Winemaker Notes
The 2023 Chenin Blanc is fragrant with honeysuckle, flint, and ripe pear, layered with notes of apricot, almond blossom, and a hint of beeswax. Bright yet textured, it pairs beautifully with a cheese board, herby grilled chicken, or crab cakes.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Chenin Blanc Jurassic Park takes the spry energy of the introductory bottling and instills it with an airy, crystalline quality, leading with beaming aromas of orange peel, pomelo, tangerine and seashells. The palate is silky and vibrant, lined with delicious, succulent energy that flows through the long, intensely stony finish. It's a gorgeous, weightlessly refreshing expression of Santa Barbara County Chenin Blanc.
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Vinous
The 2023 Chenin Blanc has such clear, precise varietal character. Leesy and creamy, it impresses with its depth of texture and green-apple flavor intensity. Minty lift echoes on the finish, refreshing the palate for another sip. This is archetypal Chenin through a California lens.
Unquestionably one of the most diverse grape varieties, Chenin Blanc can do it all. It shines in every style from bone dry to unctuously sweet, oaked or unoaked, still or sparkling and even as the base for fortified wines and spirits. Perhaps Chenin Blanc’s greatest asset is its ever-present acidity, maintained even under warm growing conditions. Somm Secret—Landing in South Africa in the mid 1800s, today the country has double the acreage of Chenin Blanc planted compared to France. There is also a new wave of dedicated producers committed to restoring old Chenin vines.
Ranging from cool and foggy in the west to warm and dry in the east, the Santa Ynez Valley is a climatically diverse growing area. The most expansive AVA within the larger Santa Barbara County region, Santa Ynez is also home to a wide variety of soil types and geographical features. The appellation is further divided into four distinct sub-AVAs—Sta. Rita Hills, Ballard Canyon, Los Olivos District and Happy Canyon—each with its own defining characteristics.
A wide selection of grapes is planted here—more than sixty different varieties, and counting. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir dominate in the chilly west, while Zinfandel, Rhône blends, and Bordeaux blends rule the arid east. Syrah is successful at both ends of the valley, with a lean and peppery, Old-World sensibility closer to the coast and lush berry fruit further inland.