History
Will Bernhard Betchart (1943 to 2017) was a water resources engineer who worked on Department of Water Resources projects for two decades and from 1982 kept the books and the computers at Betchart Expeditions, the science travel company his wife Margaret founded in 1980. It still operates from 17050 Montebello Road, the vineyard's address, on the same stretch of ridge as Fellom Ranch at 17075, Ridge at 17100, Vidovich and Naumann. They sold the acre's Cabernet to Ridge, R&W Vineyards, Big Basin and Four Gates, all Santa Cruz Mountains addresses. Will died in February 2017, Margaret in January 2024; her husband Bob Draper now runs the travel company and signs the vineyard's standing offer of grapes.
The Site
The Santa Cruz Mountains AVA was drawn on the fog line, reaching down to 800 feet on the bay side and 400 feet on the Pacific side. At 2,200 feet the vineyard sits far above either, high on the flank of Montebello, also called Black Mountain, and near the top of the 1,300 to 2,700 foot band Ridge's Monte Bello occupies. The ridge is uplifted seafloor raised along the San Andreas, and Ridge describes its ground as greenstone and clay over decomposing limestone, a subsoil with no counterpart in Napa or Sonoma. Nothing specific to this acre has been published. At this elevation the vineyard sits above the fog and takes cold nights. Big Basin's photograph of the site shows sun on the vines, fog below and the bay beyond, and ripening runs late: R&W picked its 2018 Cabernet, estate and Betchart fruit together, on 14 October and 3 November.
Vines and Blocks
Cabernet Sauvignon, and at an acre there is nothing to subdivide: one parcel, picked as one lot. Published sources give it as a single acre and record nothing of clone, rootstock or spacing, and the vineyard claims no certification. Divided among small buyers, the acre yields lots counted in barrels rather than tons: R&W's 2018 blend of estate and Betchart fruit ran to three, raised 21 months in 67 percent new French oak.
The Wines
Big Basin's Odeon carries the name furthest. Odeon is the cuvee and Betchart the vineyard, and the recipe moves with the vintage: Betchart Cabernet with Brosseau Syrah in 2012, Betchart with the estate's Rattlesnake Rock Syrah in 2018, straight Betchart Cabernet in 2019 and 2021, then 62 percent Betchart Cabernet to 38 percent Rattlesnake Rock Syrah in 2022. The 2021 was fermented whole berry on native yeast, and reviewers describe it as medium-bodied and savory, its tannins soft and supple with an underlying grip they tie to its mountain elevation. Four Gates, Benyamin Cantz's kosher house in Santa Cruz, has bottled it as Monte Bello Ridge Betchart Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon in vintages including 2009 and 2013. R&W Vineyards, founded at 1,895 feet on the same road in 2005 by Noel Relyea and Bill Wood, blended Betchart into its Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet before winding the label down after two decades. Ridge is named among the buyers too, though no Ridge bottling carries the vineyard's name.