One cold morning at the break of dawn, I tried my hand at picking grapes at the Popelouchum Vineyard outside of San Juan Bautista. I was under no illusion that I would be good at it—watching the field workers strip entire rows in the vineyard while I was still dealing with my first vine pretty much underlined that fact. And the bemused workers who applauded as I emptied my first bin of grapes made me feel even more absurd.
Fortunately for everyone, I wasn’t really there to pick grapes. I was there to meet the legendary Randall Grahm, owner of Popelouchum and Bonny Doon Winery, who was there to survey the progress of the harvest, and his winemaker Nichole Walsh, who was assessing the grapes and taking notes.
Besides her work with Grahm, Walsh produces wine for her own Ser Winery, which sources in part from San Benito County vineyards. She got her start in the business studying viticulture and enology at Michigan State College in a region with a limited growing season unfriendly to many types of grapes.
“There are a lot of Alsatian varietals and some good sparkling wines,” she said. “But it is pretty difficult to do red wines outside of a few people working with some pinot hybrids.”
Initially studying vegetable farming and fruit crops, she began eyeing the graduate-level programs being taught at the university’s vineyard. At the invitation of one of the professors, she produced her first wine: five gallons of Seyval blanc.
“I totally fell in love with the process,” she said. “The wine actually turned out really well, and I shared it with my family. At that moment, I thought, ‘I want to do this again and again and again.’ It opened up this vast area with layers of knowledge, and it changed everything.”
Straight out of college, Walsh found a position as a vineyard manager and quickly was immersed in every aspect of the business.
“It was a very small winery,” she said. “So I’m in the vineyard. I’m in the lab. I’m in the tasting room. I’m in the winery. I’m doing a little bit of everything, and all the hands-on experience I was getting was very valuable.”
Walsh moved to Santa Cruz in 2001 and was hired at Bonny Doon, in part, she believes, because she had not attended the prestigious viticulture program at UC Davis and the winery was looking for, in her words, “fresh minds and hands-on experience.” She has worked there since, expanding into her own Ser Winery in 2012 and opening a tasting room in Saratoga before deciding to move her operation down to Aptos in 2020.
“It was around the time that Randall sold Bonny Doon,” she said. “They closed up their tasting room, and I thought, ‘This is going to be great. I am just going to focus on Ser.’ I was really excited. Then the new company asked me to stay on as a part-time thing.”
Though doing the same work for two different wineries, Walsh maintained a separate vision and philosophy for Ser.
“I focused on varietal vineyard designate wines because Bonny Doon had been Rhone-based wines,” she said. “I love blending, but I thought, for Ser, I wanted to do something different. ‘Ser’ [in Spanish] means to express identity or origin and that is what I really wanted to produce: an expression of a particular variety from a particular vineyard and vintage. I wanted to explore that and have that be my focus.”
I recently spent a delightful afternoon with Walsh at the Doon to Earth tasting room at 10 Parade Street in Aptos, trying some of the wines Walsh has made for Ser, Bonny Doon, and recently-founded canned wine company, Maker Wine Company.
The Wines of Nichole Walsh and Ser Winery
2021 Maker Sparkling Riesling – “When I was making my first wine for Ser,” she said, “I went to Wirz Vineyard to see Pat Wirz, who I loved. I bought a ton of Riesling from him, and it was maybe not the ripest I could have selected. It was bracingly tart and almost undrinkable. Then it dawned on me that it made a perfect base for sparkling wine. It was awesome and turned out to be a hit.” This version of the Riesling is being marketed by Maker, a woman-owned winery working with different winemakers to produce a variety of canned wines. A very dry wine, the beautiful aroma with hints of shortbread and lime compliments the expression of peach and citrus with very light carbonation and a pleasantly acidic bite in the finish. Each can holds about a third of a bottle, making it an easily portable addition to a moveable feast.
2021 Bonny Doon Vineyard Picpoul – “Picpoul” translates literally to “stings the lip” in a nod to its high acidity. A blend of 90% Picpoul tempered with 10% Grenache Blanc, the aroma is a cross between viognier and pinot grigio with hints of the taste to come, of tart pineapple, green peaches, and tropical fruits. It calls out for a charcuterie board with some chèvre, prosciutto, and black olives.
2021 Ser Vermentino (13%) – Sourced from Cedar Lane Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands. “I have had several versions of this from different vineyards,” she said. “I was always making it in stainless, but I barrel fermented this one in neutral French oak and felt that was the ticket.” A crisp and savory wine with an aroma of moist earth and mushrooms, it has a good body with subtle creaminess and notes of grapefruit and thyme.
2019 Ser Old Vine Cabernet Pfeffer 13.7% – Made from 134-year-old vines from Enz Vineyard, Walsh considers Cabernet Pfeffer to be her flagship wine. “Pat said, ‘Now that you are starting your own label, I’d like you to try this varietal called Cabernet Pfeffer,’” she said. “I took a ton, but I didn’t know it, and I didn’t know what to do with it. I just tried to make the best of it, and it turned out I really did like it. Now there is a lot of interest in it, and competition from wineries in the north, so it is becoming almost impossible to find.” There’s a floral aroma, with subtle white pepper and pomegranate notes giving way to an earthy minerality that comes through midway, drifting off to a lingering lightly acidic finish. It is a gorgeously layered wine, a stately dinner wine paired with lamb or a beside-the-fireplace wine that perfectly complements a handful of smoked almonds.
2019 Ser Young Vine Cabernet Pfeffer – The 35-year-old vines for this version are also sourced from Enz Vineyard, and drinking both versions together helps you appreciate the robust and energetic edge of this wine. It is like a colt stretching its legs for the first time, trying to find the steady gait of an adult while trying to maintain its balance. What is smooth and distinguished in the old vine wine becomes a playful swirl of wild strawberry fruit calling for your attention in the young. You still get the rich, refined taste, but it speaks a little louder in places. The pepper is more pronounced, with the depth of the old vine wine giving way to a flashier brightness that mellows as you drink it. It will stand up to foods with a spiciness that also calls for your attention, but would be delightful on its own. Between the two, my favorite is the old vine, but this one is a must-try as well.
Recommendations for future Eat, Drink, Savor articles can be emailed to roberteliason@benitolink.com.
BenitoLink thanks our underwriters, Hollister Super and Windmill Market, for helping to expand the Eat, Drink, Savor series and give our readers the stories that interest them. Hollister Super (two stores in Hollister) and Windmill Market (in San Juan Bautista) support reporting on the inspired and creative people behind the many delicious food and drink products made in San Benito County. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.
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