Seven sensationally different wines from California

So you think you know your Californian wines? Although not many of these wines reach these shores, if you hunt around a bit you can find wines such as the remarkably different Jolie-Laide wines of Scott Schulz, who makes low intervention, organic, natural wines from grapes not normally found in California, such as the Sonoma County Pinot Gris 2018, an orange wine of amazing intensity and complexity, with flavours of dried oranges and apricots, nuts and seeds, and very dry and long on the finish – think of a lighter aged dry sherry and you won’t be far off. Broc Cellars, an urban winery based in Berkeley, near San Francisco, is another small outfit, using low intervention methods to produce natural wines from organic and biodynamically grown grapes from around the state. He works as an assistant wine maker for producer Kongsgaard – whose wines can sell for upwards of £100 a bottle – but also makes wines under his own label, again with a low intervention, traditional philosophy, such as the Ferdinand Garnacha Blanc Lodi 2018 giving a slightly more exotic take on the Spanish staple, with some tropical fruit hints among the clean, citrus and fresh herb flavours; deliciously mouthfilling without being heavy on the palate and a great match for a fish paella. Pinot Meunier, one of the three traditional champagne grapes is, unlike pinot noir and chardonnay, almost never seen on its own, but the organic Keep Wines Pinot Meunier from two winemakers, one from the aforementioned Broc Cellars and one who worked with the Matthiassons, is a revelation: light to medium bodied, just 12 per cent ABV, refined and elegant flavours of strawberries, cranberries and raspberries and a suggestion of black pepper – if you love lighter Beaujolais Villages or pinot noirs, you will love this served chilled with vegetable or salad dishes but it is possibly most at home with a charcuterie plate.