Whether she is rescuing abused street dogs in Thailand or rehabilitating ancient grapevines at home in Santa Barbara County, Deborah Hall has found new meaning for her life on her 130-acre ranch, near Lompoc.
Two miles east of La Purisima Mission, deep in a canyon in the Sta. Rita Hills wine appellation, is Gypsy Canyon, Hall’s home since 1997.
That same year, her husband, William, a physician in Los Angeles, passed away. The couple had two children still in school, and Hall found herself at a crossroads.
She decided to fulfill her husband’s wish to plant a 5-acre vineyard at their country ranch, and his dream became hers.
For a while, she sold the organically farmed pinot noir fruit to other winemakers. In 2003, she made a little wine for herself, and she was hooked.
Now, Hall keeps all of the grapes for her own wine program, Gypsy Canyon, producing 500 cases a year: pinot noir from her estate and chardonnay from Bien Nacido Vineyards and Brewer-Clifton.
Soon after buying their ranch in Gypsy Canyon, the Halls discovered an abandoned 3-acre hillside vineyard on their property, hidden for decades under sagebrush.
DNA testing determined that they had 1,000 gnarled, head-trained, mission grape vines, planted in 1887. The vineyard survived Prohibition, concealed all those years.
Since the vines are more than 80 years old—actually pushing 130 years—they are referred to as “ancient vines.” Gypsy Canyon is considered the oldest mission grape vineyard in Santa Barbara County.
Because the vineyard had not been irrigated or farmed in more than 80 years, the site needed rehabilitation. Hall slowly watered and gently pruned the vines, but then she had to decide what to do with the grapes.
“There’s no market for mission fruit, and I couldn’t leave it for the birds,” Hall said.
She decided to learn what the padres from the old California mission system did with their mission grapes. She went to the Santa Barbara Mission’s archive-library where she found extensive winemaking notes. Hall determined from her research that Angelica fortified wine was the best this fruit could make.
In 2000, she made a batch, with the guidance of a winemaker-friend in Santa Maria.
“That’s how I got into winemaking,” she explained. “I had this fruit that needed a home.”
She has since taken viticulture and enology classes at Allan Hancock College and UC Davis.
Hall now produces 50 cases of Ancient Vine Angelica ($150); barrel-aged for five years, and sold in small, 375ml hand-blown bottles sealed with estate-harvested beeswax.
Hall poured me a sample of the amber-hued Angelica, perfectly paired with five-year aged Gouda from The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills.
I could sense history swirling in my glass as the floral and citrus aromas hypnotized me. Then, as my tongue touched the luscious liquid gold, and the nutty-honey flavors lingered there, I gasped and then giggled. It was that good!
Hall nodded knowingly, and said that a friend described Gypsy Canyon Angelica as, “a ladies’ cognac.”
“There’s nothing else like it,” Hall added. “That was part of the fun of making it! I had no idea what Angelica was supposed to taste like. It was fun to watch it evolve.”
But that’s not all; she found another way to use mission grapes.
“Just for the heck of it,” Hall took a dry white wine made from a new block of mission vines, to Cutler’s Artisan Spirits in Santa Barbara. Ian Cutler double distilled it and aged it in new French oak barrels, creating Mission Brandy.
“It’s young, but it’s so smooth. The flavors are wonderful! I can pick up some of the same aromas and flavors I’m getting in the Angelica,” Hall said. “It’s the first Mission Brandy that’s been made in nearly 200 years, as far as I know, anywhere!”
Following a recent New Year, Hall resolved to find a way to make a real difference in the world.
With childhood dreams of becoming a veterinarian and a lifelong love of dogs, she found her vehicle for change when she learned about Soi Dog Foundation, a Thailand-based, nonprofit organization dedicated to rescuing homeless dogs, and eradicating the illegal dog meat trade in Southeast Asia.
Hall gives all profits from her limited release pinot noir, Ground Boots ($70), to Soi Dog.
The wine’s label art is a painting donated by renowned American artist Donald Roller Wilson.
Last summer, Hall traveled to Thailand to witness the efforts of Soi Dog’s veterinarians and to assist the staff.
“I found out that they were everything they said they were, and then some. We went to villages and set up spay and neuter clinics,” Hall said. “Soi Dog is making huge progress with very little money.”
Buying one bottle of Ground Boots wine funds the rescue of three dogs, pays for their medical treatment, and helps to find them loving homes around the world.
Hall walks the walk. She brought home a three-legged dog named Ting, whose life was saved by Soi Dog.
On Sept. 1, Hall released 100 cases of the ’13 Ground Boots wine, also benefitting Soi Dog. This bottling was launched through the crowd funding website Indiegogo, offering several contribution levels and “thank you” extras.
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In November, Hall will return to Thailand to present Soi Dog with funds raised so far, and to see the money put to work.
“We’re one world now. I can save so many more dogs there than I can here. I want to save as many as I can.”
This benevolent boot-wearing, wine-making, animal lover trusts that her heart will lead her in the right direction now, and in the future.
“It’s amazing how things just fall into place. I guess I’m doing the right thing.”
Sun wine and food columnist Wendy Thies Sell is continually inspired by the good people she meets. Contact her at wthies@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 3-10, 2015.