The Somm Journal

Dec 2016-Jan 2017

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88 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } DECEMBER/JANUARY 2016/2017 { discoveries } LUCK, FATE, HAPPENSTANCE—CALL IT what you will, but some of the most intrigu- ing wine "discoveries" made in the New World have transpired under serendipitous circumstances. Take the Santa Catalina Island Vineyards project, planted in 2007 by Geoffrey and Alison Rusack, heirs of the storied and bejeweled Santa Catalina Island—once owned by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr.—26 miles off the coast of Southern California The Rusacks, who also own the more conventionally ensconced Rusack Vineyards in Santa Barbara's Ballard Canyon AVA, planted wine grapes on this monumentally challenging site (salt- encrusted sand and schist, daily gale-force winds and Region I/II chill) out in the Pacific Ocean because, well, they could. As it turns out, since its inaugural vintage in 2009, the Rusack Santa Catalina Islands Chardonnay has emerged as one of the world's most unique expressions of the grape: super-charged with both lemon drop acidity and orange blossom notes tinged with a distinct, briny, palate-slaking mineral - ity. Subsequent vintages of Santa Catalina Island–grown Pinot Noirs have been equally transparent: rhubarb- and pomegranate-like red fruit perfumes riding on the acid, sinew and pervasive brininess induced by that oceanic air. But the real kicker, as it turns out, has been the Rusack family's Santa Catalina Island Vineyards Zinfandel, showing, from the first vintage (2009) and through all five bottlings since, the most pungent expression of the aromatic terpene identified as rotundone THE RUNAWAY VINE Ripening Zinfandel at Santa Catalina Island Vineyards, August 2016. Rusack Santa Catalina Island and Ballard Canyon Estate Zinfandels. RUSACK REMAKES HISTORY WITH A LOST ZINFANDEL CLONE FROM SANTA CRUZ ISLAND story and photos by Randy Caparoso

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