Winemaker Notes
Try it with a hunk of Langres cheese, a smoked salmon tartine, or the best pairing yet: fried chicken. Because bubbles make it all just a little more fun.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Precise aromas of baked lemon and wet dough show on the nose of his bubbly. The palate is brisk with lemon-peel flavors, as warmer pie crust elements lead into the deep, zesty finish.
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Decanter
The 2019 Blanc de Blancs from Riverbench exhibits layers of golden apple, blanched almond, honeycomb wax, and warm brioche, with a hint of marzipan on the lean, linear palate. With zero dosage and a high-toned acid structure, it’s built for longevity and a good candidate to keep on hand for a celebration or dinner worth commemorating. Bright and versatile, this wine suits a wide range of palates and occasions.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
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.