Profile: Before the Prohibition, Los Angeles was the largest wine-producing county in the country. A handful of wineries are back and Rosenthal leads the pack. The winery's 25 acres of hillside vines are located about four miles from the coast at an altitude of 1,400-feet in the AVA Malibu Newton Canyon. Owner George Rosenthal first planted vineyards at his 250-acre estate in 1987, after investigating for two years what varietals would grow best in this particular microclimate. Today, he has individual plots of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc. Winemaker Christian Roguenant, who grew up in Burgundy, France, and who has worked for Champagne Deutz and Laetitia, began making Rosenthal-The Malibu Estate wines with the 1996 vintage Chardonnay. With his hands-on approach, he takes special care in bringing out the particular terroir of the Malibu Newton Canyon location.