Alice Anderson and Topher de Felice lease and farm the 10-acre Ibarra-Young Vineyard, one of the oldest in this part of California, in the Los Olivos sub-AVA of Santa Ynez Valley – within the larger Santa Barbara appellation. Originally planted by Charlotte Young (owner) and Miguel Ibarra (vineyard manager) in 1971, the vineyard is still owned by Charlotte’s daughters today, and was in the iconic, pioneering hands of Bob Lindquist from the mid-1970s until the reins were passed to Alice in 2018. It was here that Bob introduced Syrah to the region; Ibarra-Young is now the oldest planting of Syrah in California’s Central Coast.
In addition to Syrah, Ibarra-Young Vineyard is also planted to varieties like Marsanne, Graciano, Tempranillo and many more. It’s part of a larger collective of regenerative farming led by Charlotte’s family – now in the third generation – who have always taken a holistic approach to cultivating this land. In fact, they were, at one point, thinking of taking the grapevines out because of the monoculture associated with growing vitis vinifera (thank goodness they didn’t!).
It’s here that Alice leads the way, amongst an incredible group of like-minded, young, inquisitive and highly talented growers/winemakers in Central Coast (see Lady of the Sunshine, Scar of the Sea, Camins 2 Dreams…). She guides the Âmevive wines to fruition through her regenerative organic and biodynamic farming, and an absolutely minimal approach in the cellar.
Alice cut her teeth in Central Otago, New Zealand (at Amisfield and then biodynamic favourite, Rippon, in Wanaka) and then for two years with Pierre Gaillard in the Northern Rhône, France – a pivotal experience that ultimately shaped the framework that is Âmevive today.
Âmevive translates to notions of a living soul, or a soulful and intangible spirit. Not surprisingly, spending time with Alice in Ibarra-Young showed us that Âmevive encompasses everything about this exceptional vigneronne: Alice, the vineyard, her wines… which are the exciting result of the world that Alice and Topher cultivate together. Elements like the flock of ducks that roam amongst the vines (with lots of good fencing), different wildflower cover crops, no-till, vine tucking and more lend to the pristine grapes that Alice, Topher and friends harvest together for Âmevive each fall.
Their first release was the 2018 vintage, so this is just the beginning. Quantities are exceptionally small, and on tasting them for the first time, brought everything we knew about Californian wines into question. They are light on their feet, moderate in alcohol, have structure in spades and are absolutely luminous in stature and flavour. In addition to making wines from Ibarra-Young, Alice also sources fruit for some bottling from other local organic/biodynamic vineyards in the region.
Current Availability
Configuration: (6 x 750mL)
Winery: Âmevive
Appellation: Santa Barbara County, Central Coast, California
Philosophy/Practices: Demeter-certified biodynamic (grenache, mourvèdre); dry-farmed and certified organic (syrah).
Grape Variety: Grenache, syrah, mourvèdre
ABV: 12.8%
Red punch, crunchy stem, and fresh white cherries with a little structure to make it complete. Like hiking in the woods on a hot day with a picnic of freshly cut red fruits in your cooler. Chill it down for a refreshing quench post hot day of working outside or sip it for the first red on a night out with people you love. She’ll go anywhere and everywhere.
Some notes from Alice: Ravie is a blend of Grenache from Alisos Canyon, Syrah from a dry-farmed vineyard called Tres Hermanas, and Mourvèdre from Martian Ranch Vineyard in Alisos Canyon. A fun and probably atypical expression of a Santa Barbara County GSM. The word ‘ravie’ translates to the feminine version of ‘delighted’ in French. I giggle a little reminiscing on learning French during my time in France. I learned a very rustic version of French while working in the countryside and when I would go down to the south of France to visit my friends and chat with them, or worse, their parents, they would completely cringe at the inappropriate French I would confidently say in my silly American accent. Anyway, they tried their best to present me with a more polite vocabulary. This wine is an ode to all of the good laughs we’ve had together while speaking each other's native tongues.
The Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre were harvested and fermented separately with different percentages of whole cluster. All of the components were pressed in the basket press and aged separately in neutral French oak until about a month before bottling. At that time, the final blend was made. Ravie rested as its final blend for about a month in tank before being bottled unfined and unfiltered in July of 2022. The final blend is 55% Grenache, 25% Syrah, and 20% Mourvèdre - it is about 80% whole cluster in total.
Label Art: The fairly unrealistic, yet charming, representation of Calypte anna perched on a vine was painted by my mom, Eileen Anderson. Although Anna’s hummingbirds are quite common around coastal California, they are hard to spot! Partly because the females are way less flashy than this stud of a guy on the front of the Ravie label, but also because they need a good variety of flowers to feed on and nest around. Anna’s hummingbirds are also known for munching on leafhoppers, so if you plant manzanita, currant, and flowering chaparral around your vineyard rows, it could be a happy combination for your vines, too! The painting on the back label depicts a variety of native flowers painted by me. Clarkia, tidy tips, fiddleneck, and the mariposa poppy are all fairly common flowers found in the Santa Ynez watershed.