Left Bend: Bicycles, Geology and Santa Cruz Wine

Mr. Wine Cutie and I were planning on heading to Santa Cruz to escape the heat last weekend. However, when we looked at the map and saw all that red on Highway 17, we decided to call an audible and head to Los Gatos instead. Left Bend has been on our must-visit list ever since we tasted the first version of their Fiz Nat at the Silicon Valley Wine Auction (SVWA) back in April.

After grabbing lunch and making a pitstop for delicious bread and other baked goodies at Manresa Bread, we walked down the street to Left Bend. As we walk in the tasting room, we meet Rob, the tasting room host, who immediately greets us. We take our seats and request two tastings.

We start our wine tasting with a Santa Cruz must, chardonnay. The chardonnay is made in the French tradition. All I taste is butter, a lot of butter. Buttery chardonnays are not my favorite; we can’t like all the wine, am I right? We finish up the chardonnay and realize the Fiz Nat is next!

This Fiz Nat is from a different vineyard than the one we tasted back in April at the SVWA. Left Bend’s Fiz Nat is a sparkling rosé, specifically a rosé of syrah. This is the first year Left Bend made a double batch of Fiz Nat, as Rob explains that it is the fastest selling wine they've ever made.

The Fiz Nat is lower in alcohol at only 12% and tastes like grapefruit. It is bottled while undergoing primary fermentation, with some yeast and grape sugar still remaining, which gives it the fizz in your mouth! :P But be careful at the end, one of the side effects of this type fizz is some sediment from the dead yeast at the bottom of the bottle. Yuck! We are in love with this wine and how it is so different from anything we've ever tasted.

We move on to taste a pinot noir from Gali Vineyard, a syrah and two cabernet sauvignons, one from Camel Hill Vineyard and one from Fellom Ranch Vineyard, all of which are delicious. As we were tasting, Rob starts talking to us about the back wall art fixture which is actually a map of the area.

Rob explains that the winemaker and co-founder Gary Robinson is a geologist by trade and loved cycling. He tells us that Gary named the winery “Left Bend” after the bend in the San Andreas fault-line that created the Santa Cruz Mountains. He goes into detail about the map, explaining that the yellow line is the San Andreas fault line. The bike gears are where they receive their grapes from. The map even includes some iconic Santa Cruz Mountain wineries including Ride Vineyards, David Bruce and Mount Eden to name a few. Such a cool story, right?

The next wine is a Solera known as Mashup v4.

The Mashup v4 is a doozy, to say the lease. It's high alcohol at almost 16%. Whoa baby, the burn, the good burn. It consists of 50% syrah, 47% cabernet sauvignon and 3% cabernet franc. It's a blend of different years from 2010 to 2016. So unique! What's even better is that it's drinkable now. However, it can also be laid down if you'd like. As soon as I took my first sip, I definitely tasted plum with pronounced tannins.

Left Bend was such an excellent experience for us. We loved so many of their wines and really enjoyed the back story of how this winery got its name. The Mashup v4 and the Fiz Nat were by far some of the most interesting, unique wines we've had from the Santa Cruz Mountains. So if you're in the Los Gatos area, be sure to check out Left Bend.

Until next time Cuties, keep tasting!