Santa Cruz

This week Oz and James head to Santa Cruz, a diverse winegrowing region south of San Francisco. It's a land of funfairs and beaches, but is also home to some of the state's most philosophical winemakers - and some of its most interesting wines.

Like its winemakers, Santa Cruz is a difficult region to pigeonhole - all sorts of grapes grow and prosper in this relatively cool-climate growing region. Iconoclastic winemakers such as the pony-tailed Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon winery and the philosophical Paul Draper of Ridge, both of whom Oz and James meet in episode four, are working wonders with lesser-known grape varieties and unusual blends.

Oz says, "Ridge winery is one of the most serious in America. They use grapes from all over the state and make very full, unusual and not very European wines. My top tip is for Ridge Montebello. It's a dry, cedar-y wine; you could almost mistake it for top Bordeaux. Right next to Soledad prison - so they've never had to worry about picking - is Randall Grahm winery, which uses Italian varieties."

Blending wines

California, like its New World counterparts, is better known for wines made from a single (or majority) grape variety, known as a 'varietal' wine. The point of varietal wines is to express 'the flavour of the grape'.

Blending more than one variety is the long-standing norm in many European wine regions such as France's Rhône and Bordeaux and Spain's Rioja region. Blending varieties allows winemakers to be more creative and often results in wines with greater complexity plus a more notable 'sense of place'.

Wine fact

California produces a huge amount of wine. If it were a country, it would be the fourth-largest wine producing country, by volume, in the world.

Santa Cruz wines with food

Oz says, "It's the land of the boardwalk and funfairs so you don't need to be too sophisticated about it all - we drank these wines with pizza. Pick any meat dish to drink it with - barbecue chicken would be a good one."

Italian red grape varieties such as Sangiovese and Nebbiolo are also grown in Santa Cruz. The wines, sometimes called 'Cal-Ital', are great with Italian-style foods.