Holiday Gifting Guide 2023: The Best Los Angeles Wines
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THEY MAKE WINE IN LA?! It's a common question. But you have to think back to the modern history of California and by whom it was founded to find the answers. The city's history as a wine town began when the Spanish landed and colonized California. Spaniards quite enjoyed drinking wine and the Franciscan Monks used it in religious ceremonies. Father Junipero Serra, one of the most famous missionaries sent to California, had grape cuttings sent up from Mexico in 1778 and began to produce sacramental wine. Father Junipero Serra and his Mission project indirectly helped kickstart the California wine industry as we know it today. Los Angeles, long known as The City of Vines, was once the heartbeat of all things wine in California. Over the last decade there has been incredible work done by passionate winemakers to resuscitate and showcase LA's vinous history, and I'm happy to recommend some of those to you in this article. Here are my picks for the best Los Angeles Wines to give as gifts in 2023:
Courtesy of Angeleno Wine Company
With a focus on unique varietals, Angeleno Wine Co. aims to push the boundaries of what Southern California wine growing can be. Tannat, Graciano, Godello, Loureiro, Treixadura and Alicante Bouschet are some of the unique varietals that Angeleno makes into wine every year. The wines are naturally made and 100% vegan. They strive to make wines that are elegant, balanced and that express Los Angeles' unique character: a growing region where the desert meets the sea.
Made in the traditional Champagne method from 100% Chardonnay, our latest vintage of the California Crackler is pristine bubbly — festive and dry. ‘Crackling Wine' is what they called California sparkling wine in the 1800's and nods to the quiet, mesmerizing sound of effervescence. Our Crackler is a white sparkling wine rich in character with flavors of ripe pear, citrus and hazelnuts and a dry, savory finish. Made from the Alonso Family Vineyard in Agua Dulce.
Courtesy of AJA Vineyards
Located in the serene nature of the Santa Monica Mountains one can find robust vineyards, fruiting endlessly and rapidly on the hillsides of AJA's Malibu Estate.
The estate is excited to share the second vintage of Eds' Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc! This unique wine is beautifully complex. Notes of pineapple, grapefruit and gooseberry on the nose. Hints of fresh green pepper and white flowers join in. On the palate, it has a bright but soft touch, silky and dry. Minerality shows through and the beautiful terroir of Malibu settles as you finish. This wine was fermented in steel tanks and transferred to neutral oak barrels to make sure no oak flavor agents were imparted, rather it simply is soft on the palate. This is the perfect poolside wine, or pair it with a fresh spring salad.
This wine is named after Co-Proprietors Todd and Heather's fathers Edward and Edwin. Two truly remarkable men with a zest for life.
Courtesy of LARWC
This is vineyard is a wonder for all of us who work with it.
Owner & Winemaker Abe Schoener first heard about the site in the Fall of 2019, but could never find it, nor convince anyone to tell him just where it was. Then, at the end of harvest 2019, Fidel Guerra took Abe & Christina Rasmussen from Maglite to the Palomino, about 15 minutes away. It is on the edge of the amazing, and huge, Lopez Zinfandel Vineyard, but down a side-street, and somehow we never spotted the golden canes or yellow fruit.
The team had pruned about 5 acres of the vineyard in the winter preceding harvest 2021 and did a beautiful job. The next year, they returned and pruned slightly less of the vineyard during the winter of 2022. By then the LARWC team was in love with the vineyard and its fruit that they decided to make their own wine in 2022 from 100% of the unpruned section. This is also the oldest section of the vineyard, planted on its own roots about 1912.
The wine is serious, almost severe. The wine reminds Abe of old-school Chablis, before global warming began to have its effect on the region. The wine is noble, structured, and high in acid. It has little in common with sherry, but much in common with the new-school Palominos being made now in Spain. Who would have thought that you could make such excellent, even classical, white wine just outside of Los Angeles? Only 72 cases produced.
Courtesy of Cavaletti
Cavaletti Vineyards is proud to be part of the small and passionate group of wineries leading a winemaking renaissance in the sunshine of Southern California. Their wines have been gaining attention since the first harvest in 2016, and are dedicated to the farming and preservation of unique vineyard sites and maximizing their expression. Each season they work with a dozen or so varieties and vineyards stretching from Los Alamos in northern Santa Barbara County to the historic Rancho Cucamonga region in the south. The primary focus: the forgotten winegrowing region of Ventura and Los Angeles County.
A classic, elegant, and distinctive expression of Grenache grown at 3000 feet of altitude in the high desert of Northeastern Los Angeles County. Cherry fruit accented by dried herb and baking spices. Co-fermented with 1% Semillon and Alicante Bouschet. Organically farmed, native fermentation, 20 months of aging in a mixture of neutral pucheons and barrels. The 2019 Grenache received 90 Points from Wine Enthusiast.
Courtesy of Moraga
Moraga Vineyards is one of the most unique wine estates in California. Located at a 550-900 foot elevation in the Santa Monica Mountains in the Los Angeles community of Bel Air, the winery and vineyard is the source of remarkably refined wines that perfectly reflect a union of distinctive terroir and the gentle guidance of focused winemaking. The property is owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Grapes are not foreign to the Los Angeles Basin nor the Santa Monica Mountains where in lies Moraga Canyon in which the estate is nestled. The overland expedition of Don Caspar de Portola which established the route of the California missions – El Camino Real –passed by Moraga Canyon on August 5th, 1769. In reference to his sightings while in the region he states, “profusion of wild grapes and Castilian roses in full bloom”. Wild roses still exist on the property and are represented on the four corners of the Moraga wine label.
The property was originally the home of Victor Fleming, director of Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz. Fleming created a horse ranch on the property and used it through the 1930s and 1940s as a retreat and a secluded venue to host his friends.
There is a unique and identifiable Moraga signature of soft tannins, supple texture, pure black Cabernet fruit, currant and tobacco. This vintage shows black cherry, roasted coffee and a hint of caramel on the ripe nose. Polished tannins and fresh acidity deliver flavors of blackberry jam, truffle, vanilla, and caramel.
Courtesy of Byron Blatty
Mark and Jenny founded Byron Blatty Wines in 2014, after a visit to Napa Valley. Inspired by the story of Napa’s original vintners, who challenged the French with their determination to create world-class wines in a previously unproven region, the Blattys had only one rule that would guide them on their endeavor to start a commercial winery: The wines had to be from their hometown of Los Angeles.
All of the fruit is handpicked, fermented with native yeasts whenever possible, and aged in a mixture of new and neutral French and American oak barrels for as long as 58 months. Byron Blatty wines are clarified using traditional racking methods, and are treated with a minimal amount of sulfites to protect them during aging and bottling. The result is a selection of powerful, balanced wines with bold flavors and extraordinary nuance, showcasing the best of what L.A. has to offer. If terroir is a sense of place and the expression of its character, Los Angeles has never been expressed this way before…
The 2019 Byron Blatty Proprietary Red Wine is an expression of Cabernet Sauvignon that pushes the boundaries of what is possible with L.A. fruit. This opulent wine is reminiscent of its brethren in the north, and reveals a whole new potential for Los Angeles terroir. Presented in heavy weight Bordeaux glass, sealed with the finest corks designed for long term aging, and adorned with our monogram printed with actual platinum, this wine is an absolute show stopper. While it drinks superbly already, this wine will undoubtedly reward patient cellaring for a decade or more. Clocking in this vintage at 95% Cabernet and 5% Cabernet Franc, all of the fruit was hand picked, cold soaked for 7 days after crush, then fermented in open top bins before pressing into 85% new French oak barrels, where it aged for 24 months, and an additional year in bottle before release.
