Scott Rich - Moraga Vineyards

Moraga Vineyards is a wine growing estate in the Santa Monica
Mountains at an elevation of 600 to 900 feet, five miles from the
Pacific Ocean in the Los Angeles community of Bel Air. From the
care of each individual vine, to the selection and blending
processes, to the hand labeling of each bottle, every effort is
taken to produce wine of distinctive style and quality.

This is where Rich works his magic. Hired by former owner Tom
Jones, who created the vineyard two decades ago out of what was
once the horse ranch of director Victor Fleming (of Gone
with the Wind fame), Rich now makes wine that has earned the
praise of such renowned critics as Robert Parker and
the Financial Times’ Jancis Robinson (who cited it as one of
her favorite California wineries).


“Most winemakers don’t have this opportunity in a lifetime,” says
Rich, eyes twinkling above a small goatee that makes him resemble
a young Frank Zappa. A native of Chatsworth, Rich studied enology
at UC Davis. Since then, he has had a knack for nurturing vines
in unusual places, starting with R.H. Phillips Wine Company,
which hired him to create a vineyard north of Sacramento. He
eventually launched his own wine label, Talisman, in Glen Ellen,
and now splits his time between there and LA. “Look at how [rich
in calcium] this soil is,” says Rich, scooping up the earth
beneath a row of Merlot grapes ripening in the sun, reflecting
off the Pacific glistening between the Santa Monica mountains.
“This was all once under water, and the drainage makes it very
similar to other great winemaking areas, like Burgundy.”


The constant sea breeze keeps things chillier here than in other
local wine regions, lowering the high sugar levels typical to
California grapes. “This temperate climate means that the wine is
not a Napa fruit bomb type of thing,” notes Rich. “It has a
subtle, herbal quality more associated with European wines.”


But it takes micro planning to grow grapes in this sort of
environment. As we round toward the lee of the hill, grape
clusters grow darker.


But it takes micro planning to grow grapes in this sort of
environment. As we round toward the lee of the hill, grape
clusters grow darker.“This is a little pocket that gets protected
from the breezes, so we planted Cabernet here,” says Rich. “They
thrive more in warmer spots.”


At this time of year, the juice of these grapes will be brought
down to the large steel fermentation vats in the hypermodern
stone and glass winemaking building at the bottom of the hill.
Afterward, the red wine will be stored in French-oak barrels
lining a 200-foot cave dug into the side of the hill. The
vineyard even has its own bottling machine. “Most small vineyards
hire mobile units to come and do their bottling for them, but we
want to be able to time everything perfectly,” says Rich. “It
might seem extravagant for such small batches, but that way we
can best control the quality.”