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Rideau - A Creole WineryIn the Danish village of Solvang California in Santa Ynez Valley Winemaker Rick Longoria Creates a Chardonnay, Viognier and Roussanne to Complement Oysters, Gumbo and the Winery's French-Spanish Roots
A touch of New Orleans at Rideau Vineyards in Danish Solvang
California and an interview with the owner Iris Rideau.
When one thinks of Solvang, California, images of a storybook Danish village come to mind. Not wine. And certainly not New Orleans. But just a couple of miles from downtown Solvang we enjoyed a true Creole experience at the Rideau Vineyards. Rideau Vineyard's owner Iris Rideau imagined back in 1989 that she was retiring from her stock brokerage business to enjoy a leisurely life in California's pastoral Santa Ynez Valley. But one little glitch in her plan changed her life forever. On the property she purchased was the historic El Alamo Pintado adobe, built in 1884. The only commercial use the county planning commission would allow was a museum/tasting room, and that only if wine was produced on the premises. And so Iris Rideau entered the wine business. The El Alamo Pintado adobe was meticulously restored in 1995 and 13 acres of vineyards were planted to Rhône varietals, Syrah, Viognier, Grenache noir and Roussanne. Rideau hired one of the Central Coast's finest winemakers, Rick Longoria, to oversee the new winery's development and make the first wines. Longoria had already achieved notoriety by producing a Santa Ynez Valley Chardonnay which the Wine Spectator found to equal the finest Chardonnay in the world in blind tastings. We found Rideau's wines to be uniformly excellent, with their Roussanne and Viognier among the best we have ever tasted. We asked Iris to share her thoughts on pairing wines with Creole foods. "Fried oysters and Viognier, that's heaven!" she exclaimed. "Viognier is made for any shellfish, but especially oysters." Until the recent hurriane Katrina destroyed much of New Orleans, Rideau was flying oysters and other seafood from New Orleans for her winery dinners because they were a delicious complement to her white wines and underscored the winery's Creole roots. "What about dishes like gumbo or red beans and rice?" I asked. "Oh, you're not going to believe it," she replied. "Tempranillo! Because of its spiciness." Because Iris believes that her estate vineyard must be devoted to Rhône varietals, she imports her Tempranillo grapes from Lodi, four hundred miles to the north. Rideau Vineyards typifies a new style of winery operation becoming increasingly prevalent. In contrast to wineries that aspire to grow ever larger, Rideau, along with many others, has chosen to sell its wine directly to its loyal customer base. 50% of Rideau's sales are to Cellar Club members; the remaining 50% are sold through the tasting room and website.
The copyright of the article Rideau - A Creole Winery in New World Wine is owned by Alan Boehmer. Permission to republish Rideau - A Creole Winery in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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