Watch Me Jumpstart: Mike Roth, Mullet, and the Launch of Lo-Fi

May 19, 2014

cabernet franc vines

I was a teenage indie rock obsessive.  As such, I embraced the genre’s most lo-fi practitioners, particularly Guided By Voices. Their best works, Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes, are laden with tape hiss, false starts, songs that stop abruptly and cut into other songs, and a generally shambolic aesthetic; rather than trying to mask the economic shortcomings of their recording devices, they celebrated them, creating a whole universe that felt like a direct line from their bedroom to mine.  In the past few years, a handful of vintners in California have taken an analogous approach in their winemaking and farming, creating soulful wines despite their shoestring budgets.  Associated most closely with the natural wine movement, these are analog wines for a digital era, looking back to go forward.  Mike Roth, formerly of Martian Ranch and now launching his own project, the aptly named Lo-Fi, has been at the forefront of this movement in Santa Barbara County.  I met with him this week in the record-high heat at his new estate vineyard in Los Alamos to discuss the future and taste his first releases.

Gamay: Business in the front
Gamay: Business in the front

“So this is the Mullet,” declares Roth.  “Business on the front slope, party on the back.”  Roth’s vineyard name befits the nature of his new venture.  While the approach and technique are quite serious and methodical, the project is meant to be fun and accessible, “wines for the proletariat” as Roth likes to refer to it.  Planted just a few weeks ago, the vineyard was created using solely recycled materials from other local vineyards, installed by Roth with the help of friends and family.  The steeper, southwest-facing front slope is planted to Gamay, while the gentler back slope is Cabernet Franc, unique varietal choices that have shown early promise in Los Alamos at other sites.

One of the coolest labels I've seen in a while

Roth gained notoriety at Martian for his idiosyncratic approach to farming, carrying heavy crop loads early on and dropping fruit late to offset our area’s tendency toward fall heat spikes, allowing for ripe fruit at low brix and in turn, lower alcohols. He plans to farm his estate in a similar fashion, with an approach that embraces the natural ecosystem as much as possible. “Farming here will be organic, though I’d really prefer to avoid any additions for the most part.”  The soils at Mullet, like most of Alisos Canyon just east of here, are Chamise shale loam.  These acidic shale-based soils, which contain a fair amount of clay, have shown great promise for Cabernet Franc in particular at sites such as Thompson and Martian.  “Planting here is meter by meter.  I hope to eventually dry farm it, there’s enough clay here that I think it could work,” states Roth.

Baby Cabernet Franc poking through
Baby Cab Franc poking through

Roth’s first release under the Lo-Fi label is as much a mission statement as a wine.  Sourced from the organically farmed Coquelicot Vineyard near the Santa Ynez River, it is 100% Cabernet Franc, fermented with native yeasts, aged in neutral vessels, made entirely without the use of sulfur.  Philosophically, it encapsulates everything Roth is about. “It definitely has a bit of a Bourgueil thing going on,” proudly states Roth. He is referencing one of the Loire Valley’s great Cabernet Franc regions, and while I see a family resemblance, I find his rendition under Lo-Fi to be distinctly Santa Ynez.  Its generosity of fruit and texture are unmistakably California, and the herbal and spice nuances, which range from fresh tobacco and roasted tomato to exotic notes of Oaxacan mole negro and wild sage, aren’t found outside of this area.  There is a similarity to other local practitioners working in an early-picked style- Lieu Dit, Roark, and Buttonwood– though the soulfulness of Roth’s take is his own.

photo 1

While it is still early going for Roth’s new projects, I anticipate the future for his label and his vineyard highly, with forthcoming releases of Riesling, Chenin Blanc, and Gamay to fill out his portfolio.  He is an artist working in the medium of grapes, following a vision that does not adhere to trends.  As he dives into this new work, unencumbered by the expectations of others, I’m reminded of a classic Guided By Voices lyric:
“Watch me jumpstart as the old skin is peeled
See an opening and bust into the field
Hidden longings no longer concealed”

mullet3

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