Roadrunner Ridge Winery

By David Ross

You will find the Roadrunner Ridge Winery at the end of a long series of switchbacks where the road rises, like a goat path, up from the valley floor. This is a pretty common occurrence in Rainbow, where lots of folks live in the human equivalent of an eagle’s aerie.

“We are about as boutique a boutique winery as you can get,” observes Judi Brady, who with husband Jim, are the proprietors of the Roadrunner Ridge Winery, located at 4233 Rosa Rancho Lane in Fallbrook (although they consider themselves to be part of Rainbow).

They are the “staff” of the winery. They do it all, from hand terracing the 4/5 acres, to planting, to harvesting, to bottling, and, hopefully, to selling lots of those bottles. Although currently there are not that many bottles. They produced 50 cases in 2009 and 2010, and 100 cases last year. Their ultimate goal is to reach 700 cases maximum.

Although the winery was bonded in 2010, the Bradys have been making homemade wine for 35 years. The property was the Rusty Acres Herb Farm for eight years, until the crop, which consisted of a lot of lavender, was destroyed by the 2007 fire. The Bradys decided in 2008 to replant the acres in wine grapes and sell them to other wineries.

After a year, they said to themselves, “We don’t want to sell them—we want to make the wine ourselves!”

They decided to focus on wine grapes found in France’s Rhone Valley along with other warm weather varietals, which do well in the area’s Mediterranean climate.

They make their wines from 12 varieties of grapes: Mourvedre, Shiraz, Petit Sirah, Zinfandel, Tempranillo, Malbec, Petit Verdot for the reds, and for the whites, Viognier, Picpoul Blanc (a grape recently introduced into the U.S. and only grown in a few places), Rousanne and Grenache Blanc.

“We grow mostly Rhone styles but a lot of blends,” says Jim. “We feel you get more complexity when you blend rather than using varietals.” He adds, “The reds are all big, fruity blends.”

Asked if they have a “signature” wine yet, he answers, “We’re still working that out.” She adds, “Although we do like our Petit Sirah out of 2010 an awful lot. But they have just been bottled so they are going to need some time in the bottle.”

They plant the kinds of wines that they want to drink themselves. “I read somewhere that if you don’t plant the varieties you like, it is hard to be passionate about the wine,” he says. “These are grapes that like the heat.”

For years Jim has said that Temecula wine growers are planting the wrong kinds of grapes for the climate. “They are not well adapted to this climate. I decided to put my money where my mouth was and see if I make a better wine. We’ll see if I’m right!”

In his earlier life, Jim was an aerospace engineer, a.k.a. a rocket scientist. Judi was an accountant and did catering. However, their avocation, their passion, if you will, was always winemaking.

Jim has been studying wine making, on and off for 30 years. “I’ve read and taken classes. I listen to every winemaker I can talk to, and I’m never going to know enough. We continue to try to educate ourselves. We have a lot of winemaking friends in Sonoma, Paso Robles and Napa, and we talk to them all the time and learn as much as we can.”

Cinq Blanc
Cinq Blanc is French for “five wines,” and is a blend of approximately equal proportions of Viognier, Picpoul Blanc, Marsanne, Rousanne and Grenache Blanc. When you taste this blend, you may be reminded of apricots and peaches with a little bit of nuttiness. “It has a very floral noise and taste,” observes Jim. They recommend serving it with Asian dishes such as Chinese chicken salad and sushi. It goes very well with the the nuttiness of Piave Vecchio cheese.

2010 Shiraz
“For thirty years, the Shiraz has been my favorite grape,” says Jim. “Shiraz and Syrah are the same grape but slightly different clones. Shiraz is fruitier while the Syrah is more austere. We tend to like the bigger fruiter wines.” This wine has a smoky-spicy and nutty character with bing cherry, black current and blackberry jam flavors. It goes well with grilled meats and spicy foods and pairs nicely with the Idiazabal cheese of Spain.

2010 PMS
The 2010 PMS is not what you think. PMS stands for Petite Sirah, Mourvedre and Syrah, however, that doesn’t keep Jim from joking about its special properties. “If the wife has PMS and drinks it, it will solve her problems. It’s wine with an attitude. Several people tell us it’s our best wine.”

Duet
The Duet is a half and half blend of Shiraz and Petit Syrah that produces fruity, inky-black wine that goes well with barbecued or smoked pork or poultry. It also pairs nicely with gouda cheese.

2010 Petite Sirah
This wine is composed of juice from one type of grape. When you taste it, you realize that there is a lot going on in terms of flavors, of blueberries and ripe plums, with black pepper and exotic spices on the nose and a cocoa or chocolate finish. As such, pair it with sharp cheese or dark chocolate and serve it with roasted pork or game.

“We don’t believe in using a whole lot of oak,” says Jim. “Sometimes you will keep wine in oak for too long and a lot of young wines end up being too oakey.”

They use some American and some French oak with different toast levels. “A light toast will bring about a mild vanilla, which I like,” he says. “Sometimes you are wining in deciding how long to leave it in the oak. It’s a tricky one. Everything is going to change once you bottle it.”

Other wines they offer include the 2006 Petite Sweetie, a dessert wine; and the 2010 Rapture and 2010 Blue Petite.

The next event at Roadrunner Ridge Winery will be the “Amateur Wine Maker Day at the Ridge” on May 19, 1–4 p.m. at the winery. This is a gathering of Southern California Amateur winemakers from Southern California and will include wine to share and a potluck. Find out more by visiting www.roadrunnerridgewinery.com or call 760-731-7349. Be sure to call first for an appointment. “We will accommodate people if they give us a little warning,” says Jim.