Seventeen years ago, Meghan and Dan Reeves bought 40 acres among the foothills above Los Olivos. They liked the location, layout, and views, but even more compelling were the six-year-old grapevines climbing the slopes leading up to the house.
Today, the vineyard covers three steep acres, and the fruit provides most of the raw material for their Reeves Ranch Vineyard label, a micro-boutique winery producing about 400 cases a year.
“When we came to this house from Santa Barbara,” said Meghan Reeves, owner/winemaker at Reeves Ranch Vineyard, “I fell in love with the grapes, the setting, and the idea. This is what I wanted to do.
“I think first and foremost I’m a gardener,” she continued, “because growing the grapes, that’s what I love.”
The Reeveses grafted their vines over to three different Syrah clones, including Estrella, the original clone planted at Zaca Mesa Winery in 1978. The other two are 99, a French clone sourced from Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles, and the C5 clone from Australia.
“Each clone brings something different,” Reeves said. “The Estrella throws more color, because its skin-to-juice ratio is smaller. The Australian Shiraz gives the big mouthfeel and fruit, and the 99 gives me the finesse.”
Reeves described her wine as “fruit driven, with a lot of fruit mid-palate,” qualities she credits to her vineyard’s location. Growing on steep slopes with a windy exposure, the vines work hard and yield wine with marvelous components of dried fruit and aromatic cherry leather.
On the label, the Reeves feature the head of a ram, a sly reference to the fact that Dan’s father owned the former Los Angeles Rams football team from 1941 to 1971. Daniel Reeves was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967, and the family continues to support the team—though they say it’s not easy.
Two years after moving to Los Olivos, the Reeves bought property near Los Alamos and planted their 10-acre Black Oak Vineyard. Here, they grow Syrah and Grenache, mostly for sale to local winemakers like Doug Margerum and Kris Curran.
“In the beginning,” Reeves remembered, “I used to sell fruit to Dan Gehrs, and it broke my heart. I’d work six or seven months growing the grapes, and then they’d pick them up, and I’d think, ‘Oh, there go my babies!’ It was the saddest day, like the day after Christmas.
“So I started taking a ton,” she laughed, “then two tons, and then it got really bad.”
Reeves attended vinicultural courses at Allan Hancock College and crafted the wine in her garage. Her stepson, Rick Reeves, who has worked for both Jaffurs Cellars and Beckmen Vineyards, helped her with the heavy labor of moving tanks and wrestling barrels.
Reeves made wine that way for eight years, calling upon such winemaking friends as Kris Curran, Bruno D’Alfonso, and Joey Tensley for technical advice.
Shortly after Terravant Wine Company, a state-of-the-art production facility, opened in Buellton in 2008, Reeves moved her operation into the gleaming new complex. There, she found the equipment, muscle, and expertise she needed to continue to create her memorable Syrah.
“Terravant has the newest, greatest, biggest, and best,” Reeves said. “It’s a great environment. Everyone is so helpful, and I’ve learned so much just hanging out there. I like that sense of a real community. It’s like a little school.”
Reeves’ current release, the 2008 Syrah, recently received rave reviews at the Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Association spring festival in Lompoc.
“Women loved it,” Reeves laughed, “because it has soft characteristics, soft wood nuances. I keep it in barrel for 18 months, so it doesn’t take on those great big tannins.
“I don’t have a big wood program, only 20 percent new oak,” she continued, “because I think that Syrah and new wood, they’re so strong they tend to fight each other. If you can do a soft wood program with Syrah, it really showcases the fruit.”
Reeves discovered the style of wine she prefers to drink—and now makes—while traveling in France with her husband.
“We’d go to Provence and rent a house, and we drank the best wines that never get out of France,” she said. “I found what I like in my palate and what I want to emulate. Hopefully I’ll be able to do that.
“I really like to have control over the fruit I bring in,” she continued. “That’s the most exciting thing, to see it come full circle and then drink it, and be proud of what of what you drink!”
K. Reka Badger toasts the wine and food community each week in the Sun. Join her at rekabadger@hotmail.com.
This article appears in Apr 28 – May 5, 2011.