Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1061132
76 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } DECEMBER/JANUARY 2018/2019 In each issue, the editorial team at The SOMM Journal will đėœĻĉėƑíƤėƤķƑŪƫİķDžĻŞėƘƫĉŜĻƘƘĻŪŞƘíŞđƑėœėíƘėǙŞíœōƫđİŜėŞƤ on select wines that garnered scores of at least 90 points. "How slow life seems to me How violent the hope of love can be Let night come on bells end the day The days go by me still I stay" —Excerpt from "Le Pont Mirabeau" by French poet Guillaume Apollinaire GREG BREWER HAS been up all night—and most of the day. A couple of naps in his upstairs lounge allow him to work around the clock in the tasting room/winery facility for Brewer-Clifton, located in an industrial area near the Lompoc Wine Ghetto in Lompoc, California. Intention and focus are a mantra for Brewer, who sold his eponymous label to Jackson Family Wines just over a year and a half ago. Whether he has two or three winemaking assistants helping him or not, Brewer continues to create a wine bearing his name. "I'm a full-time employee for Jackson Family Wines, and I have never been treated so well in my career," he says. "The winery has never felt more mine, and I take more risks now than before." The vintages of the bottles on the Brewer-Clifton "Foundation Wall" range from 1996 to 2015, and the label design has remained the same throughout that time period. "I see this as a discipline more than a winery," Brewer confesses. "Nothing changes here—not the packaging nor the culture." Working with neutral oak, cold fermentation, estate fruit, and a cooperage program that dates back 20 years, the small but super-efficient space was designed by Brewer himself. He has blocked all natural light from the winemaking facility, and electronic music is piped throughout to remove outside distractions. Even his tasting room in Los Olivos is spare and stream - lined. "Nothing we do here has an X factor or a hook. We don't Photoshop or Autotune our wines," says Brewer, whose passions beyond wine include French poetry. "It's the imperfections that allow the beauty to show through." The Beauty of Imperfection GREG BREWER OF BREWER-CLIFTON SHARES HIS MINDFUL APPROACH TO WINEMAKING Brewer-Clifton Winemaker Greg Brewer says everything he does revolves around geometry and proportion. PHOTO: JEREMY BALL Diatom 2017 Katherine's Chardonnay, Santa Maria Valley ($36) Named for the diatoma- ceous earth made from the fossilized remains of ancient sea creatures. Katherine's is a 50-year-old self-rooted vineyard that butts up against the Bien Nacido Vineyard. Brewer says the wine is made in a cloistered environment, a "vacuum with a slow trajectory." Reaching an equilibrium of edge and roundness (no ML here), we find vanilla custard and lemon curd. 94 Brewer-Clifton 2015 Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills ($40) Made from 120 assembled ferments that speak to clones, soils, and clusters both whole and fractional. From the 3D, Hapgood, and Machado vineyards, the generous fruit morphs with savory white pepper into a clove-y spice with soy and salted plum. Its stemmy flavor profile frames a drying persistence. 93 Ex Post Facto 2016 Syrah, Santa Barbara County ($36) Brewer's newest project is this cold-climate, whole cluster–fermented Syrah with exotic flavors and aromas of red fruit seasoned with lavender and peppercorn. Seamless and floral. 94 Brewer-Clifton 2015 Machado Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills ($80) 100% whole cluster–fermented and aged in older barrels. Aromas of tilled soil and desiccated rose petals precede strawberries and delicate nuances of floral brush. 95 by Meridith May