Winemaker Notes
Located in the agricultural heart of the Santa Maria Valley, Bien Nacido Vineyards supports nearly 900 acres of coveted wine grapes. Vineyard blocks include Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Blanc, as well as California’s first cool-climate Syrah.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Qupé winemaker Bob Lindquist was instrumental in getting syrah planted at Bien Nacido in the late 1980s. At the time, it was the coolest syrah site in California. This comes from the X Block, that initial 1987 planting. While he selects the more structured fruit for his X Block bottling, this Bien Nacido normale rocks in 2014. The wine sees less new oak than his Hillside Estate and X Block syrahs, and the emphasis is on immediate fruit, which is meaty, violet-edged and pleasantly plump. It’s as pretty as it is rich, with a velvet softness that’s compelling.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
A lesser-known but elite AVA within the larger Santa Barbara district, the Santa Maria Valley AVA runs precisely west to east starting near the coast. The valley funnels cool, Pacific Ocean air to the vineyards more inland, allowing grapes a longer hang time to ripen evenly and achieve their full potential by harvest time. Combined with minimal rainfall, consistent warm sunshine, and well-drained soils, it is an ideal environment for grape growing.
Many of the wineries here are small and highly respected, having established a reputation in the 1970s and 80s for producing excellent Central Coast wines like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. More recently, Syrah has also proven quite successful in the region. Many vineyards are owned by growers who sell their grapes to other wineries, so it is common to see the same vineyard name on bottlings from different wineries. Bien Nacido Vineyard is perhaps the best-known and most prestigious.