Laurie Jervis: Santa Barbara Couple Launch Matilija Wines | Properties & Way of life

When Cody Sargeant first met Wynne Solomon within the dorms at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2010, he had no concept his future would contain winemaking.

Solomon did. A local of the city of Windsor in Sonoma County, she discovered to experience a motorcycle within the vineyards that surrounded her dwelling.

She shared that candy reminiscence after I wrote about her work at Peake Ranch within the Sta. Rita Hills in 2023. She voiced a ardour for chemistry and cooking — two expertise that marry nicely with the craft of winemaking.

Fast ahead to this 12 months, and he or she is now Wynne Sargeant after they married in July 2022, the identical 12 months they harvested the primary grenache grapes for their very own label — Matilija Wines.

The two produce about 91 circumstances yearly of their grenache and albarino, and so they plan so as to add mencia and extra Sta. Rita Hills’ albarino to the lineup.

Matilija was only a dream — Cody Sargeant’s, really — main as much as its 2022 debut.

“For two or three years, Cody bugged me to launch our own label,” Wynne Sargeant stated. “He was relentless!”

“(Wynne) got me into wine back at Cal Poly,” he stated. With their very own label, “I get to learn from her while working with her.”

Matilija has morphed into “a project that we could do together, fulfilling a longtime dream,” the 2 stated.

That preliminary 2022 classic is now 75% offered out, Wynne Sargeant famous.

After graduating from Cal Poly, she jumped straight into winemaking in San Luis Obispo County’s Edna Valley, first as an intern after which assistant winemaker for Stephen Dooley of Stephen Ross Wines Cellars, who taught her find out how to make pinot noir and chardonnay, after which for Ryan Deovlet, who sourced those self same varietals from Santa Barbara County vineyards, she stated.

From San Luis Obispo County, Wynne Sargeant in 2016 moved south to Melville Winery, the place once more the main focus was on cool-climate pinot noir and chardonnay. Under the tutelage of Chad Melville, she gained “lots of vineyard experience from a 100% estate vineyard” and labored as assistant winemaker to Melville, Sargeant recalled.

In 2018, Sargeant accepted her first lead winemaking gig at Peake Ranch Winery, touchdown there simply 4 years after that property’s first classic, and labored underneath founding winemaker Paul Lato beginning with the 2019 classic, she stated.

It was at Peake Ranch that Matilija Wines debuted. The 2022, 2023 and 2024 vintages have been produced and aged at that facility.

After seven vintages at Peake Ranch, Sargeant moved to Brave & Maiden Estate within the Santa Ynez Valley this previous March. She’s at the moment in the midst of harvest there, pulling within the Bordeaux and Rhone-style grapes for which that vineyard is understood.

The 2024 Matilija wines — two barrels every of grenache and albarino — traveled in barrel to Brave & Maiden and now are in bottle, Wynne stated. 

Why these two varietals? Cody Sargeant answered: “Both are varietals we thought were underrepresented for as well as they do in this county,” which is greatest identified for pinot noir and chardonnay. “But the albarino and grenache grown here are also incredible.”

The couple lean towards Spanish varietals, particularly relating to pairing with spicy meals.

“We love flavorful, spicy foods, so it’s fun to make wines that play well with that style,” he stated.

Both the primary and second Matilija Wines’ vintages honored the couple’s younger nieces, the youngsters of the couple’s respective sisters.

While a wine membership — and delivery — are future concerns, in the intervening time, Matilija’s wines can be found largely to family and friends on the Central Coast and in Southern California; Cody Sargeant’s household nonetheless resides in Long Beach.

The wines additionally might be discovered at Good Land Wine Shop in Santa Barbara and the Bodega in Los Alamos, with extra retail websites within the works.

“It’s mostly Cody who handles our sales,” Wynne Sargeant famous.

When he’s not promoting wine, he’s an legal professional specializing in land use and environmental points. The couple dwell in Santa Barbara with their canine, Maude.

She stated one in all her favourite points about making wine is the chance to be taught new vineyards, and the farming points of every.

The couple’s first Matilija albarino hailed from a Santa Maria Valley winery near the Tepusquet Bench. The web site was farmed for Copper Cane, a big Napa-based vineyard, by Chalk Hill Vineyard Management. Through a reference to that farming crew, the Sargeants have been in a position to rating one ton that first 12 months.

“We were very excited to get it,” Wynne Sargeant stated. 

The ensuing albarino wine is lean and crisp and was the perfect pairing to their shared plates at Secret Bao earlier this month.

Matilija plans to increase case manufacturing with extra albarino grapes this 12 months from Peake Ranch, and mencia fruit from Nolan Ranch Vineyards in Los Alamos.