La Marea Albarino Kristy Vineyard 2012
-
Enthusiast
Wine
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Very well structured, with zesty acidity and a fine tang of minerals. There’s a chalky tang to the citrus fruit flavors. Elegant, bone dry, moderate in alcohol and easy to drink, it’s a superb restaurant wine.
La Marea means ‘the tide’ and Ian and Heather Brands’ La Marea label is a meditation on change and constancy, the pendular swings of culture and winemaking styles, the constancy of the ocean and the tide, the slow tectonic shift that raised the seafloor and brought plows to that earth and grapes from the other side of the world. As Monterey was once the capital of Alta California, and the bright California sun has much more in common with the Iberian peninsula than continental Europe, La Marea focuses on grapes of Spanish origin in the salty, rocky greater Monterey Bay region.
Ian and Heather Brand began their family winery with pennies and a dream in 2007 while working in the cellars, vineyards and management of other wineries. In 2008, they moved to Salinas in Monterey County so Ian could focus on the winery while consulting, hustling and doing whatever work came his way. In 2010 they leased out half of an existing winery. In 2013 they built out their own production space in the industrial district of Salinas. They’ve expanded the space twice since then. Along the way, they’ve uncovered potential in regions and vineyards largely forgotten by the greater wine industry, grown fruitful relationships with local growers (while working tirelessly to promote low input and organic viticulture), and developed a winemaking style suited to the rocky, windswept Monterey Coast. In 2018, Ian was named the San Francisco Chronicle Winemaker of the Year.
Bright and aromatic with distinctive floral and fruity characteristics, Albariño has enjoyed a surge in popularity and an increase in plantings over the last couple of decades. Thick skins allow it to withstand the humid conditions of its homeland, Rías Baixas, Spain, free of malady, and produce a weighty but fresh white. Somm Secret—Albariño claims dual citizenship in Spain and Portugal. Under the name Alvarinho, it thrives in Portugal’s northwestern Vinho Verde region, which predictably, borders part of Spain’s Rías Baixas.
The largest and perhaps most varied of California’s wine-growing regions, the Central Coast produces a good majority of the state's wine. This vast California wine district stretches from San Francisco all the way to Santa Barbara along the coast, and reaches inland nearly all the way to the Central Valley.
Encompassing an extremely diverse array of climates, soil types and wine styles, it contains many smaller sub-AVAs, including San Francisco Bay, Monterey, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, Edna Valley, Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria Valley.
While the Central Coast California wine region could probably support almost any major grape varietiy, it is famous for a few Central Coast reds and whites. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are among the major ones. The Central Coast is home to many of the state's small, artisanal wineries crafting unique, high-quality wines, as well as larger producers also making exceptional wines.