TATOMER
Graham Tatomer’s devotion to California Riesling, and Grüner in turn, began earnestly with the founding of his eponymous winery in 2008, though he first engaged with the variety long before. A gig at Santa Barbara Winery, which began in high school, introduced Graham to the Lafond Winery and its vineyard, home to among the oldest Riesling plantings in the region.
California has long been host to Riesling plantings – few of which have weathered the vacillations of the American palate – and Santa Barbara County is no exception. In fact, the region’s pioneers, Richard Sanford and Michael Benedict, planted their eponymous property to Riesling before its iconic Pinot Noir. Their peers, too, planted Riesling in the seventies, and Graham is privileged today to work with two surviving sites – Lafond along the Santa Ynez, planted in 1973, and Sisquoc, which hosts own-rooted Riesling the Santa Maria Valley. But the region primarily thrives for its interests in Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah – and in the early years of the previous decade, there was scant community through which to seek feedback and tutelage.