Full Belly Files | Turning Sour Grapes into Happy Wine

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There was a lot of consternation a few years back when the conglomerate Vintage Wine Estates gobbled up two iconic Central Coast brands. The general wine-loving public tends to react angrily whenever a bigger company buys a small one, and there are plenty of obvious reasons for that, even if not all of them are always true. But we also can rejoice when the tides turn and the little guy wins, which is what just happened in both of these cases.   

The first of these acquisitions was syrah pioneer Qupé Winery, which Vintage bought in 2018 when the brand’s main investor Charles Banks went to federal prison for wire fraud. (Banks is now out of prison, but it’s unclear what he’s up to. His daughter, however, owns two wineries up in Oregon.)

Qupé founder Bob Lindquist, who had brought Banks on five years earlier to keep the winery alive during tough times, was then cut loose from the brand that he created in 1982. His stories of what happened in that period do not paint Vintage executives in the brightest of lights, but there’s usually another side to the story as well.

The second deal was Laetitia Winery, which Vintage acquired in 2019 from owner Selim Zilkha, who was simply getting older and wanted to get out of the wine business. Since buying Laetitia in 2001, the Iraqi-British retailer-turned-oil investor was generally praised for investing in the winery’s facilities and its large vineyards in both Arroyo Grande and the Cuyama Valley. If anything, he may have planted too many grapes in retrospect.

Vintage kept rising after those deals, just two of the 60-plus brands they owned. Then they went public in 2021, raising $600 million in an IPO. And then everything started to crumble, to the point that the company delisted and declared bankruptcy this past July.

But that bad news turned into good news for these two wineries. Both were just purchased out of bankruptcy by the exact people who should return them to their former glories.

Laetitia’s longtime winemaker Eric Hickey, whose dad was one of the winery’s first employees four decades ago, acquired the Arroyo Grande brand with the help of two investors with local ties. I was personally very happy to hear this news last Friday, as Laetitia was one of my first wine clubs and a place that I used to visit frequently with family and friends. I’ve known Eric for maybe 20 years by now, maybe longer, and that he’s now in charge is really satisfying.

And then, on Sunday night, I learned that syrah superstar Andrew Murray acquired Qupé, bringing it all back home, as he said. When it comes to Santa Barbara County winemaking history, it doesn’t really get much more legendary than Qupé, through which Lindquist elevated the status of California cool-climate syrah more than anyone else anywhere. Given that a cool-climate syrah is my favorite style of wine — after all, as I’ve written before, Qupé’s 1987 Bien Nacido syrah was probably the best wine I’ve ever had when I cracked it in 2018 — I think we owe Bob and Qupé so much credit and praise

I wrote a lot more about both deals this past week. Read about the Laetitia deal here and the Qupé deal here. I cracked a bottle of Laetitia over the weekend to celebrate, and need to rustle up a Qupé to do the same this weekend.

Four Fun Wines to Try

Given that I’m reviewing more than 75 wines every week, I could fill every Full Belly File with great wines to try. I may start a completely new newsletter for that one day.

But every so often, I run into curiosities that deserve wider attention, like that Pali chenin blanc I recently covered. (If that chenin blanc gets you excited, check out others from across the Central Coast by Rococo, RZN, Outward, and Common Thread, among others.) Here are a few more worthy of your early attention.

Private Property Santa Lucia Highlands Syrah-Gamay 2023: This unique blend by Scott Caraccioli, who owns the Escolle Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands, doesn’t have a whole lot of precedent.

“I don’t think I have ever had a syrah-gamay, or seen/heard of one,” Scott told me. “As I was tasting in the cellar, I felt like they would complement one another well, but also have the commonality of pulled granite. I’m pretty stoked with how it ended coming out.”

Me too, from the sharp peppery aromas to the tightly wound palate of fresh berries, lavender, and more pepper.  

Private Property is the second, more affordable label of Scott’s primary, bubbles-focused brand Caraccioli Cellars, which also happens to be one of the best places to taste wine in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

See caracciolicellars.com.

Terah “Siletto Vineyard” San Benito County Aligote 2023: Palestinian-American winemaker Terah Bajjalieh boldly dives into the less explored varieties across California, from the Sierra Foothills and Lodi all the way down through the Central Coast.

For her take on Burgundy’s lower-status white grape, Bajjalieh headed to San Benito County to tap the late legend Ron Siletto’s eponymous vineyard, a testing ground for so many varieties that I just sadly read is for sale.

Hopefully someone keeps that place alive, because Terah’s aligote is floral, clean, and tense, just like the best of Burgundy. Her verdejo from the nearby regenerative project Paicines Ranch is also a thrill.

See terahwineco.com.

Brander Los Olivos District Sauvignon Gris 2023: Fred Brander took cuttings of this nearly forgotten “gray” variety from Bordeaux and planted them in his estate vineyard in the Los Olivos District back in 1990, making it one of the first in California to grow the grape. The nearby Gainey Vineyard is following suit and steadily increasing their plantings of sauvignon gris, which they acquired from Brander.

Brander’s longtime winemaker Fabian Bravo turns the rosy-skinned grape into a stellar standalone wine, super zippy, and fresh with tart, grassy aromas and stony, lime bubblegum flavors. See brander.com.

Las Jaras Russian River Valley Trousseau Gris 2022: This super eclectic and downright electric brand by actor Eric Wareheim and winemaker Joel Burt is both a lot of fun and really eye opening. This grape, once apparently better known as “gray riesling” in California, makes for a very mineral-driven, citrusy wine. That it comes from old vines at the Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard means that there is some subtle complexity going on, even at the lean level of just 10.7 percent alcohol. Their chillable red blend called Glou Glou — a 12.5 percent mix of zin, carignan, petite sirah, and charbono — is reliably refreshing as well.   

See lasjaraswines.com.

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From Our Table

Here are some stories that you may have missed:

• Christina McDermott reveals that Soul Bites managed to raise a good amount of money and keep their doors open for now.
• Lauren Chiou reports on the opening of The Sports Bar at the Chumash Casino.
• George Yatchisin interviews Yotam Ottolenghi in advance of his October 14 appearance at The Granada Theater.
• Leslie Dinaberg tastes California-made, ready-to-drink Mission Cocktails.