Like a vine climbing toward sunlight, Santa Barbara wine country has had to avoid the shadow of the famous and glamourous wine regions of northern California. Unfortunately growing quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, two of the most scrutinized wine grapes, just a few hours outside of sunny and hot Los Angeles is still viewed as unlikely for many. An assumption still persists with wine lovers that Carneros, Sonoma, or Napa Valley must be on the label to be a great wine. This sentiment is why locals such as J. Wilkes winemaker and Santa Barbara wine industry leader Wes Hagen describes the region as, “Undervalued, under loved and underpriced.”

Despite this lack of attention life goes on and great wine continues to be made in Santa Barbara wine country. It’s too beautiful not to. Summer 2019, the Santa Barbara Vintners invited sommeliers and wine buyers to a collection of production and vineyard tours, winemaker meetings and educational tastings called the Mission Santa Barbara which was created to educate and share the influences that shape the vineyards and wines. This summary hopefully captures the beauty of local vineyards and the passion of winemakers who help make the Santa Barbara wine country the premier wine region it is and deserves to be.

Early in the trip a winemakers tasting panel featuring Chardonnay was held at the beautiful Presqu’ile Winery. Owned by the Murphy family from Louisana and Arkansas, who gave the winery a Creole name meaning, almost an island, referring to a family vacation spot on the gulf coast which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Presqu’ile Winery now serves as the new gathering place for their family, and thankfully we are all invited to come by for a tasting as well.

Chardonnay Tasting Panel

The Santa Barbara winemakers went on to discuss vintage and vineyard variation as well as winemaking choices that influence the style of wine they produce. Winemaker Greg Brewer stated that if he could only work with one wine grape, he would choose Chardonnay, and this passion shows in his wines. The 2018 diatom Bar-M Vineyard features intense green apple sour jolly rancher fruit along with lime and lemon citrus in an energetic and refreshing no oak style. The 2013 Brewer-Clifton 3-D Vineyard was a pleasure to drink with its green pear precision and salinity.

Santa Barbara producers & winemakers from left to right, Cambria- Jill Russell (who caught me taking a picture) Dierberg Star Lane Vineyards-Tyler Thomas, Foxen Vineyard & Winery-Bill Wathen, Presqu’ile Winery-Dieter Cronje, Rancho de Ontive… — Santa Barbara producers & winemakers from left to right, Cambria- Jill Russell (who caught me taking a picture) Dierberg Star Lane Vineyards-Tyler Thomas, Foxen Vineyard & Winery-Bill Wathen, Presqu’ile Winery-Dieter Cronje, Rancho de Ontiveros-James Ontiveros

Foxen Vineyard & Winery also provided some excellence with their 2017 Tinaquaic Estate Chardonnay from the Santa Maria Valley. Jill Russell of Cambria Winery captured the full bodied, barrel smoke and spice and tropical fruit style that consumers of California Chardonnay love with her 2017 Katherine’s Vineyard and 2015 Signature Collection Chardonnay from the Santa Maria Valley.

Melville Winery

A great experience of this trip was getting to visit Melville Vineyards and Winery with winemaker Chad Melville. The winery has become a benchmark for quality in the Sta. Rita Hills with Chad describing his winemaking style as the following, “The vineyard speaks, not the cellar.” Cool climate Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah, something so easy sounding can be astonishingly hard without the proper execution but Melville wines excel with minimal cellar intervention or additions.

Melville started in 1989, drawn to the cool climate of the Sta. Rita Hills, and now they own more than 100 estate acres with 16 clones of Pinot Noir. This vineyard diversity allows for more options for the winemaker to create with, providing differences in intensity or highlighting specific fruit flavors. Some clones are better at battling fungal disease as they offer more space between grapes in the cluster while some planted are actually more prone to viruses. This can be seen as beneficial to some producers as fruit ripening slows from less efficient photosynthesis, allowing grape maturity to catch up to ripeness. This was experienced in Napa Valley in the 70’s with fan leaf virus in some vineyards, helping create a leaner and not as jammy fruit quality that helped define the style of that time.

Melville Estate Chardonnay has yellow apple and salty pineapple brine flavor and aromas, round and tropical yet vibrant and refreshing, cool climate California Chardonnay at its best. If you prefer more citrus zest and less tropical flavor the Melville Inox Chardonnay, which is French for stainless steel, is wonderful with sea sprayed lemon and light stone fruit. Melville Pinot Noir bursts from the wine glass, a fantastic example of what whole cluster inclusion can add to a wine. Some common aromas and flavors of their Pinot Noir include rose petal, hibiscus flower, blood orange and dried herb black tea. The 2016 Melville Donna’s Syrah is one of my favorite Californian examples of the grape, made with 100% whole cluster inclusion, with savory prosciutto aromas along with salty viscous blueberry.

Spear Vineyard Pinot Noir Tasting Panel

Our next winemaker tasting panel was at Spear Vineyards and Winery, where our group got a tour of their vineyard and immaculate cellar. Vineyards here were started in 2014 and are planted CCOF, California Certified Organic Farmers. Winemakers here discussed making Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara, from farming practices, climate, clonal selections, stem inclusion and all the tangents in-between. The 17 Spear Pinot Noir from Sta. Rita Hills captured all the red fruited intensity of the region along with orange citrus notes and a slightly fuller body of viscous cherry liqueur.

Doug Margerum and his 2017 Barden Wines Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir represented its region well with a bright light body and hibiscus and pomegranate flavors and aromas along with no excess salinity that can sometimes be found in recent vintages. It was mentioned how a Nori seaweed salinity can be expressed in grapes grown in sandy vineyard soils and in vintages experiencing drought conditions.

Winemaker Justin Willett brought his 2014 Tyler Winery Bien Nacido Vineyard Block N Pinot from the Santa Maria Valley. The wine features destemmed grapes for extra fruit intensity from own rooted old vines planted in the 1970’s. Sadly 2018 was the last vintage for this block as it was taken out in the winter after the harvest.

Dierberg Vineyard owners, Jim and Mary Dierberg came to Santa Barbara in 1996 but have been in the wine industry since 1974 as the owners of the Hermannhof Winery in Missouri. Their two estate vineyards are Dierberg, in the Santa Maria Valley planted with 12 Pinot Noir clones from Burgundy, and Drum Canyon which was planted in 2003 in the steep hillsides above their tasting room. Dierberg winemaker Tyler Thomas, who has Master’s degrees in Botany and Viticulture and Enology, expects the great quality to only get better, describing the potential here as, “…tasting the wines of the future.”

The 2016 Dragonette Cellars Pinot Noir had a great range of fruit complexity from strawberry, red raspberry to subtle blueberry. Like all Dragonette Cellars wines, the Pinot Noir featured a great textural character on the palate. Dragonette Cellars and Story of Soil represent the low intervention style of winemaking that prizes earth and texture in wines just as much as fruit intensity. The Story of Soil Pinot Noir from winemaker Jessica Gasca isn’t afraid to highlight its earthy concentration, with bay leaf, cumin and dried herbs along with a slight salinity finish. From lean to concentrated and fruity to earthy this vast collection of Santa Barbara Pinot Noir showcased the wide range of styles available for consumers.

Lumen Wines

Lane Tanner knows the Santa Ynez Valley quiet well, becoming the winemaker at Firestone Winery in 1981 at a time when female winemakers were few and far between. Lumen wines are a collaboration of Lane and Will Henry, and include sourcing from certified sustainable or biodynamic vineyards and harvesting grapes earlier than most wineries. The quality she has consistently created has influenced many winemakers to actually change their picking schedule to whenever Lane decides to start.

Their 2016 Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir is stunning! Made from destemmed fruit, providing a strawberry preserve aroma while still capturing a light refreshing red cranberry fruit flavor. There is a streak of ripe cherry washed through a mineral stream providing great balance to complement its insanely long smooth finish. The 2016 Grenache from Martian Ranch Vineyard in the Los Alamos Valley is a jump up in fruit intensity with cranberry compote and spiced plum along with a streak of caramel aroma running through the wine. Lumen Pinot Noir is ripe enough to appeal to customers who like bigger fruit while also holding vibrancy and character that fans of old-world style wines enjoy. They are also usually unfined and unfiltered, attracting customers of low intervention winemaking, and apply very little wine additives such as sulfur which Lane is highly allergic to.

Larner Rhône Inspired Tasting Panel

Here in Ballard Canyon a tasting panel featuring the Rhône based grapes of the region was held at Larner Vineyards and Winery. Led by winemaker and general manager Michael Larner, who previously worked at E. Guigal, Marchesi Antinori, Babcock, as well as being a co-founder of the Ballard Canyon AVA. If Pinot and Chardonnay are the stars of the Sta. Rita Hills, then Syrah reigns supreme in this warmer region. As a geologist Michael explores the soils of his vineyard in depth in blog posts on the Larner website. Michael explained to the group how organic farming is full of unexpected challenges. After farming for years without harsh pesticides, a chemical treated wood, extremely common in vineyards for termite control was used for trellis end posts in the vineyard. This set back organic certification for years as it requires a minimum amount of time for the soil to recover. The vineyard is now in full compliance and the termites are very happily being fed as these end posts must now be replaced frequently due to the damage they cause.

Owl boxes used to attract the beneficial predatory owls at Larner Vineyard along with netting to keep away the birds who cause damage to the grapes.

The 2016 Larner Estate Syrah represents well their hard work and is a great California example of the grape with blueberry and black olive brine notes and violet aromas. The vineyard has developed quite the following among Santa Barbara winemakers with Jessica Gasca sourcing her 2016 Story of Soil Syrah from here with remarkable expressive violet aromas, made with no new oak. Samsara Wine Company also makes an amazing 2017 Grenache from this vineyard of light body and bright red cherry following their winemaking philosophy of native yeast fermentation and low intervention. For lovers of a richer style the 2017 Margerum M5 Rhône Blend drips with intensity in every criteria. Viscous and mouthcoating the wine pleases many with its blueberry cotton candy aroma, making it winemaker Doug Margerum’s self described desert island wine.

Stolpman Vineyards

Eschalla trellising Santa Barbara style.

Talking about Ballard Canyon Syrah wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Stolpman Vineyards, one of the most beloved and best representing what this combination of land and grape can offer. The 220-acre property, unique for its limestone ridges that streak underground, features 60% of vines that are own rooted, meaning they were not grafted onto American rootstock that is resistant to the damage Phylloxera can cause. Parts of their Syrah vineyards imitate the traditional eschalla trellising in the Côte Rôtie which are two posts tied together with a vine on each side. Originally created in response to the strong mistral winds of the Rhône Valley, this method also provides good drought resistance and provides less crop in favor of quality.

Folded Hills Winery Ranch Farmstead

If you’re starring at these wines you’re having a good day.

I’ve been to quite a few wineries but never one with a camel, alpaca and zebra until I visited Folded Hills Winery Ranch Farmstead. You could say this winery can trace its alcoholic roots back to 1861 when owner Andrew Busch’s great grandmother Lilly Anheuser married Adolphus Busch. The furry friends here are a throwback to when Andrew’s father started Grant’s Farm, an animal reserve in St. Louis that opened to the public in 1954. Of course, being on a property owned by the Busch family it would be expected there would be a Clydesdale sighting which have been synonymous with the Busch family since 1934 when Andrews grandfather, August, Sr, was gifted a hitch of them to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition. At the Ranch Andrew and wife Kim also have organic fields of peaches, apples, pears and persimmons growing alongside their vineyard.

Sauvignon Blanc- Taste Profile Los Olivos District & Happy Canyon

If Los Olivos District Sauvignon Blanc represents a leaner and fresher version of the grape then its Happy Canyon brother often embraces a ripe tropical fruit and plump texture. Happy Canyon winery Grassini Family Vineyards does an excellent job at creating both versions. Their Happy Canyon Reserve Sauvignon Blanc is rich with intensity, aged in French oak and provides a lemon meringue flavor and creamy texture with baked pie crust, vanilla and lavender aromas. Their lighter style drinks fresh with honeydew melon, green tea, tart grapefruit and lime zest.

Dragonette Cellars also had a great showing of their Sauvignon Blanc wines, their 2018 Happy Canyon vintage combines the Grassini, Vogelzang and Grimm’s Bluff vineyards that strikes a great balance between these two styles with tropical guava flavor and slightly fruity and tart Meyer lemon acidity. The single vineyard wines of the 2017 Vogelzang and Grimm’s Bluff Vineyards from Dragonette Cellars were the best Sauvignon Blanc I tasted on the trip. Vogelzang was founded in 1998 in the south eastern corner of this AVA, making it among the oldest in the Santa Ynez, while Grimm’s Bluff was purchased in 2010 as raw land that owners Rick and Aurora decided in 2012 to plant vines to organic and Biodynamic principles, making this vineyard one that has never seen artificial herbicides and pesticides.

Crown Point Vineyards

While in Happy Canyon our group received a great tour of Crown Point Vineyards. The 2016 Crown Point Cabernet Sauvignon has high ambitions for the Happy Canyon. In many ways the Napa Valley grandeur, opulence and price point is being recreated here in this eastern corner of the Santa Ynez Valley. The Cabernet has powerful black fruit intensity, toasty oak spice from 70% new French oak and a smooth supple texture, reminiscent of milk chocolate. Its best feature is its streak of acidity that does an admirable job of balancing such big flavors. The 2014 Estate Selection Blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Merlot would be more your style if you prefer a softer textured, intensely full-bodied wine with the pure hedonistic pleasure of ultra-ripe fruits of black raspberry, black cherry and blackcurrant liqueur. The wines here have only been produced starting in 2013 and have already won over major wine critics and retailers. If the challenge wasn’t in reaching this pinnacle maybe it will be there in the ability to consistently produce at this high level. Knowing their pedigree of winemaking and quality of land, I suspect this won’t be much of a challenge.

Stolpman Vineyards, such a beautiful place.

The best part of Santa Barbara County is that you don’t have to have a geology degree or be a climate scientist to fully appreciate the region and wines. Tasting the Santa Ynez Valley by itself is enough to believe and understand. Go and grab a bottle of Melville and Stolpman Syrah and taste for yourself, each is so distinct and yet so true to the land from which it comes. The Brander Vineyard in particular, so perfectly captures what makes the Los Olivos District special and different from its neighbors to the east and west. I could keep writing about all the great producers that are here and the emphasis many are taking with organic farming but after reading this far most of you are probably ready to open a bottle of Santa Barbara wine. Grab your wine glasses and enjoy, it’s the next best thing to actually being there. Thank you to the Santa Barbara Vintners for the invitation, all the producers who took time to meet with us and to Jordan Mackay for moderating all the tasting panels.