YOU KNOW how once you start paying attention to something like an author or a vacation destination it seems like you hear about the subject all the time? Lately, that's how it's been for me with the wines of the Highway 152 corridor near Morgan Hill. And what I've been hearing are good things.

When I learned about San Jose winemaker JEFF RITCHEY and his SENSORIUM winery, I was intrigued because I'm always on the lookout for lesser-known local producers of premium wine. But when I did a little research, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that his flagship wine came from a vineyard just north of Highway 152 near the Uvas Canyon Reservoir. Something was drawing me to this area, so I had to learn more.

Ritchey believes that he has found a patch of cabernet sauvignon heaven on the Uvas Creek Vineyard just west of Morgan Hill. He makes wines from Paso Robles and Napa Valley, but it's his Uvas Creek cabernet sauvignon he's most proud of. "The site is really special," he says. "It's the best vineyard I've ever dealt with."

The rugged vineyards of the Santa Cruz Mountains offer a myriad of microclimates, soil conditions and topography that yield an incredible diversity of wines, and Ritchey says it all comes together at the 4-acre vineyard. The area get warm, but not too warm in the day, while cool, foggy air from the coast washes over the hills at night to keep the fruit from over-ripening. But he says that, more than anything else, it's vineyard owner BILL HOLT's obsessive commitment to quality that makes the grapes so special. "He's just insanely into growing the best grapes possible. It's like he's a vine whisperer or something."

Ritchey has been making wine for 15 years. He was the winemaker for Clos la Chance for six years and also worked with Gundlach Bundschu in Sonoma and Cupertino's Pichetti Winery before stepping out on his own 2002. He used to make his wine out of a winery in Soledad, but now he makes his wines closer to home at the Byington Winery in Los Gatos. He makes about 1,000 cases of wine a year and only 300 cases or so from the Uvas Creek Vineyard. But making wine on a small scale allows for greater quality and keeps it fun, he says.

The current release from the Uvas Creek Vineyard is the 2005. It's a brawny beauty with a nose of coffee and leather and supple, silken tannins that provide structure but without any edges. Going down, it gave up plush flavors of cocoa and ripe blackberry, cherry and vanilla. It's a round package of flavors that's fun to try to unpack and figure out what's inside. It sells for $42. The 2006 vintage is about to be released. I think it still needs time to unwind, but it's got a pretty nose with whiffs of plum and blackberry and appealing flavors of green olive, oak and red fruit.

For now, wine is a side project for Ritchey. His full-time job is running Clean Solar, his solar-panel installation business, and business is booming. (When was the last time you heard someone say that?) But he always has wine on the brain. Under his name on his business card for Clean Solar are the letters "CWG," an acronym that stands for "Chief Wine Geek."

"It's always what you're really passionate about, and I'm really passionate about cabernet sauvignon," Ritchey says.

And what he's really passionate about is his Uvas Creek Vineyard cabernet. "I want to make a statement with this wine and how good it can be."

Send a letter to the editor about this story.