MarBeso Wines: One of Our Domestic Buyer’s Top Small Producers
One of the best things about my job as Domestic Buyer at K&L is the constant thrill of finding and working with exciting small producers. Sure, the Domestic category has its fair share of longtime classics and stalwart producers that I know and love (Ridge Vineyards, Mayacamas, Beaulieu, Montelena), but I relish keeping my finger on the pulse of new generations of winemakers and tasting new wines that push the envelope of possibilities while building on the legacy of those that went before them.
One of my absolute favorite small producers we're working with right now is MarBeso, based in the Sta. Rita Hills. I first got to know owner/winemaker Colin McNanny when he was making the wines at La Honda winery, just down the road from our Redwood City store. I admired the wines he managed to craft at La Honda, especially when you take into account that the team there produced wines from dozens of essentially “backyard vineyards” from Los Gatos to San Mateo. Colin and I became friends with a mutual enjoyment of surfing and finding great hole-in-the-wall taquerias around Redwood City. He and his wife Hannah even went and stayed with my folks back in Devon, England, where I grew up! In 2019 they relocated down to SoCal and launched their new MarBeso brand. The name “ocean kiss” is in reference to the heavy coastal influence that informs all the wines that Colin makes. Each bottle gives the distance to the ocean on the back label, reinforcing the all-important tempering effect the cold Pacific has on the growing regions of coastal California. Colin’s wines are non-interventionist—perhaps you could say natural, though he doesn’t describe them as such. They’re clean, pure expressions, without manipulation or heavy oak usage. They favor freshness and energy over weight and power. Size of production ranges from a few dozen cases to a few hundred cases per bottling. Colin works exclusively with organic or certified sustainable vineyard sources, and gets fruit from some of the most highly renowned sites throughout the central coast. The winery and tasting room are in a beautifully appointed, industrial-chic building in Buellton, alongside other small producers such as Dragonette, Story of Soil, and Sea Creatures.
I’m stoked to be working directly with Colin to bring his wines into K&L. They are some of the most exciting wines in the market right now and starting to get some significant critical recognition such as the recent blast of huge scores from the Wine Enthusiast including a monster 97-point rating for the Our Lady of Guadalupe Vineyard Pinot. Here’s the current lineup of wines we have from MarBeso and a few of my thoughts on them:
2023 MarBeso "Spear Vineyard" Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay (Elsewhere $42) 93WE (hidden) Spear is a beautiful site in the northern corridor of the Sta. Rita Hills. The vines are planted on quite dramatic slopes with lots of wind exposure and sandy loam soils. The vineyard is farmed for top-quality fruit and certified organic. Colin’s expression of Chardonnay from here really leans into a Chablis style, racy, crisp, mineral driven style. All kept in neutral oak, unfined and unfiltered. Bright citrus notes of lemon curd, pomelo, tangy white peach, crushed rocks, and Maldon salt.
2024 MarBeso "Magic Hour" Santa Barbara County Skin Fermented Vermentino - Gruner Veltliner (Orange Wine) (hidden) As a self-confessed orange wine skeptic (I’m sorry, I’ve just had too many bad ones) I approached this wine with caution. However, my hesitancy wasn’t necessary; this wine is pure, bright, zesty, and complex without any of the flaws that so often ruin the experience for me. A 50/50 blend of skin fermented Vermentino and Gruner Veltliner. Unfined, unfiltered with light sediment in the bottle. Aromas of orange oil, wildflowers, mingle with a subtle lanolin note and more snappy fresh herbs from the Gruner. Textural but not tannic like some skin fermented whites. No kombucha like sourness here, just crystalline preserved citrus and floral perfume. Super fun, I like it!
2022 MarBeso "Ascona Vineyard" Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir 94WE (hidden) If you like elegant, floral, silky, seductive Pinot Noir, buy a bottle (or three) of this wine immediately. I have now tasted this on numerous occasions and I truly think it’s a very special bottle of wine. Despite having moved down to SoCal, Colin has continued getting fruit from his good friend and viticultural maestro Ken Sweggles (a la Madson Wines). Ken and his wife Abbey live on and farm Ascona Vineyard that sits at 2,500ft elevation off of Skyline in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The farming here is second to none. Meticulous attention to detail and a naturally gifted site has meant this vineyard is quickly becoming one of the most sought after crus in the region. The MarBeso Pinot Noir is fermented 100% whole-cluster, it is aromatic beyond works with rose petals, baking spice, bramble, alpine berries, hints of Coastal Redwood and mountain chaparral. The texture is exquisitely silky and refined. A bright line of acidity and sneaky fine tannins give the feeling that this wine will continue to impress for many years to come but I doubt folks will be able to resist it for long once tasted.
2023 MarBeso “Our Lady of Guadalupe” Vineyard Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir 97WE (hidden) Colin is one of a select few winemakers that has managed to get his hand on some fruit from this newly developed, ambitious vineyard on the very western edge of Sta. Rita Hills, next door to Domaine de la Côte. Our Lady of Guadalupe or OLG, is a very cold and exposed site. The soils here are pure diatomaceous earth that looks like white chalk. The vines here really struggle with the winds and meager soils. The fruit has incredible flavor concentration. The long, gradual growing season here allows beautiful development of the fruit but without over-ripeness. In contrast to the Ascona Vineyard Pinot Noir, the OLG bottling is completely destemmed fruit (no whole-cluster). The wine has a broader feel and slightly fleshier fruit profile, but in turn still has plenty of savory, umami components under the black raspberry compote and spiced orange peel. A fascinating wine that evolves for the whole evening in the glass.
2023 MarBeso "Robert Rae Vineyard" Sta. Rita Hills Syrah 96WE (hidden) Pushing the limits of cold-climate Syrah, Robert Rae is a site in the western part of Santa Rita Hills that is constantly under assault from chilled ocean breezes and persistent fog. Fermented entirely whole-cluster, a very gamey, spicy, savory wine, with purple fruits, crushed flowers, cured meat and bay leaf. It's a dramatic wine with a lot of complex flavors to unfold.
2023 MarBeso Sta. Rita Hills Grenache - Syrah 94WE (hidden) This wine really pressed me, I loved the combination of the pure fruited Grenache with the more brooding, savory, meaty notes from the Syrah. Sta. Rita Hills is down right cold for Rhône grapes and that makes for a whole different expression than what you would in say Paso Robles.More Pinot Noir like in weight, but with ripe raspberry and even ollaberry flavors from the Grenache balanced by crushed damson, smoked meat, dried herbs and charcoal of the Syrah. Such a cool wine, you can see both varieties expressing themselves distinctly, and yet they’re so complimentary to one another.