Nicole Walsh: A Santa Cruz Surfer Making Big Waves in Wine

Nicole Walsh lives the California dream: She’s a surfer and winemaker living seaside in Santa Cruz. The Pacific Ocean seems to influence everything she does – from her beachy lifestyle to the fruit she finds for her one-of-a-kind wines. 

The first thing we noticed when visiting Nicole at her trendy tasting room in Aptos several years ago was the huge map of the California coast dotted with pins marking the vineyards that she sources from. Each pin had something in common: Their proximity to the sea. 

That day, we tasted a variety of her coastal-climate wines, from Sparkling Riesling to single-vineyard Rosés, but there was one that particularly caught our eye… an intriguing varietal called Cabernet Pfeffer. There’s rare and then there’s less-than-10-acres-of-these-obsure-French-grapes-planted-in-the-world rare. Cab Pfeffer is the latter.  We knew then and there that we needed to partner with her to put that ultra-rare Cab – and some of her other incredible wines – in cans. 

Fast forward to now, we’ve canned six of Nicole’s wines and they’ve had a huge impact on Maker and the Can Fam who enjoys them. You can try Nicole’s Rosé of Grenache, Dry Sparkling Riesling, Cabernet Pfeffer, and Bubbly Red on our website, White Blend in stores, and Brut Bubbles on every United Airlines flight in the U.S. starting October 1, 2024.

A California Girl By Way of Michigan, Costa Rica, and New Zealand

Nicole was determined to work in wine from the get-go. In fact, at Michigan State University – her alma mater – there wasn’t a major for Viticulture, so she worked with her professors to tailor a curriculum that gave her hands-on experience in winemaking. She mastered enology, had an internship on an organic farm, and even studied sustainable agriculture in Costa Rica. 

Nicole immediately got her hands dirty after graduation, spending the next four years working in Vineyard Management and Winemaking at a vineyard in Northern Michigan. "It opened up a door to a world I never knew existed,” she shared. 

In 2001, Nicole married the love of her life, Kevin Walsh, and together they moved to California, where Nicole began a 19-year tenure at the legendary Bonny Doon Vineyard in Santa Cruz. While Napa or Sonoma may have been the expected path, she was excited to learn from those doing things differently in the wine industry – Bonny Doon’s culture of experimentation and focus on biodynamic and organic farming fit the bill.

Nicole Walsh doing her thing. Photo credit: Wildu.co

Making Waves in Wine 

In 2008, Nicole took a brief “sabbatical” of sorts and moved with her husband and young son to Marlborough, New Zealand. She developed a deep appreciation for Pinot Noir and cool-climate reds, and a seed was planted that it just might be time to start her own project. When she got back to Santa Cruz, she launched Ser – her love letter to coastal-climate wine. 

Ser means “to express origin” in Spanish, a language that Nicole is fluent in. "I'm dedicated to preserving the “isness” of wine,” she shares. Her wines are single-varietal, single-vineyard, made naturally with indigenous yeasts, and are a pure expression of where they came from.

The unifying influence on Nicole’s wine is the ocean. In addition to living by the seaside and surfing every chance she gets, she sources fruit from cool-climate areas by the coast. As a nod to this ethos, a cresting wave adorns every bottle of Ser.

Single-Varietal Wines for Maker

Every Ser Winery wine we’ve tried has blown us away – we knew from that start we knew we needed to can more than just Cab Pfeffer. Working with Nicole has been a dream from the start and we’re so excited to bring new vintages and varietals to the Can Fam each year.

If you haven’t tried them yet, here are some brief descriptions of our lineup from Nicole:

• Dry Sparkling Riesling: This very special wine has notes of lime, pear, and a hint of pineapple. What’s most surprising it that it’s a fairly rich, but completely dry sparkling wine. This Riesling was the first wine Nicole made under Ser Winery in 2012. The fruit comes from the iconic Wirz Vineyard in Cienega Valley – an old-vine and organically-farmed planting that produces bright, naturally acidic fruit with distinctive minerality.

• Rosé of Grenache: This award-winning single-vineyard, dry rosé wine has notes of rhubarb, guava, and strawberries-and-cream. The fruit for this Rosé of Grenache was grown and picked specifically for rosé wine from Sweetwater Vineyard in cool-climate Monterey County and the wine was made via the "direct pressing" method, and aged four months in stainless steel.

• Bubbly Red: This wine is 100% Cinsault with notes of bright strawberry, cherry, and rose petal. It’s a palate-cleansing, sultry red bubbly that loves a pepperoni pizza, Char Siu, and crisp evenings. The grapes are sourced from Rick's Vineyard in Monterey County where the cool climate allows the grape to fully express the beautiful, floral perfumed character with flavors of fresh red fruit

• Cabernet Pfeffer: The fruit for this wine is plucked from vines at Wirz and Enz Vineyards (some are over 100 years old!). The final wine in the can has notes of cranberry, pomegranate, and white pepper and so many layers of depth. Deeper dive on this wine below!

Nicole Walsh sipping Cabernet Pfeffer. Photo credit: April Burkhart.

• White Blend: Nicole made this wine specifically for us to sell in stores. It’s 64% Vermentino, 31% Grenache Blanc, 3% Picpoul, and 2% Clairette Blanche. It has notes of fresh white flowers, peach, and some lemon zest. It’s a French Rhône-style beauté paying unique homage to the California Coast.

• Brut Bubbles: Finally, now on all United Airlines flights across the U.S., Nicole’s sparkling white blend has notes of white flowers, lemon zest, peach, and pear. It’s a blend of Vermentino, Grenache Blanc, Picpoul, Clairette Blanche, and Chenin Blanc – similar to her still white blend above. And, just like that can, it’s a French Rhône-style white wine. Tag us when you’re sipping it in the friendly skies.

Deep Dive into Cabernet Pfeffer

Nicole began working with local Santa Cruz Mountain growers to source fruit for Ser and was immediately drawn to Wirz Vineyard, a dry-farmed, old-vine, organic vineyard in Cienega Valley, 25 miles from Monterey Bay. 

Knowing Nicole’s penchant for the road less traveled, Pat Wirz turned her on to Cabernet Pfeffer – an ultra-rare grape from 100-year-old vines. "I want to be a champion for this unique variety. I love to watch people try it for the first time,” she shared. What started as an experiment became love at first sip, and now Cab Pfeffer is a Ser signature.

Pfeffer means “pepper” in German, referring to its distinctive white pepper notes. While this grape has been described as a cross between a Cab Sauv and a Zin, Nicole got DNA testing done on this little known variety and found that it has no relation to Cabernet Sauvignon – it’s actually an obscure French grape called Mourtaou.

“You really can’t compare it to any other variety," says Nicole. "It’s delicate with nice structure and subtle tannins; the old vines fill out the mid-palate with an earthy and mineral finish. It’s not a simple wine, it’s intriguing; the layers reveal themselves over time.”

If Cab Sauv is the life of the party, Cab Pfeffer is the beguiling mystery guest – understated, but with layers of depth. Instead of big tannins, think bright red fruits and a subtle earthiness and spice. It’s delish alongside barbecue, lamb ribs, a crumbly feta salad, or a hearty pasta with tomato sauce. 

All-lady canning day with the Maker team and Nicole Walsh.

So. Pfeffin. Good.

Canning the Cab Pfeffer as one of our first red wines was certainly unconventional. We wondered, would everyone think we were crazy? We took to the streets and asked our Can Club to taste a selection of reds, and the proof was in the pudding (or wine, I guess) – y’all were obsessed with this rare grape varietal so we decided to create the first ever Cab Pfeffer in a can. 

We write a message on the bottom of each can – this one was a no brainer.

Since then, Nicole’s wines have earned many awards and turned can skeptics into can lovers. We can’t wait to see what the future holds in premium canned wine with Nicole by our side.

Try the Cabernet Pfeffer

Want to try this one-of-a-kind grape? Pick up a six pack of this super rare wine.

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