Winery History
Graham Tatomer’s career in wine started back in high school and after he worked the holidays at a local winery all the way through college (in Santa Barbara), he decided that he had found his career path. Drawn to the brightness and acidity of the Germanic varieties (especially Riesling), it wasn’t long before Graham sourced fruit from some old Riesling vineyards and began making wine under his own label, having plenty of success selling his bottles to an enthusiastic local market.
One day it occurred to him that, despite his love for the variety, he had very little experience of tasting the great Austrian and German examples of Riesling. So, he cobbled together enough dollars to taste the best that the old world had to offer – the wines were so good that he stopped making wine immediately and moved to Austria. Over the next few years he darted back and forth between life as assistant winemaker at Emmerich Knoll in the Wachau, and working as a sommelier in California. The Austrians were so impressed with Tatomer that they offered him a hectare of vines if he would stay and commit himself to working for them. However by the end of the 2006 harvest, Graham knew that he wanted to come home and put everything he’d learned into making top flight Riesling and Grüner Veltliner from the handful of old vine sites he knew in Santa Barbara.
Viticulture/Winemaking Style
Graham sources his grapes from cool climate vineyards with interesting soils to retain the natural acidity of the grapes. His Rieslings are a drier style with tons of texture, fruit and floral character. The salt in Santa Barbara soils adds a certain salinity to the wines that are Graham's signature. Some of the wines see a bit of skin contact, which is a technique he picked up in Austria. With just a few hours of contact, the salinity is brought out along with other phenolic components and some bitterness.
Grape Varieties
Gruner Veltliner, Riesling, Pinot Noir
Fun Fact
Graham got to work at Knoll by simply knocking on their door and asking to be a cellar rat, they took a chance on him and it has paid off for both parties!
