Laurie Love on Wine: Kissed By An Angel’s new tasting room, recycling bill’s impact, accolades and events

Welcome to Laurie Love on Wine! I am Laurie Love, a professional wine writer and educator based in Santa Cruz. In this column, I share my wine passion, knowledge, and experience with Lookout readers. Follow me on my wine blog, Laurie Loves Wine, and on Instagram at LaurieLoveOnWine. I love email from readers! Stay in touch: Email me at laurie@lookoutlocal.com. Join me as we journey together through the wonderful world of wine.

WINE NEWS

Kissed By An Angel opens tasting room in Santa Cruz

Happy New Year! We start off with some exciting news: Kissed By An Angel Wines, located in Scotts Valley (75 Mount Hermon Rd., Suite E), is opening a second tasting room location in Santa Cruz at 2535 7th Ave. A grand opening event is set for Saturday, Jan. 27, from 3 to 5 p.m., featuring wine flights and live music from two local bands, along with on-site wood-fired pizzas. Tickets ($10) are very limited and are available for advance purchase only.

Up to now, the 4,000-square-foot space on 7th Avenue has been its production facility. “We decided based upon the lack of tasting rooms in that area to section off 1,100 feet for a tasting room,” says owner and winemaker Larry Olivo. The new tasting room will be open on Fridays and Saturdays from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. According to Olivo, “Our plan is to have concerts at that venue every six weeks or so featuring local artists.” The Scotts Valley tasting room will continue to operate Fridays 3 to 8 p.m., Saturdays 2 to 7 p.m. and Sundays 1 to 6 p.m.

Olivo is a third-generation winemaker with over 30 years of experience. He and his wife, Lisa, started Kissed By An Angel in honor of their daughter Amanda, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 22 after an 18-year battle with kidney disease. The winery produces white, rosé and bold red wines, mostly sourced from local Santa Cruz Mountains vineyards, but also from vineyards in other regions such as Livermore, Paso Robles and Amador County. For more information, visit its website.

Spring semester wine classes starting at Cabrillo

If you haven’t already, be sure to register for the next semester of wine classes at Cabrillo College. Classes start on Monday, Jan. 29. On offer this semester are two courses. The very popular Italian wines course meets online on Mondays, Jan. 29 to May 25 from 6:30 to 8:35 p.m., with three in-person classes on campus for tastings. The new wine business Basics course is a short eight-week online course (Feb. 12 to April 13) designed for students to learn wine business principles and strategies applicable to winegrowing, winemaking, marketing and distribution. For more information and to register, check the Cabrillo College wine program website here.

Californians can now recycle wine bottles for cash

As of Jan. 1, the California Beverage Container Recycling Program (aka the “Bottle Bill”) expanded to allow Californians to recycle wine and liquor bottles (as well as juice containers over 16 ounces) for cash. Wine bottles are now included in the California Redemption Value (CRV) fee, where consumers pay a CRV fee up front when buying wine, and that CRV fee is refundable when they return the bottles at a recycling center.

According to the new recycling rules at CalRecycle, bottles up to 24 ounces are worth 5 cents when redeemed, or 10 cents for those over 24 oz. Wine bottles are 750 milliliters (approximately 25 ounces) so they are worth 10 cents. Liquor and alcoholic coolers follow the same redemption values. Additionally, wine sold in paperboard or pouches (i.e., boxed wine) can be returned for a 25-cent refund. Previously, based on the 1986 Bottle Bill, only nonalcoholic beverage containers were redeemable, and not juice containers over 16 ounces.

This new law might be great to encourage recycling in the state, but it significantly affects wineries in a couple of ways. First, California-based wineries will need to update wine labels to show the CRV fee and recycling information. This requirement doesn’t start until July 1, 2025. By that time, it’s possible an official QR code will be available to print on the label instead. Nonetheless, wineries will have to bear the expense of redesigning and printing new labels.

Second, and most impactfully, wineries (and distillers and distributors), all of which are considered manufacturers under the new law, will be required to pay fees and to register with CalRecycle or face stiff penalties. Winery fees, or “processing” fees, are about 0.005 cent per bottle produced, which doesn’t sound like much. But for a small winery that produces about 10,000 cases of wine a year, that amounts to an additional $600 cost annually. The fees are assessed whether the wine bottles are sold or not. Payment obligations start March 1. Check out the Wine Institute website for good, useful information about the new Bottle Bill laws.

2023 accolades for Santa Cruz Mountains wines

Our region is home to so many top-quality wines, and 2023 saw many of them recognized by national wine critics. Here’s a rundown of a few recent media accolades for local wines.

As previously reported, Wine Enthusiast magazine included three Santa Cruz wines in its Top 100 Cellar Selections for 2023. In case you missed it, these wines are Ridge Vineyards 2021 East Bench Funsten Ranch Zinfandel ($45), Ryan Alfaro’s Farm Cottage 2021 Trout Gulch Vineyard Chardonnay ($42), and Birichino 2022 Central Coast Old Vines Besson Vineyard Grenache ($30).

Big Basin Vineyards won 95 points from Antonio Galloni of Vinous.com (subscriber access only) for several of its wines: 2019 Coastview Syrah “Terraces,” 2019 Rattlesnake Rock Syrah, 2021 Coastview Vineyard Pinot Noir, 2019 Howard Family Vineyard Chardonnay and 2018 Gabilan Mountains Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre.

R. H. Drexel, contributing writer for Jeb Dunnuck’s wine review website, jebdunnuck.com, posted her top 50 wines of 2023. And I’m happy to report there are lots of Santa Cruz wines on Drexel’s countdown-style list of wines from around the world. At No. 41 is Farm Cottage 2022 Trout Gulch Vineyard Pinot Noir ($54); 37 is Birichino 2022 Malvasia Bianco, Monterey ($18); 33 is Madson Wines 2022 Ascona Vineyard Chardonnay ($48); 29 is John Benedetti’s Sante Arcangeli 2020 “Ananda” Pinot Noir ($69), such an elegant pinot; 27 is Alfaro Family Vineyard 2021 Whole Cluster Estate Pinot Noir ($48); at No. 10 is Kathryn Kennedy 2019 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon ($289); and at 8, the stunning and ethereal Sandar & Hem 2021 Bald Mountain Chardonnay ($56), my Wine of the Week last month.

Congratulations, everyone!

Coming Jan. 24: Reflections of 2023 vintage with Ken Swegles

I had the pleasure of interviewing local viticulturist and vineyard consultant Ken Swegles of Rhizos Viticulture and Madson Wines for my upcoming story on the 2023 vintage and how it played out in the vineyard. Look for this piece to publish in my next column on Wednesday, Jan. 24.

UPCOMING WINE EVENTS

Each column I highlight some of the wine events happening around our region. If you are a winery or organization that has an upcoming wine event, email me with the details at laurie@lookoutlocal.com.

Aptos Vineyard (105C Post Office Dr., Aptos) is hosting a fun trivia game night on Monday, Jan. 15, from 5 to 7 p.m. The event is free, with wine specials by the glass available for purchase. For more information call 831-661-5150 or email info@aptosvineyard.com.

The Doon to Earth tasting room (10 Parade St., Unit B, Aptos) is hosting a wine education night with winemaker Nicole Walsh leading a class on the red grape varietal mourvèdre. Walsh will cover wine regions, tastings, pairings and exploration of mourvèdre wines from around the world. The class takes place Wednesday, Jan. 17, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Tickets are $25. RSVP by emailing greetings@bonnydoonvineyard.com or call 831-612-6062.

The next Wines of Santa Cruz Mountains Passport Celebration Day is coming up on Saturday, Jan. 20. Purchase a Santa Cruz Mountains Wine Passport and gain access to over 35 local wineries and tasting experiences. On Celebration Days, passport holders can visit participating wineries throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains, some open only on these special days, and each offering a unique winery experience from special complimentary flights, wine discounts and entertainment to food trucks and more. In addition, Chaminade Resort hosts a Santa Cruz winery on Celebration Days. On the 20th, the winery at Chaminade will be La Vida Bella Winery. Click here for more information and to purchase a passport.

Until next time!

Cheers, Laurie

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