Winemaker Samra Morris and I are sharing wine, and the conversation soon turns to mental health.
“It’s a common human experience,” she tells me, “and yet people are still scared to share their struggles with it, for fear that they will be judged.”
We agree that COVID exacerbated mental health issues for many of us. “Even I, as a winemaker, have my moments,” she says. But we also recognize that our shared push through the pandemic forced us to confront it, to recognize its pervasiveness, and, as she puts it, “to have openness and to have more awareness” about ways to battle mental health issues. “It’s okay to talk about it,” she adds.
Morris is among the champions of Santa Barbara County’s Alma Rosa Winery’s goal of elevating the consciousness around mental health. Since 2020, the wine brand has been hosting “Peace of Mind: 10,000 Steps in the Right Direction,” a fundraising walk through Alma Rosa’s sweeping 628-acre Sta. Rita Hills estate. Slated to return Saturday, May 18th at 9 am (May is Mental Health Awareness Month), the 10,000 steps equate to about four-and-a-half miles, experienced across undulating hilltops and budding vines, and culminating in a midday wine reception featuring Alma Rosa’s latest releases and pours from neighbor wineries, like The Hilt; with additional snacks and drinks presented by Pressed Juicery, Kate’s Real Food, and Leisure Project. There’s a ticketed private lunch with local vintners at Alma Rosa’s historic Ranch House, too.
Registration to participate is $55 per person (the lunch that follows is extra), and 100% of proceeds benefit two organizations earmarked by Alma Rosa proprietors Bob and Barb Zorich. One Mind is a non-profit founded in 1995 that funds neuropsychiatric brain research; their One Mind at Work initiative has brought supportive workplace mental health practices to more than seven million employees. The Mental Health Wellness Center has been providing mental health support to Santa Barbara adults, families and youth for 77 years, including their onsite recovery day program that sees hundreds of individuals, both housed and unhoused, living with severe mental illness.
The Zoriches will be matching individual donations dollar-for-dollar, up to $35,000, and matching corporate sponsorships up to an additional $25,000. Since its launch, “Peace of Mind” has raised more than $745,000. You can join the cause at almarosawinery.com/about/community-commitment.
“There’s something special about bringing people together in a beautiful setting, sharing stories,” Morris continues. “Being with others, being out in nature – it helps to talk openly about mental health.”
Morris and I are sitting inside Alma Rosa’s tasting room in downtown Solvang, an airy space where a wine bar anchors comfy indoor seating and which leads out to a lovely 1,000-square-foot courtyard. As we tackle the nuances of mental health, we’re also sipping – a chance to get acquainted with her latest releases.
Samra Morris is the first and only Bosnian winemaker in California. Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in food sciences from the University of Sarajevo originally had her going down the brewmaster route. But a move to Napa steered her toward wine, and after stints with labels like Mondavi and Grgich Hills, and after a role as head of quality control for the wine cans and kegs program at Free Flow Winery, she headed south for the Central Coast. She joined Alma Rosa as assistant winemaker in 2019, joining the brand founded by winegrowing pioneer Richard Sanford in 2005 and purchased by the Zoriches nine years later. Winemaker Nick de Luca’s sudden departure made the 2019 vintage “a trial by fire,” Morris remembers, but the challenges helped her prove her mettle, and she was quickly promoted to the wine team’s top spot. The releases that have followed have been a snapshot of her skill and what she calls fastidious “attention to details.”
As we’re chatting, actually, an Alma Rosa club member visiting the tasting room from San Diego approaches Morris to compliment her on how, as he put it, her “stewardship of the wines” since she arrived has “really improved their quality.”
Morris sources grapes mostly – about 98% – from the Alma Rosa estate, known as El Jabali, along with fruit from nearby vineyards she describes as “distinctive and expressive” – La Encantada, which was also planted by Richard Sanford, as well as Rancho La Vina and Radian. They’re all in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA, and all set along the north end of Santa Rosa Road, where “seashells that are still in our soils” offer “salinity notes and chalky tannins” and lead to wines that are “bright and refreshing.”
We taste through the current tasting list, including the 2021 La Encantada Pinot Gris ($35); it’s clean and zippy white wine, with a soft body and hints of spice, that was fermented and then aged for 14 months in mostly stainless-steel tanks.
The 2022 North Slope Pinot Noir ($55) blends grapes from all the aforementioned vineyards, though mostly estate fruit. It’s “slightly polished,” she tells me, meaning the wine is put through large filters to get rid of “bigger compounds.” Aged in 30% new French oak barrels, the wine shows a very pretty nose, with a supple fleshiness on the palate and bursts of red fruit flavors.
Morris affectionately calls the 2021 La Encantada Pinot Noir ($85) “the prettiest lady in the cellar” for its pervasive rose petal notes. Its body is splashy and lithe, and the flavors are buoyed by subtle white pepper notes.
The 2021 El Jabali Pinot Noir ($90) is the “cab lover’s pinot,” says Morris, made with a clone of pinot noir that yields distinctly smaller clusters – the winemaker calls them “cute.” The wine is layered, rich, and dynamic.
The Alma Rosa portfolio also features other pinots, some made in small batches from select areas of the estate, along with several chardonnay, sparkling, and Rhône wines. The Solvang tasting room is open seven days a week – the lineup of pours rotates regularly and tastings are $30 per person – and guests are also welcomed at the vineyard. The wines are made at a facility in Lompoc, though there are plans to eventually build a winery right on the Buellton estate.
Find out more at almarosawinery.com.
