Go Sip It on the Mountain: Elevation is Secret to New Ojai Mountain Wines

It’s not just the views that impress from atop Sulphur Mountain in Ventura County. It’s the wines, too.

Ojai Mountain Winery is one of the newest wine projects on the Central Coast. Its first releases hit the market just last year, and the buzz around them has been swift and upbeat. Their acclaim stems from the remarkable team behind them, to be sure, including Sonoma County winemaker Erich Bradley. But their secret sauce may well be the vineyard’s very special location, and its remarkable altitude. 

“We’re used to high elevation in Sonoma – 1,800 feet, 2,000 feet,” says Mr. Bradley, an industry heavyweight who’s been crafting award-winning wines for close to 30 years under celebrated labels like Sojourn, Pangloss, Texture and Repris. “But here, we’re talking close to 3,000 feet!”

At 2,800 feet, to be precise, Ojai Mountain can claim to be one of the highest-elevation vineyards in the entire state. It was sheer height, then, that lured Mr. Bradley away from his viticultural homebase in the Bay Area to explore the potential of a brand-new vineyard on a remote and rugged mountaintop about 20 minutes from downtown Ojai. 

The terrain was overgrown and unkempt, and the topsoil was long washed away, when Olga and Mikhail Chernov, longtime wine collectors and clients of Mr. Bradley, purchased the property less than 10 years ago. But the plot was above the fog line, bathed in steady sunlight each day, and cooled off by ocean breezes each night.  Meticulously, and with a focus on regenerative farming, they cleared and primed the land – “back-breaking work,” the winemaker says – and planted close to 10 acres of wine grapes in 2018. 

With vines in the ground, they then tapped Mr. Bradley to join their viticultural journey. 

“The high elevation of the site, plus the direct access to marine air – all with beautiful water views and in a forgiving climate like in Ventura County – that was very intriguing,” says Mr. Bradley.

The Ojai Mountain team includes industry experts hand-picked by Mr. Bradley, like viticulturalist Phil Coturri, a pioneer in organic and biodynamic farming, and vineyard manager Martin Ramirez, who’s shepherded grapes for the likes of Ojai Vineyards’ Adam Tolmach for decades. Grapes are picked overnight, loaded onto refrigerated trucks and then driven up to the Sonoma facility where Mr. Bradley and his team take over.

Early on, plantings included several Bordeaux grapes, like cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot and petit verdot, along with syrah. The site’s first wine was a 2020 Estate Red ($60) that’s a blend of all of them, which this writer found to be deliciously balanced – rich and earthy, bright and bouncy, at once. It impressed the winemaker, too. “It was surprising how complex it was, for a wine from first-lead wines in a virgin site,” he says.

Beginning with the 2022 vintage, though, the Rhônes have taken over. Ojai Mountain Vineyard is now planted primarily to syrah, grenache, and mourvedre; there are a few vines of the Spanish grape, tempranillo, too. For whites, the site grows grenache blanc, picpoul, and roussanne.

“So far, the wines have surpassed expectations to retain acidity,” says. Mr. Bradley, “and the grapes really impress with their ability to retain acidity during the growing season. There’s a direct correlation between that and the marine air always zooming by, as winds really like to roll up there. And with all the sunlight the plants get – that produces a lot of carbohydrates, so the grapes don’t struggle to get ripe. We’re able to hit notes with these wines that we’re simply not able to hit anywhere else! And now it feels obvious, of course, considering how unique this site is.”

Among the small batch of early releases, Mr. Bradley’s own favorite wine is the 2021 Syrah ($90). “I’m thrilled – it’s best wine we have, especially considering it’s coming from such a young spot!” he says. This writer found it buxom, concentrated, layered and fresh. It has remarkable aging potential. 

The 2022 Syrah is in bottle and will be released in a few months. 

On the white front, yields have been small but impressive, and releases have all been blends. The current 2022 Estate White ($75) is remarkably brilliant, with splashy minerality and a bracing mouth feel; the 2023 rendition will be released soon.

There’s growth on the horizon for the Ojai Mountain brand. There’s plenty more arable land on the summit estate, and the Chernovs have recently bought up two adjacent parcels. And when I ask Mr. Bradely about the potential for this project to inspire a brand-new AVA, “it’s an obvious candidate,” he suggests. “You can easily make an argument that the grapes being grown here, and the wines being made from them, are very different from grapes and wines being produced in any other area of the Central Coast.”

At its core, for Mr. Bradley and his team, pioneers all, the Ojai Mountain project represents an enticing challenge, and one that’s paying early dividends.

“When you see an opportunity to grow something different, to do something new, to learn – there’s something very appealing about that,” he says. “Even if doesn’t work out, there are lessons there. But in this case, with things really working out, the ceiling is incredibly high for what we can accomplish. For us, we know that the best wines off this property will happen long after we’re no longer involved. But the challenging aspect of getting the vineyard on firm ground, trying to put it into position so that it’s there for a long time, so that it reaches its potential – setting later caretakers up for success and expanding the horizons that we all have for what these wines can be – that’s very rewarding.”

Find out more and sign up for allocations of current and upcoming releases, at ojaimountainestate.com. And follow them on social: @ojaimountain.

Mr. Bradley will host a consumer event on August 6th at 3:30 pm at The Farmhouse on the grounds of the Ojai Valley Inn. Guests will taste five Ojai Mountain wines, paired with cheese and charcuterie, and be treated to insight and stories from the winemaker. Get your tickets through the “Upcoming Events” section at farmhouseojai.com.