Zaca Mesa · Foxen Canyon
2019 Zaca Mesa Z Cuvee Santa Ynez Valley, USA
A place on your wine list
Kristin Bryden's Mourvedre-led Santa Ynez Rhone blend. Estate fruit from Mesa, Cushman, Chapel, and Mariposa. Built for a rosemary-lamb or dry-rub pork list.
Winery SRP $30 per bottle
Why this bottle belongs on the list
Two selling points.
Then the market.
Kristin has run this cellar since 2016.
Kristin Bryden grew up in Redding, took a Food Science degree at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and fell into harvest work at Wild Horse with no plan to make wine. Lockwood Vineyard in Monterey County taught her estate programs. She joined Zaca Mesa as assistant winemaker in 2011 and became head winemaker in 2016. She still farms and ferments the same Foxen Canyon site.
The third winery in Santa Barbara County. The first Syrah.
John Cushman and five friends founded Zaca Mesa in 1973. Ken Brown planted Syrah here in 1978, the first in the county. The 1993 Syrah hit Wine Spectator's Top Ten. Since 1997 the house has been Rhone-first. Staff still call it Zaca University: Jim Clendenen, Bob Lindquist, and Ken Brown all passed through. Z Cuvee has been the food-friendly GSM since 1992. This 2019 is Mourvedre on top, not a Grenache shout.
Professional scores
What the press wrote on this vintage.
Named critic score on this exact 2019. This is a press rating, not the Wine-Searcher aggregate of 92.
The buyer's perspective
What the guest
hears first.
Matt Kettmann at Wine Enthusiast scored the 2019 94 and named it Editors' Choice: still amazingly fresh six years in, black cherry, purple flower, tar, dried meat, boysenberry, white pepper. Staff can sell it in one sentence: Kristin's Santa Ynez Mourvedre blend, 94 points, pour it with rosemary lamb or dry-rub ribs.
Winemaker's corner
Head winemaker since 2016 · Cal Poly Food Science · estate Rhone from Foxen Canyon
Kristin
Bryden
Kristin is from Redding. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Food Science. Her first harvest job was Wild Horse in Templeton. She has said she did not drink wine when she started and did not know Pinot from Cabernet. Harvest hours paid the San Luis Obispo rent. The work stuck.
Lockwood Vineyard, a 1,650-acre estate in Monterey County, is where she learned to watch vines through a full season. That is the draw she names for Zaca Mesa: an estate program in Santa Barbara County, 25 miles from the Pacific, 1,300 to 1,600 feet on Foxen Canyon Road.
She joined as assistant winemaker in 2011 and took the keys in 2016. The 2019 Z Cuvee is her wine: 57 percent Mourvedre, 29 Grenache, 11 Syrah, 3 Cinsault, 15 months in neutral oak, from Mesa, Cushman, Chapel, and Mariposa. Traditional, artisanal, estate fruit.
The estate
Foxen Canyon.
Rhone height.
The vineyard sits against the San Rafael Mountains, 25 miles inland from the Pacific. Too cool for most Bordeaux grapes, too warm for Burgundy. That mixed climate is why Rhone varieties took the site. Elevation 1,300 to 1,600 feet, one of the higher plantings in the region, with ocean air moving up Foxen Canyon.
Black Bear Block is the 1978 Syrah on original rootstock, the oldest Syrah on the Central Coast. Z Cuvee is not that reserve bottling. It is the house blend: Mesa, Cushman, Chapel, and Mariposa, assembled for food. Mourvedre for dark fruit and rusticity, Grenache for lift, Syrah for spice, Cinsault for dusty berry.
The winery has been family-owned since 1973. SIP Certified farming. Everything in the bottle is estate grown. The 2019 saw 15 months in neutral oak. 14.6 percent alcohol. pH 3.55.
2019 in the glass
Red currant.
White pepper.
Boysenberry.
The winery's 2019 note: Mourvedre-dominant, rustic charm with refined elegance. Nose of red currant, white pepper, cinnamon shavings, and anise. Palate of supple tannins and a lift of acidity. Finish of ripe blueberry and boysenberry, dark fruit with a touch of earth. 57 percent Mourvedre, 29 Grenache, 11 Syrah, 3 Cinsault. 15 months in neutral oak. Matt Kettmann (Wine Enthusiast, 94, Editors' Choice) found black cherry, purple-flower potpourri, tar, and dried meat, then a zesty palate of black raspberry, boysenberry, and white pepper, still amazingly fresh six years on. Those are critic notes, not the Wine-Searcher aggregate of 92. Drink it now. It does not need a long decant.
Menu and service
Built for a serious table.
- Rosemary rack of lamb or loin chops
- Dry-rub pork ribs with thyme and sage
- Smoked Gouda, or lentil stew with smoked paprika
Serve around 60 to 64 F in a Rhone stem. Taste on opening. Twenty minutes in the glass is enough. A long decant is not required.
Staff pairing clip
Gordon Ramsay cooks a dry-rub pork chop
The tableside introduction
“This is Kristin Bryden's Santa Ynez Z Cuvee. Mourvedre-led Rhone blend from the first Syrah house in the county. Wine Enthusiast 94, Editors' Choice. Pour it with rosemary lamb or dry-rub ribs.”
Ready for your team
Put the story to work.
Shelf talker
A concise bottle story for guest-facing displays. No trade price.
Download PDFServer card
The pitch, menu matches, and service notes in a compact format.
Download PDFFull trade sheet
Kristin Bryden, Foxen Canyon, tasting, market context, and the case offer.
Download PDFOrder the case
Put Z Cuvee on the list.
Kristin Bryden, Foxen Canyon, 94-point Mourvedre blend. Trade $8 a bottle, $96 the twelve-bottle case, one-case minimum.
