One of the iconic producers of California Pinot Noir, Greg Brewer is the co-founder and winemaker at Brewer-Clifton. Greg started his career as a French instructor at UC Santa Barbara before being trained in wine production at Santa Barbara Winery starting in 1991. He created his eponymous label, Brewer-Clifton with original partner Steve Clifton in 1996 and also Melville where he worked as winemaker from its inception in 1997 through the end of 2015. His wines are gorgeous, deftly combining terroir with bight acidity and hedonistic aromatics.
I have long admired these wines since I first began tasting in Santa Barbara back in 2003. I won’t forget my first visit to Brewer-Clifton and Melville which were sleepy, micro-production wineries that flew under the radar for far too long. The new wines by Brewer-Clifton were dazzling across the board and I recently had the chance to sit down with Greg and chat wine. Articulate and genuine, Greg talked about his background in wine as well as some inspirational people who have touched his nearly 30 year winemaking journey. I think you will very much enjoy hearing his story in wine. Here is my exclusive Interview with Greg Brewer, Winemaker and Co-founder of Brewer-Clifton.
WWB: What initially drew you to winemaking?
GB: Back in 1991 I was an instructor at UC Santa Barbara and I was enjoying that, I loved working in education. At 21 I was working on a masters degree that I never finished, and I realized my heart wasn’t in it. The research component to the gig wasn’t as enticing and at the same tine by coincidence I had seen an ad for a job working at a tasting room in Santa Barbara and I applied. Although didn’t get the job the first time from the moment I walked in the door to the winery I realized that was what I wanted to do. I was enchanted by the winery with the barrels, the music and people. A few weeks later I applied for another job at the winery and began working. For about a year I was still teaching at UC Santa Barbara and working in the tasting room. Then I had a chance to work in winery production in a small level at by the end of 1992 I was able to begin working as assistant winemaker. The winemaker was amazing and he has been working at the winery for 30 years. He gave ma a shot even though I didn’t have the knowledge or experience but it was a small team there at Santa Barbara Winery, the oldest one in the county. He knew that I worked hard and that I was really into it. I owe him the world. He taught me 95% of what I do as there was a huge risk taking and calm demeanor that he has maintained — a duality is not that common. I learned a lot from that and maintaining composure but also being willing to take huge risks in the winemaking process.
WWB: What are some of your favorite vintages that you have worked with in Santa Barbara County? What have been some of the most challenging vintages for you?
GB: Living in the Santa Barbara area we have been blessed that we have remarkable consistency with regards to weather. There are a few things that are favorable with the vintages I have worked with. The region has this amazing climate which in 29 years of doing this I have never bee forced to pick because of adverse weather in the fall. That in itself is phenomenal and I have that as a huge advantage. Another advantage I only work in this one small area. For the better part of three decades I have worked on a five mile stretch of one road. I am not saying that I know it all but you gain intimacy with a place like that. It gives you the opportunity to be very close to the environment and be vulnerable with the environment. It is like being with a partner. It has been great and I have been blessed with upwards of 25 year old relationships in the area which gives you the opportunity to stick your neck out and drop your shoulders and raise these wines in a minimal fashion.
WWB: Your new 2016 Brewer-Clifton ‘Machado’ Pinot Noir (WWB, 95) is a thrilling new wine with gobs of salty terroir and incredible range. Can you talk about crafting this special wine. How are you able to impart this level of range and terroir?
GB: Machado is a vineyard that we planted in 2008. Back even in 2016 a good portion of the vineyard would make its way into the Santa Rita Hills bottling and it always has. When we planted there is a little knoll on the property that is really easy to identify from our website. It is eight acres of the vineyard that is flat and then roughly five acres at the vineyard is defined by a little knoll. When we planted that we wanted to make the wine based on the section of the site and we knew that knoll was going to be relevant. We planted clone 37 and 459 there. 2010 was our first Machado designate bottling. The Pinot Noir is 100% whole cluster fermented and a blend of both clones. We knew that the wine would offer very primary pure fruit and very dense lush curvy fruit and the whole cluster frames that curvature. The stems give the spice and also tannin and then the wine is fermented for a long time and then aged for a year and a half. There is a lot of pure intent in the winemaking process. The Machado family is really kind and they came to the area from Portugal in 1917. They own about 1200 acres in the area and because we all know each other they were open to leasing 15 acres of their property to us on a long term land lease. It is their land but we are able to borrow it. It is a beautiful scenario with you having the ability to put another person’s family legacy on the label and there is a lot of responsibility but I love that too. They are really into the wine and winemaking process and are prideful of the wine.
WWB: What are some of the best wines that you have ever tasted?
GB: A lot of these wines come to mind. But I think for me just like anything there are a handful of wines that I have had in my formative years that really turned my life upside down and set me on the path where I have gone. The older you get the more you get numb to things unfortunately. But as a kid it is like tasting ice cream for the first time. One formative wine would be a wine from Calera, their 1987 ‘Jensen Vineyard’ Pinot Noir which I tried in 1993. I would also say that the 1987 ‘Rochioli Vineyard’ from Williams-Selyem was one of the most influential wines that I had. Burt Williams who recently sadly passed away lived in our area part time and spent a lot of time at our winery. I learned a lot from him. Learning about minimal handling and stem inclusion, stewarding things in a quiet way and allowing things to be as they are. The wines blew me away but the people behind them even more so. These have been critical people in my winemaking career. In terms of old world wines that have influenced me, I have been blessed to try sone crazy Burgundy over the years. One of the monumental wines I tried was the 1990 Domaine Leroy ‘Savigny Les Beaune – Les Narbantons.’ Her wines are amazing and at the time back in 1993 I knew about the winemaker but had never tried her wines. At the time the wine wasn’t too expensive not like it is now. It was either 1993 or 1994 and I wanted to share the wine with others at the winery for my birthday. I had brought the wine to the winery a week before and we opened it and I had never had any wine like it. We all had it and talked about it and then there was about an inch or two eft in the bottle and Bruce my boss said that I should cork it and try it tomorrow. I did and the next day it was something completely different. That lesson I remember vividly, having that wine the first time and them the day later. So those three wines are really intense and all rely on stem inclusion which is no surprise. Extreme in their practice and approach to winemaking but yet are also very simple in the approach.