“Seize the Bottle”
An Interview with Darrin Low, Winemaker, Domaine Anderson & Carpe Diem Wines.
By Lisa Gmur, CSW
TANK TALK
In Northern California, where redwood forests meet the Mendocino coast, lies Anderson Valley. The Anderson Valley winegrowing region is a hidden gem, especially when it comes to making Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. This fog shrouded region provides the perfect conditions for growing these two Burgundian grapes.
The region’s ideal climate led Jean-Claude Rouzaud, patriarch of the Louis Roederer family, to this remote area in 1981 to begin cultivation of premium Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. Today they continue the pursuit of quality at Domaine Anderson & Carpe Diem under the guidance of Winemaker Darrin Low. Their commitment to land stewardship and sustainable practices extends to each vineyard, ensuring the health of the land for generations to come.
We talked with winemaker Darrin Low about being a part of the Roederer Winemaking team that grows and crafts these Anderson Valley wines that offer the best of two wine worlds; the richness of California fruit and the elegance of a French wine.
Pictured Left: Darrin Low
THE INTERVIEW
The Mark Wine Group
I heard you grew up in one of my favorite wine country towns; Healdsburg. Please tells us what that was like?
Darrin Low
Healdsburg was a wonderful town to grow up in. I was lucky that my parents moved here in the mid-1970s just as the vineyards and wine culture were taking off in the area. The town has changed dramatically but always with a steady trajectory, rooted in agriculture, blessed with beautiful weather, creative people and good food.
The Mark Wine Group
Jinx. Ha! I was saying the same exact thing in my head. The weather, the food, the art, culture and people. It’s one of my happy places. What was your first job?
Darrin Low
My first job outside of my parents’ grocery store was to help with bottling at Dry Creek Vineyards. The winemakers: Larry Levin and Phyllis Zouzounis, along with the owner David Stare, created a fun atmosphere. The bottling job transitioned to helping with pumpovers at harvest (1987) and my interest in wine took off from there.
I liked the simplicity and fulfilling nature of cellar work, and I remember distinctly at a harvest lunch, everyone took a break together at long picnic tables where a simple lunch was served with wine. Everyone was smiling, happy, well- worked and well-fed.
I really liked the feeling of peace and community combined with the physical labor. Everyone had a common goal, and the time was simply called “crush.”
Darrin Low
It took me a couple of years to make up credits at the local JC (Junior College) before I was accepted to UC Santa Cruz. It was there, as an undeclared transfer, that I needed to establish my interests and make a commitment to a study major.
Meanwhile, since I had winery experience, I took a crush job at Hallcrest Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains to make a little cash before the start of school. I knew from the winemakers at Dry Creek that you can study wine, enology, as they were both recent grads from UC Davis.
Darrin Low
UCSC, however, did not offer those classes, and since I worked very hard get into Santa Cruz, I did not want to move to Davis.
Darrin Low
I cobbled together a plan to combine disciplines: language, sciences, education abroad and work study, presenting and formalizing my winemaking individual major at UC Santa Cruz.
After one year at UCSC, I traveled to Bordeaux to study wine and viticulture, and I took classes for the first year of a two year DNO program (Diplôme National d'Œnologue).
The Mark Wine Group
Paris is always a good idea! Did you have any childhood dreams of what you wanted to be when you grew up?
Darrin Low
I considered culinary – a chef. My other jobs prior to Santa Cruz were in the kitchen at local Sonoma county eateries.
The Mark Wine Group
So it sounds like your career in wine was really more of an evolution? No big “Aha” moment?
Darrin Low
I didn’t have the one moment, but rather a few small “aha” moments that assured me I was on a good path; following my dreams and interests.
The process to write a proposal for my individual major at UCSC – that introspection and thinking – really made winemaking a goal.
The Mark Wine Group
A very organic process. Makes sense. I read you are a yogi. Would love to hear more about that journey.
Darrin Low
Interesting question – I can say that yoga has taught me about journeys. Wine and yoga are both journeys where you have the ability to learn something new every day. They both can be very compelling that way.
Domaine Anderson
Estate Chardonnay, Anderson Valley
Estate Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley
Continued
Darrin Low
I hike (walk) Fitch Mountain in Healdsburg with my dog on a regular basis. Bigger hikes, for backpacking, I like the Trinity Alps. I’m planning a backpack to Desolation Wilderness in a few weeks.
The Mark Wine Group
Sounds brutal and blissful. Yoga and daily walks with your dog sound like things you really enjoy on your own. What are some things you like to do with your wife and three daughters?
Darrin Low
We love to travel and discover things together. We just got back from a vacation to Charleston, S.C., enjoying the food, beach and shopping.
For home time, I enjoy any time we can spend together before they go off to college. This usually involves something around food – cooking together and sitting down at the end of everyone’s day at the table for dinner.
The Mark Wine Group
Very cool family life. Have you raised your daughters the European way, introducing them to wine from an early age?
Darrin Low
I did somewhat – they enjoy tastes now and again but more when they were really little. Now that they’ve formed their own opinions about food, they are more about sweet in this period of their lives.
Growing up in Wine Country nowadays, everyone seems to be a foodie – so they have their tastes and critiques about food which might evolve to a taste for wine eventually, but who knows?
The Mark Wine Group
Right? I do love the whole Gen Z foodie, music, culture thing going on. Is your wife in the wine business too?
The Mark Wine Group
So, your house is as delicious on the outside as it is on the inside! Do you have a favorite cuisine?
Darrin Low
Hard to say favorite – we’re exposed to so many different cuisines and fresh ingredients living in Wine Country. I appreciate creativity in food, fusions of world cuisines pique my taste buds and interests. I do enjoy discovering and using spice groups in my own cooking.
The Mark Wine Group
Yes! I am all about spices and herbs! Do you have a favorite food & wine pairing?
The Mark Wine Group
Simplicity. Love that. Do you have a favorite grape varietal you like to drink? That you like to work with?
Darrin Low
Carpe Diem is modeled as a “négociant” wine from Maison Marques et Domaines. Although we grow most of the grapes on the estate in Anderson Valley, we are free to purchase grapes if there is a need, for instance, during challenging vintages where most of the grapes need to go to estate bottlings of other brands.
Darrin Low
At the winemaking facility for the Roederer Collection in Anderson Valley, I have purview over the still table wines (as opposed to cuvée for sparkling wine) and so, have been tasked to make Carpe Diem wines since I started my tenure at Roederer Estate in 2016.
Carpe Diem
Chardonnay, Anderson Valley
Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley
Darrin examines a barrel sample at the Carpe Diem cellar.
Darrin Low, Winemaker, Domaine Anderson & Carpe Diem Wines
Continued
Darrin Low
It’s grown and made with a nod to our California heritage. It’s vinifera grapes, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, made in the new world style: rich, ripe, bold, easy.
Darrin Low
Not as well-known or as popular as our neighboring wine regions to the immediate south, the Anderson Valley is relatively small and has flown under the radar for a long time, but we grow and produce the highest quality, world-class, site-driven Pinot Noirs, sparkling wines and Chardonnays. There is much to discover with the wines from Anderson Valley.
Darrin Low
For the most part, I think the majority of the winemaking in Mendocino is modern vs the old world. Also, throughout California you can find many examples of wineries using modern equipment while employing old world techniques and traditions to make their wines.
Our winemaking doesn’t differ much from other California operations, but it is drastically different from winemaking in places like Georgia (Eastern Europe), where they grow different varietals than we do and have 8,000 years of winemaking tradition.
The Mark Wine Group
I had Georgian Orange wine the other day and it was spectacular. Anderson Valley has a great reputation for its Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. What makes it so special?
Darrin Low
The Pacific Ocean. The coast is just 25 miles away, so the ocean’s influence – fog, breezes, moderating nighttime temperatures – impacts the vineyards in Anderson Valley.
The Mark Wine Group
The Carpe Diem wines have a strong French influence. Thinking your experience in France may have something to do with that? Did the chicken come before the egg, or the egg before the chicken?
Darrin Low
Pinot Noir and Chardonnay both have their origins traced to Burgundy from the Middle Ages – safe to say that the egg came before the chicken.
Darrin Low
In June, I’ll arrive to Anderson Valley midmorning, 9 am, will do a quick scan of email before heading out for a vineyard walk to check on the grapes and take advantage of cool morning temperatures and lower sun. Then I go back to the winery to organize and plan for bottling that’s coming in July.
Next, I’ll sample barrels for tasting and begin the blending process. I’m starting to prepare for harvest as well, moving barrels to the appropriate barrel room (red vs. white), and beginning to check systems and equipment so these tasks don’t pile up in July.
Darrin Low
Seasonal variety. There are seasons for the life of the wines: growing and harvest, fermentations and barrel aging, blending and bottling.
The Mark Wine Group
That’s a fabulous way of putting it. Thank you. Guessing you love walking the vineyards. They are so magical. The fog, hills. Ever practice yoga there?
Darrin Low
I’ve never practiced in the vineyards, but last May, a colleague and yoga teacher led a class on the concrete outside the barrel room. The vineyard is the backdrop, so when you’re in downward dog, you could see the green, growing vines and beautiful blue sky.
The Mark Wine Group
A little bit of mind, body and spirit. A spiritual awakening of sorts. Is there one special place in the winery or vineyards that really feels like you? A place you can really think and dream?