Winery Profile Series: Roark Wines

Over the years, we've featured thousands of small wineries, and wouldn't it be great if members got to meet every single winemaker in person? 

Introducing our Winemaker Profile series, where we share our one-on-one winemaker conversations with you.

Roark – pronounced RO-ark, two syllables – is the kind of tiny, high-level producer you have to hear about from a friend (as we did) or stumble across in the wild, at a nice restaurant or wine shop. Ryan makes 500 to 800 cases per year. To put that into perspective, a big year would be 32 barrels. Most of the cellars we’ve skulked around stack five or six barrels high, so picture his entire year’s production fitting into a footprint of about 8 by 10 feet.

Ryan has an electric quality, coming across as simultaneously cards-to-his-chest reserved and unflinchingly forthright. He’s clearly an independent spirit who is intensely motivated to bring every element of farming and winemaking together with integrity – and feels enchanted by the whole of it.

He grew up in a small town in Texas, and earned a degree in Bioenvironmental Sciences from Texas A&M. During a summer agricultural internship in Angers, France, he fell in love with vineyard work, and then went on to a gig at Domaine Taillandier. Through contacts from his geologist uncle who’d done some work for wineries, he was able to get a position in Napa Valley after graduation, which led to New Zealand, and finally Santa Barbara County with Arcadian Winery. Next he worked for a vineyard management company, then Andrew Murray Vineyards. Ryan has always been heavily focused on the vineyard aspect, feeling that it is the lion’s share of “winemaking.”

He founded Roark on the side in 2009, when he had the chance to buy some Chenin Blanc to play with. That was the same year he met his wife, Jenn, who has a hospitality degree.  

In 2019, he took over vineyard management at the beautiful Demetria Estate in Los Olivos, then added the winemaker role in 2021, and he is now Demetria’s Director of Viticulture and Winemaking.

He makes Roark wines at Demetria’s cellar. The Roark portfolio includes Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, and red and white table blends.

Follow along with our Q&A with Ryan:

Who wrote the text on your website? It’s quietly bold. And we liked the personal tasting notes. I wrote most of it. It’s my wine, and the business is me, you know? So you just write and be yourself.

Is Roark just you and your wife Jenn? Right now it’s just myself and my wife. The artwork on most of the labels is hers. She’s been, I'd say, an artist for almost 20 years now. If you ask me who she is – she is an artist.

At The California Wine Club, we’re of the opinion that small wineries do most things better. But we appreciate some of the bigger, well-known houses too. There are a lot of ways to skin the cat. Thoughts? If I'm going to purchase a bottle of wine, I want to know that I’m buying the wine from a person. There's nothing wrong with the bigger wine companies – most of us probably started getting to know wine through a bigger winery. [Warmly…] Last I checked, they’re not actively looking to poison people. But for me, and the kind of people that I’m trying to connect with, it’s wine that's made by a person with a philosophy, with intention and care. If you come to my website and buy my wine, you’re going to interact with me. And at Demetria, it’s a small group of people who report directly to the owner.

And you don’t necessarily have to spend a lot of money for what is often a more excellent experience, and certainly more intimate – from customer care to wine quality.  Right. It’s up to the individual to decide if that’s a better experience than buying something that’s more of a commodity-level product.

Do you have an attachment to working with the same vineyards long term, or do you like to bop around and try out different sites? It’s been a little bit of all of the above over the years. Right now, I have one small vineyard that I manage and make wine from. But it’s mostly about finding something fun to work with, something unique. I don’t derive my full-time income from Roark Wines, so I have that flexibility and freedom.

So in addition to various sites you source from, there’s one vineyard you personally manage. Does that mean it’s your own hands out there doing the farming? Yeah, it's me out there, and I lean on some helpers every now and then. But I do as much as I can myself. It’s in the Santa Ynez Valley. Alondra de los Prados Vineyard. One acre of Syrah. 

“Instead of just myopically doing it the same way you did it the year before, you’re observing the vineyard and making decisions accordingly.”

We really love your Grenache, and the white blend. Do you make those every year? I’ve been making Grenache every few years at the moment. And then the white, I’ve been making that wine probably three years in a row, and then I skipped a year. There are some wines from the Loire that I’ve enjoyed with that blend of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Those two varieties grow really well here in Santa Barbara County, so I thought it would be a cool thing to do. Grenache is kind of an underdog in Santa Barbara, but it grows really well here, too.

“I made these two because I want to drink this wine, and I want to drink this blend.”

 

What kind of terrain are you working with in Santa Barbara? The Grenache and the grapes for the white blend were all from vineyards about 10 to 15 miles from the ocean. There’s a strong maritime influence. The Grenache is from a little bit hillier site, in a clay loam. The grapes for the white blend were from a flatter area, an old river bed with soil that’s almost pure sand.

“I love white wine, sometimes I think it would be nice to only make white wine. If I had to make white or red forever I would choose white.”

Any strong viticultural opinions? I have strong opinions on everything. [Laughs] I think every vineyard has to be treated as an individual. And every vine in the vineyard has to be treated as an individual. If you want the most interesting expression, you have to be a little bit more detail-oriented in the farming. During pruning, that means pruning each plant on a different program. If you normally have 10 spurs and 20 buds on a plant, but the plant isn’t looking as strong, maybe leave one bud per spur, so it can build up some reserves. 

Do you have the desire to own a vineyard? I’ve always wanted to, and hopefully one day will. But at the end of the day, the joy that I have is in the work. Maybe it goes along the line of "What's the only thing better than having a boat? Your friend having a boat.” I currently experience the whole cycle of production.  

He adds that between his day job at Demetria Estate, and his own Roark label, he has the start-to-finish level of detailed control that he likes.

“The whole process of making wine is enjoyable. Being out in beautiful places. This agricultural product you transform into this unique beverage. Never gets old.”

 

What’s your personal style in the cellar – kinetic and fast-moving? Jolly? Meditative and mellow?  I’m probably going to be walking around a little bit faster than most people – quietly. If I see you, I’ll smile, but I’m not necessarily compelled to talk. [Lights up.] We have the tools we need, but not much more. The tools are placed so they’re easily accessible. Things are organized so that if something is used less often, it’s further away. It’s well set up, minimal, efficient. 

“With wine, the more you touch it, the further away from its purest form it is. You want the wine to be as close to the original grapes as possible, in my opinion. The less you touch it, the closer it is to its origin.”

 

You’re from Marshall, Texas. Do you ever feel strange being so far from your first home? That’s a good question. Yes I’m from northeast Texas near Shreveport, Louisiana. Where I grew up was really cool. My childhood was great. The things I grew up doing were great. Where I live now is also great. At this point, I’ve spent 20 years in Texas and 20 years in California. My wife and I, we sometimes fantasize about packing it all up and moving to another country, but we come back to: Where’s better than where we are right now? I’m happy where I’m at.

Does your son like to help in the vineyard? [Big smile.] He gets invited, and he accepts the invitation.