Kobza makes. “The wine is persistently nice and we respect the eye to element that goes into it,” he stated. “We additionally respect Ryan Kobza’s use of a neighborhood winery to make his wines. We’re proud to hold it.”

Ryan Kobza has been on the manufacturing aspect of the wine enterprise since 2009 and stated the place he’s most pleased with working is Calistoga’s Chateau Montelena, well-known for successful the “Judgment of Paris” in 1976 with its chardonnay, which was chosen by French judges in a blind competitors as being finer than their French counterparts. The choice surprised the French wine business.

“Working for them was a seminal second for me,” he stated. “I used to be impressed to see the professionalism. Not simply within the winemakers and cellar employees, however with the way in which all the pieces labored there. They handled everybody with respect, which was good.”

Kobza started working at Chualar Canyon Vineyard in Salinas in 2012, which is a customized crush facility that additionally produces Ian Model wines. 

“Every part within the California wine enterprise is in comparison with Napa and Sonoma,” he stated. “That’s the key leagues. There’s some huge cash, a variety of data, and a variety of expertise up there. Down right here, all the pieces is a bit more sparse, a bit extra unfold out, so you’ve got the selection between working for one of many massive conglomerates up there or the smaller corporations down right here.”

In 2014, he was provided the possibility to make use of the services to begin his personal label. He sources his grapes from Wirz Vineyards within the Cienega Valley. 

“I can’t say sufficient about Pat Wirz,” he stated. “He’s dry farming, doing issues the old school method. The vines are all head-trained, the way in which they’d have been once they first began farming that land.”

Head-training is a sort of pruning relationship again to the Roman period that permits the vine to develop with out trellises, trying extra like a small bush or tree than a vine.

“I’m not overly romantic about it,” he stated. “There’s nothing improper with trellising. Nevertheless it says one thing about his stewardship of the land. The vines are older and the yield goes to be smaller, which implies that yearly goes to be drastically totally different. And I feel that is without doubt one of the extra fascinating factors within the wine enterprise: it isn’t a monolith—each wine we’re making may be drastically totally different.”

Kobza’s preliminary purpose was to provide riesling, and the grapes he’s getting from Wirz are from vines which might be round 60 years previous.

“That comes from working at Chateau Montelena,” he stated. “They produce a riesling and the standard of the fruit and the wine is spectacular. I had not had expertise making it exterior of that so I reached out to Pat as a result of I knew he had some previous vine riesling. After we made that wine, I referred to as him up and requested him if he had the rest obtainable. He advised me he had some cabernet pfeffer and I stated ‘I don’t know what it’s, however I’ll take it.’”

Kobza was happy with the outcomes however knew nothing concerning the vines besides that they had been planted round 1904. He determined to research additional. 

“I despatched some cuttings to UC Davis and had them examined,” he stated. “I needed to know extra and there was no literature about it that was of any use to me. I acquired the outcomes again and it turned out it was mourtaou, an previous Bordeaux selection, and I knew even much less about that. However these vines are a little bit of historical past, which is fascinating in itself, however to me, they’re additionally alive with a narrative to be advised.”

Kobza says he isn’t a purist relating to previous vine wines. 

“The extra they alter to the local weather and the extra they prolong their root progress,” he stated. “They develop into extra balanced. To me, it’s an if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it type of factor.”

Kobza is at the moment producing three wines and experimenting with two glowing wines. Kobza distributes his wine largely by wine bars and eating places within the Santa Cruz and Monterey areas. Vertigo carries a number of of the wines.

2017 Riesling 11.9% ($18) Produced from 100% riesling grapes, it is a very dry and really delicate wine. The aroma lacks the overbearing fruitiness of widespread rieslings, changing it with delicate floral and lemon-citrus tones. It has a really good candy/bitter end, which Kobza calls “pithiness” that cleanly drifts away simply as you begin to discover it. The general sensation is a easy wine with all of the notes of a riesling current, however not stridently asserting themselves. In the event you focus, you will see that them there, however the elements are subservient to the entire, an impact Kobza works to provide. “To me, integration is the important thing to my wines,” he stated. “Nothing actually jumps out at you. I need it to be satisfying, with sufficient fruit to make it fascinating and a taste that makes you need to come again for extra. Kobza produces about 100 instances a 12 months and says this pairs effectively with pork chops. I used to be pondering of a turkey-and-mashed potato Thanksgiving unfold however it could simply as simply be a superb lunch wine.

2018 Mourtaou 13% ($22) “This isn’t an excessively strong wine,” stated Kobza, “however I’m not making an attempt to extract that anyway. It jogs my memory of a nebbiolo with a variety of grip and tannins with some savoriness to it.” The colour is a clear ruby crimson, the aroma is berries and pepper. The fruit and spice carry into the flavour, with an natural mouth really feel that doesn’t overwhelm. It’s aged in impartial oak which emphasizes the subtleties of the grape and underplays the tannins. The widespread theme to Kobza’s wines is an interesting restraint and that is the best instance of that characteristic within the three wines we tasted. It’s straightforward and approachable with sufficient complexity to be fascinating, ending with a quick fade that makes you need to drink extra. It’s a flexible wine and if I had been going to a lunch or dinner with out figuring out what was being served, I’d really feel very snug bringing this with me. My favourite of the three, Kobza produces round 100 instances of this distinctive wine a 12 months. 

2018 Purple Subject Mix 12.8% ($26) “That is typical of a variety of the previous vine area plantings, which on this case is made up of carignan, mourvedre, cabernet pfeffer, and zinfandel,” he stated. “I don’t know why this combine is widespread in previous vineyards, however these are the cuttings that came to visit from France and that’s what they caught within the floor.” Kobza produces round 45 instances of this mix, which is round 60% mourvedre and 40% zinfandel, leaving slightly house for a sprinkling of the opposite two varieties. The aroma comes straight at you with a bounty of cherries and strawberries however the taste, once more, is restrained. You initially style the fullness of the zinfandel with the slightest hints of tannins that recede into the peppers of the cabernet pfeffer. It has a little bit of butteriness to it and slightly acid however as soon as once more, nothing pushes itself to the forefront and it drifts away cleanly. A superb wine with heavier or fattier meals, Kobza recommends letting this one age a bit.

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