(published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on 1/30/14)
Just a few
years ago, when word spread that space was coming available in downtown Santa
Barbara’s new Anacapa Project, Martin Brown wanted in.
“I didn’t
necessarily need another winery to run, but I knew I couldn’t miss out on what
was going on down here,” he says.
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| This folder contains the Area 5.1 tasting list |
Brown is the
marketing whiz behind Kalyra, the feel-good winery that set roots in the Santa
Ynez Valley in the late 90s and enjoyed a starring role in the film Sideways
before it launched its lower State Street tasting room in 2007. The renaissance of the Funk Zone, right
around the corner, began in earnest soon after – a rebirth that, today, is
anchored by the property that houses The Lark, Les Marchands, Lucky Penny and a
handful of libation ventures, including Brown’s Area 5.1.
Today, Brown
marvels at what the Funk Zone has quickly become: “It’s cleaned up and is a fun
destination now,” he says. “It’s relaxed,
and everybody’s really cool. Not the
older drinking crowd, not the college crowd, but something in between.”
And in that sweet
spot somewhere in between, Area 5.1 has found the perfect launching pad.
The notion
behind this new wine venture is quirky by design – it’s riddled with
intergalactic motifs – and born from the fact that Brown and his winemaker
brother, Mike, are foreigners themselves.
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| Inside Area 5.1 |
“It was a
stupid concept, actually, that we came up with years ago after several glasses
of red wine,” jests Brown, an Australian native. “Several glasses,” he insists.
“We were
looking at our new green cards, and they said we were now resident aliens. And soon we started thinking that the concept
could be really cool. That Area 51, and
aliens, could actually be a great name for a winery. And after we mocked up some labels, we
thought that this could really happen.”
The official
name is Area 5.1 – five-point-one – though local wine fans are more likely to
go with Area 51. “But we didn’t want to get into trouble with
other businesses that have the Area 51 name,” says Brown. “Or the government.”
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| As you enter Area 5.1, look up |
Area 51, of
course, is the heavily-guarded remote zone in the
Arizona desert that’s been at the center of UFO conspiracy theories for
decades. That out-of-this-world motif is
pervasive at the Anacapa Street tasting room, from the tasting list presented
in a manila folder stamped “Confidential” to the nomenclature on the labels –
wines with names like “Close Encounter” and “Conspiracy Red.” When I visited the tasting room earlier this
week, I admired the underside of the entrance awning, which pays homage to the
early days of America’s space program, the stark blue wall inside – like a vast
night sky – and the tiny spaceship behind the bar.
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| Behind the bar at Area 5.1 |
“We’re
bottling not just wines, but wine concepts,” Chad Nassif tells me as he starts
my pours; he’s the tasting room manager, though his business card ID’s him as
“Squadron Leader.”
And therein lays
the vast space for creativity that Mike Brown and his crew of winemakers –
including Kalyra assistant winemaker Matt Kowalczyk – have to work with. The Area 5.1 lineup is driven by blends. Ecclectic blends. Unusual combinations of grapes. But permutations that work.
“I go to
Mike and tell him what we need,” says Brown, “and he goes out and makes
it.” It’s a combination of winemaking
expertise and marketing knack that serves this label well.
On the white
front, the 2012 Close Encounter ($22) combines Grenache blanc and rousanne –
grapes native to northern Rhone in France – with little-known loureiro, a grape
native to northern Spain and grown in very limited quantity in Santa Barbara
County. Big fruit and a round mouth feel
give way to a clean finish.
The 2012
Equinox ($24) is heavy on viognier, but the addition of rousanne, marsanne and albarino
helps deliver a floral nose, guava flavors on the tongue and a refreshing
finish.
A third
white – White Light – is in barrel and slated for release soon.
The reds all
exhibit both drinkability and a wonderful potential to age. The 2012 Majestic ($28) – 25% each of sangiovese, barbera,
nebbiolo and tempranillo – balances tart fruit and a buxom body
beautifully. And it illustrates the Area
5.1 vibe perfectly. Fact is, creative
blending means that bending the rules of winemaking is embraced here. “Each wine is like a canvas,” Brown tells
me. So when the original Majestic
release sold out – it was much heavier on the sangiovese – a totally new
version was divined and released. And
for the consumer, the drinking experience remains new and fresh.
The 2011
Conspiracy Red ($28), which blends 50% syrah with equal parts merlot and
cabernet, is rounded and supple, with a very pretty candied cherry nose. And the 2012 Collusion – syrah-driven with
splashes of mourvedre and Grenache sourced in Happy Canyon – is rich and meaty,
with an herbal streak and blueberry tones.
The tasting roster
– you pay $10 for five wines – doesn’t usually include a taste of the 2010
Declassified ($20, 375 ml.), the winery’s port-style dessert wine. But Nassif treated a trio of tasters down the
bar – visitors from Chicago – to a few sips, and they raved. “And I am not a dessert wine person,” I heard
one of them say. Indeed, this wine, made
with mostly-locally grown Portuguese grapes like Tinta Cao and Touriga
Nacional, was delicious and, most importantly for me, wonderfully
balanced. At close to 19% alcohol, and
with more than 12% residual sugar, it’s made to satisfy and impress.
Area 5.1 has
two wine club tiers – two 6-pack deliveries a year for about $100-$150 each and
two case deliveries annually for $200-$250.
And the
tasting room, even through its deliberately quirky façade, hits on all the
right points: ambiance, service, wine.
It stays open till 7pm weekdays and 8pm weekends, which draws many to
enjoy wine by the glass here -- $6 for white and $8 for red. The bar also sells a cheese plate for
$15. And they’ll premiere a chocolate
tasting menu for $10 with a special event on Valentine’s Day, featuring the
truffles of Santa Barbara’s Zuzu Candies.
Several private parties have been helped here, too, since its September
opening; it can handle about 40 people.
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| Squadron Leader Chad Nassif at the controls |
“We want
people to think of us as non-traditional, fun and not stuffy at all,” Nassif
tells me. Sure enough, the Browns have
managed to create another unique experience here. And once you take off, you won’t want to
touch down any time soon.
Area 5.1 Winery, 137 Anacapa St., Unit B, Santa Barbara. 805-770-7251. www.a51wine.com
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