The following article appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on Wed, Dec. 08, 2004. Click here for the article on The Mercury News online (registration required).
Silver Mountain, Silver Anniversary
ACHIEVING HIGH QUALITY IN SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS HASN'T BEEN EASYBy Laurie Daniel
Special to the Mercury News
Growing grapes and making wine in the Santa Cruz Mountains can be a dicey business. From steep hillsides and heavy winter rains to grapevine-eating deer and the occasional earthquake, the conditions are not exactly hospitable.
Jerold O'Brien knows this all too well. O'Brien, owner of Silver Mountain Vineyards, is marking the winery's 25th anniversary this year. But those 25 years have been punctuated by some adversity, including the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, which resulted in a fire that destroyed his winery and years' worth of production.
He considered hanging it up but ultimately decided to rebuild and get back into the business. Still, it has been hard to get the word out about Silver Mountain wines. With annual production of just 3,000 cases, finding a distributor has been difficult. And the winery's permit restricts it to a few public events each year.
But there are changes afoot at Silver Mountain. Two years ago, Tony Craig, formerly of David Bruce Winery and now the winemaker at Savannah-Chanelle in Saratoga, joined the Silver Mountain team to help with the winemaking. More recently, Jerold's son Jake also joined the business, and they opened a tasting room on Cannery Row in Monterey, giving Silver Mountain a wider audience.
I recently paid a visit to Jerold O'Brien at his vineyard and winery above Soquel. He bought the property, an abandoned orchard, in 1973. A former Air Force pilot, O'Brien had gotten interested in wine while he was stationed abroad.
Toward the end of his career, he was based in the Bay Area and he would take classes and spend time helping out at several wineries, in particular Joseph Swan in Sonoma County. His experiences fueled his interest in the wine business.
O'Brien's 12-acre vineyard, which is certified organic, is mostly chardonnay, with a little merlot and pinot noir. Most of the chardonnay vines are from cuttings he got from Mount Eden Vineyard in Saratoga; the pinot is from Swan. The vines are all on their own roots -- unusual in California, where most growers graft vines onto rootstocks that are resistant to the vine louse known as phylloxera. Silver Mountain's first vintage, 1979, was made from purchased grapes.
Although he has made a range of wines over the years, O'Brien has decided to focus on chardonnay, pinot noir and a Bordeaux-style red blend called Alloy. The Silver Mountain chardonnays tend to be tightly wound and a little minerally, with a core of zippy acidity. I particularly like the 2002, which will be released this spring and will sell for $20.
Also from the 2002 vintage, there's a lovely Silver Mountain pinot noir from the Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey County. The wine, which is being released this month at a price of $28, has ripe cherry flavors accented with nice spice and a hint of smokiness. (Craig is also making Santa Lucia Highlands pinot under his own Sonnet label; the 2002 is mostly gone, but the 2003, at $36 and available soon, is lovely, with lots of pure cherry flavors.) For a real bargain, there's a racy 1998 pinot noir under a second label, Loma Prieta, that's just $10 and sold only in the tasting room.
The 2000 Alloy ($24) is a very good wine for the price, with pretty Bing cherry and notes of olive and anise, supported by ripe, supple tannins and a firm backbone of acidity. The 2001 and 2002 have been bottled but not released, and they also show tremendous promise.
For more information about Silver Mountain, go to www.silvermtn.com. The Monterey tasting room, 381 Cannery Row, Suite Q, is open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. daily.
info@silvermtn.com · 408-353-2278 · fax 408-353-1898
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