Winemaker Notes
This wine delivers explosive cherry cola and blackberry pie aromatics up front with subtle spice and dried thyme tones weaved in. Full, ripe, and approachable in its youth, this wine has a refined mouthfeel and sufficient acidity to pull all of the elements together.
Professional Ratings
-
Tasting Panel
In 1962, Pierre Lafond founded the oldest winery in Santa Barbara County and named it Santa Barbara Winery. In the western Santa Ynez Valley, he bought vineyards defined by the cool, ocean-influenced climate of the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. Bright and lively aromas of black cherry accentuated by forest floor give way to high acidity and tart strawberry, keeping the wine vibrant from start to finish. The palate, dry and dusty with black tea and violets, maintains a mouthwatering sensation.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
A superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.