Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards, a family-owned and operated winery with a long-standing history in Santa Barbara County, recently announced that winemaker Kristin Bryden has been promoted to the role of general manager/winemaker, and former General Manager Paul Pease is now the director of sales.
Established in 1973, Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards was, in 1978, the first vineyard in Santa Barbara County to plant syrah, and thus helped pioneer the Santa Barbara rhône movement through its dedication to syrah and viognier grapes.
Bryden joined Zaca Mesa in 2011 as assistant winemaker, and was appointed to lead winemaker in 2016. Since then, she has led with passion, enthusiasm and a respect for terroir to continuously deliver wines that reflect the unique nuances of Zaca Mesa’s estate vineyards.
More recently, Bryden helped the owners, the Cushman family, launch their newest venture, TREAD — a collection of pinot noir and chardonnay wines that reveal a true sense of place. Sourcing fruit from some of the region’s finest cool-climate growing sites, TREAD wines are made to pay tribute to the diversity of the Santa Barbara region.
“Kristin has always shared in our belief that great wines are made in the vineyard, and as winemaker for Zaca Mesa and TREAD, she’s consistently demonstrated that notion through the wines, but she has also proven to us that her skill set translates far beyond the cellar and vineyard,” said owner Stewart Cushman, who noted that these internal role changes represent the first planned succession and promotion in Zaca Mesa’s history.
“As we looked ahead through a strategic lens, we recognized that certain changes could be made to propel our organization to new heights. Paul has an extensive background in sales, so we knew it was time for him to hit the ground running to oversee and grow that side of the business, and transitioning Kristin into a greater leadership role would be the best way to let her expertise and ingenuity shine from an operational perspective. We are confident these well-thought-out decisions will enhance the long-term vision for our company.”
“I’m honored to continue my journey with Zaca Mesa as winemaker and now general manager,” Bryden said. “For nearly 50 years, the Cushmans have been driven by their trailblazing spirit, from viticulture to hospitality to operations, and it’s a privilege to be part of this tradition of evolution and growth.”
Figueroa Mountain Brewing Celebrates 11th Anniversary
Santa Barbara County-based Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. — known by its biggest fans as simply “Fig” — will host an anniversary celebration at the Buellton “Mothership” beginning at noon on Saturday, Nov. 20.
The family-friendly event will be both indoor and outdoor, and will offer food, live music and draft beer bars with specialty beers. The brewery will offer a commemorative keg signing and will have a limited supply of signed bottles for sale.
This year’s celebratory barrel-aged Baltic-Style Porter with coconut and vanilla will match the Figueroa Mountain luau theme, so guests are encouraged to wear Hawaiian-inspired attire.
Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. was founded by father and son team Jim and Jaime Dietenhofer in 2010. With a passion for craft beer, they set out to pay homage to the Santa Ynez Valley with handcrafted beer and hand-drawn artwork depicting the local landscape on their labels.
Longtime Winemaker Josh Beckett Launches New Label
Josh Beckett, who along with brother Jake founded Chronic Cellars in Paso Robles, has founded his own label, Thibido Wines, with his partner, Gibsey Beckett.
The Beckett brothers grew up driving tractors and cleaning tanks as the sons of Doug and Nancy Beckett, who founded Peachy Canyon Winery in 1988 with 500 cases of wine. The family was named “Wine Industry Persons of the Year” in 2020 by the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance.
In 2004, Josh and Jake Beckett launched their brand Chronic Cellars, and together ran all parts of the company until 2014, when they sold the brand to Novato-based WX Brands (Winery Exchange).
Planting the 10-acre Thibido Vineyard (in Paso Robles’ Willow Springs District) “was the culmination of a lifetime of farming, winemaking and learning along the way. I was excited to design and farm this vineyard applying regenerative ag methods in order to improve the quality for the soil for generations to come,” Josh Beckett said.
The couple’s first releases are the 2020 First Date, a grenache blanc, and Just Because, a 2020 carbonic syrah.
— Laurie Jervis tweets at @lauriejervis and can be reached via winecountrywriter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are her own.