Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/960891
april 2018 / the tasting panel / 5 It was only after a ten-year search that pioneer vintner Jerry Lohr came to Monterey County's Arroyo Seco back in 1972. With uncanny prescience, Lohr recognized that this beautiful, broad Central Coast valley, spread between the Santa Lucia Range to the west and the Gabilan Range to the east, would be ideal white wine terroir. Arroyo Seco takes its name from the usually-dry bed of a stream that originates in the Santa Lucias and runs northeastward to join the Salinas River, which eventually empties into Monterey Bay. Captivated by this dramatic location and its attributes, Lohr planted 280 acres of vines in Greenfield. The locale was in the heart of what would eventually—thanks to Lohr's and others' efforts—become the Arroyo Seco AVA in 1983. The region owes its long growing season to lingering fog and a cooling "wind run" from nearby Monterey Bay; the stony, well-drained soils and lack of rain during the fall season prove ideal for Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and, especially, Chardonnay. For three decades now, the original Greenfield plantings have provided the fruit for the value-driven J. Lohr Estates tier's Riverstone Chardonnay—named for the jumbled mix of rounded, water-worn rocks in the arroyo and vineyards known locally as "Greenfield potatoes." More recent plantings, including diverse Chardonnay clones, add complexity to Riverstone and contribute to J. Lohr's two proprietary Vineyard Series Chardonnays: Arroyo Vista and October Night. Things came full circle in 2015 with the opening of a state-of-the-art facil- ity adjacent to the original Greenfield vineyards. A lifelong dream of Jerry Lohr's, the new winery is dedicated to white wines and reaffirms J. Lohr's commitment to both Chardonnay and the Arroyo Seco AVA. THE CHARISMATIC WINEMAKER BEHIND J. LOHR'S WHITE WINE PORTFOLIO "Where it all began": Winemaker Kristen Barnhisel stands in the vineyard block (planted to the Chardonnay "musqué" clone 809) adjacent to J. Lohr's new Greenfield winery. The Santa Lucia Range can be seen in the background. by David Gadd / photos by Jeremy Ball Kristen Barnhisel, A WINERY TOUR WITH