| Producer | Field Recordings |
| Country | United States |
| Region | California |
| Varietal | Colombard, Mysterious Field Blend |
| Size | 750ml |
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Field Recordings is, as winemaker Andrew Jones puts it, a “personal catalog of the people and places he values most”. The winery originally started as his hobby project in 2007 – working for a vine nursery planning and planting vineyards for farmers all over California made Jones familiar with a vast array of exciting viticultural sites, and the idea of making a small batch of wine himself quickly came along. “The nursery work is rather quiet during fall so I had some time on my hands… I’d made wine in college, then got to know all these diverse Central Coast vineyards from working with the growers,” Andrew explains how the jigsaw fell into place back then. “It was a good way to connect with my customers and get a deeper understanding of their work – I definitely feel that being a winemaker made me a better nurseryman and vice versa, being a nurseryman made me a better winemaker.”
The project has since spiraled into a pretty substantial operation – Andrew still makes smaller batches of various single-vineyard wines, but an equally big focus of his Paso Roble winery & now 12-strong team is placed on their blends. Field Recordings is known for its sparkling wine production – Salad Days, their Colombard-based traditional method blend, is popular with Whole Foods and other customers looking for an affordable organic sparkler; as for the primary fermented wines, “Field Recordings might be the largest producer of pet-nat in California nowadays,” according to Andrew.
On the still front, there’s Skins, “the gateway orange wine – I always say we make wines for the drinking experience rather than the tasting experience, something that can be enjoyed by a whole group of people, without being too esoteric,” Andrew says. Fiction shows a similar approach in red – this “snapshot of what the Paso Robles area can do” is more about keeping the flavor profile and less about seasonality, which is where Jones’ knowledge of where to look for a certain type and style of grapes among all the different growers comes very much in handy.
The wines are all native primary ferments and see no additives save for a bit of sulfur post-malolactic fermentation and then before bottling. Andrew tries to keep these very low too – by filtering the wine or by changing the closure from screwcap to cork (the screw-cap bottles hold more oxygen above the wine and hence usually require higher levels of SO2 to protect the wine), he generally manages to use around 40ppm of SO2 throughout the process.
“I was trained in viticulture, not enology, which made me wary of all the eno-preparations. Why would I add something that I don’t know what it does when all I have to do is start with good grapes and then not mess it up?” Andrew asks rhetorically, adding that for him the easiest way to fix something is blending. “I always say that if something isn’t right, the fix for it is usually more wine – for example, we work with this Albarino vineyard that gives great acidity, so I use it for wine that needs some lift. And if a vineyard doesn’t work the way you want, go find a new vineyard,” Jones demonstrates the significant privileges of his nursery rolodex.
That said, they have found their sweet spots, and around 90% of the vineyards whose grapes Field Recordings currently uses are perennial sources. There are some 60 acres of vineyards they own or lease and farm themselves (and a historical Santa Barbara site planned to double this area virtually as we speak). These sites are all organic, certified or practicing; the purchased fruit comes from both organic and sustainable sources (around 30% of the latter as of 2022), but Andrew is working on the transition towards organic with these growers as well. “The main challenge in our area is the mealybug, but we’re actively looking for organic ways to deal with this pest. I believe that the State of California will require everybody to go organic in 5 years anyways, and the public wants it as well, so I do my best to encourage the growers to switch their practices already.”
Another future project going in this direction is establishing an organic vine nursery, arguably the first in the USA: “It’s hard because of all the rules and state certifications for plants, but I think I have a direction we could go to have an organic operation and be able to meet all the standards, so that would be a great thing to take on,” Andrew enthuses. Given his complementary nurseryman-winemaker careers and extensive experience, it sounds like the perfect synergy indeed.
Wine Notes: Winemaker’s note: “Sparkling wine experience made from organic California grapes. Raw, vibrant and ready to take on anything.”
Grapes: Colombard-based blend of white grapes
Vineyard: blend of vineyards throughout California, all certified organic
Making of: the grapes are destemmed and spontaneously fermented in stainless steel tanks for 45 days. The second fermentation takes place in bottles (with a blend of natural ferment + organic sugar as the tirage liqueur). Undisgorged.
Personality: tropical and refreshing! Gooseberry, lychee, Bartlett pears, 9.9% ABV only. Perfect sparkler to enjoy on its own whenever you feel like it, or with mild cheeses, roasted chicken or smoked fish…
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