Wine in Santa Rita Hills

With the goal of expressing a comprehensive expression of the appellation, we selected four unique vineyard sites to create this Sta. Rita Hills bottling. This blend is comprised of 3D, Machado, Acin and Hapgood vineyards. While each lot is handled separately and in a completely uniform fashion in the winery, each contributes vastly different expressions which ultimately harmonize in the finished wine.

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The consummate rule breaker, exotic, decadently textured and electrically framed, either under a Bordeaux-esque or a Rhône-esque vintage spell.

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91pts Wine Enthusiast 05/20 Lafond is dedicated to producing limited quantities of Sta. Rita Hills Vineyard and Appellation designated Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Chardonnay. The purpose of these single designations is to highlight the distinctions of soil and climate and create continuity in these slight but significant differences. In 2001, the BATF recognizes Sta. Rita Hills as a separate and distinct viticulture area. Distinct in climate and geography, the wines grown in this cool and unique growing area are permitted to be identified as Sta. Rita Hills. Within the last few decades, this unique area has been recognized viticulturally and enologically for producing world-class cool-climate varietals.

Deep, dark and concentrated, this wine features generous aromas of raspberry, Bing Cherry, root beer and leather. On the palate, this wine’s multiple layers speak to flavors of cherry cola, strawberry marmalade and forest floor.

When trying to name this new wine we wanted to convey the spirit of our winery. We are a two-person operation at our winery handling every cluster, performing each punchdown of the tanks and filling every barrel. In other words, Amy & Peter Made This! Produced from grapes grown on a south facing slope at Radian Vineyard in Sta. Rita Hills, this is a delicious wine that is both complex and refreshing. Grapes were fermented with 25% whole-clusters, adding lovely spice and texture to the wine. Aged for 14 months in neutral French oak barrels and bottled without finning or filtration. 13.0% alcohol, 500 cases produced.

Released: Feb 2017 The fruit for this wine comes exclusively from our Sta. Rita Hills estate and is a combination of two different Syrah clones (Estrella and Clone 99). The Estrella is from Donna’s block which is planted on well drained, nutrient deficient sand. The neutrality of this soil always lends an intoxicating and high toned bouquet of flowers and spice while the Clone 99 from Block I is planted on denser sandy loam soil, bringing depth and richness to the resultant wine. 70% of the fruit was gently de-stemmed with 30% remaining as whole clusters and was fermented in small 1.5 ton open top fermenters. Total skin and stem contact averaged 30 days (7 day cold soak, 2+ weeks fermentation, and 1+ week extended maceration). From the press the wine was transferred directly to neutral barrels (5-20 year old French oak) where it remained sur lie with no sulfur until May when it was gently pressure racked for the first time and prepared for bottling in August. Yields were 2.9 lbs/vine (2.5 tons per acre).

2010 Chardonnay grapes were whole cluster pressed, racked into neutral barrels and allowed to ferment in barrel. Following completion of primary fermentation, wines were inoculated for malolactic fermentation - also known as "secondary fermentation". Wine was aged in French oak barrels, 40% of which were new, for 18 months. The 10 Chardonnay displays upfront notes of light, toasty oak, Seckel pears and spritzed lime zest. The palate of our 2010 Chardonnay is frontloaded with lemon-lime notes and sublime minerality. The 40% new oak ferment really promotes the oak fully infusing into the wine where it perfectly balances with the perfect acidity and minerality. Our 10 is lean, crisp, strikes a balance between fruit, minerality, oak toast, and acidity.

Sommelier Rajat Parr and winemaker Sashi Moorman are responsible for some of the Central Coast's most interesting and tasty wines, separately and together. (The duo have also partnered on the Domaine de la Côte label and Sandhi Wines projects.) The started Lompoc Wine Company in 2012 with the goal of producing "an authentic and accessible wine that faithfully represents the unique and ideal qualities of southern Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir," says the winery. The wine blends fruit from the Sanford & Benedict, Rita's Crown and Bentrock vineyards. The winery describes the wine as having been "harvested at optimum ripeness levels to achieve a finished wine that balances agilely on its dark fruit aromas and broad, silky and savory tannins, this wine was produced from 100% destemmed grapes and gently fermented before being aged for 11 months in neutral barrels. No fining or filtration was necessary.

Brewer-Clifton Machado Pinot Noir is one of Brewer-Clifton’s flagship single-vineyard offerings from their sustainably farmed estate vineyard in Sta. Rita Hills. Winemaker Greg Brewer has dedicated his winemaking life to the ten-mile-long Sta. Rita Hills AVA in Santa Barbara County, California. Pinot Noir is the most celebrated red wine varietal in Sta. Rita Hills with rolling terrain and sandy loam soils which offers textures of black tea and silt in the finished wine. This red wine features aromas of cherry, rhubarb and mint with flavors of blackberry, boysenberry and allspice.

This wine is comprised of 100% estate pinot noir from three vineyards within the AVA. 3D, Machado and Acin all contribute to the wine which exhibits a drive, richness and pedigree expressive of our special growing area coupled with the purity of fruit and firm structure which have been the trademark of Brewer–Clifton.

Sandhi is dedicated to making wines of finesse, minerality, acidity, structure and balance. Wine achieves power and beauty through the seamless integration of these qualities, and this is the inspiration for us. We feel wines exhibiting extreme ripeness, alcohol, oak and other discordant exaggerations cannot truly express a specific vineyards’ terroir. It is because of this focus for balance for why we are so determined to find vineyard sites from the Santa Rita Hills that are old-vine, have cold temperatures, windy exposures, north-facing expositions and clay and diatomaceous soils. From a cellar approach, we go to great lengths to protect the vibrancy, freshness and energy that the Santa Rita Hills fruit delivers. For whites and red we prefer neutral barrel and concrete vessel employing a conservative amount of new French oak. We do not add water, sugar, acid, enzymes and other fixing agents. All wines are wild-yeast fermented. All Chardonnays go through malo-lactic with the lees not stirred. Almost all Pinot Noirs are whole-cluster fermented because we feel the wines smell more alive and have more complex textures than other wines.

The Fiddlestix Vineyard Pinot Noir shows the pedigree of this vineyard in its balance, structure and dark fruit character. Rich in black and red cherry, blackberry, plum, cardamom and cinnamon, with a smooth, delicately silky texture. This wine exemplifies the finesse and subtle power of the cool-climate of the Sta. Rita Hills.

The 2014 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir is composed from declassified parcels and barrels of La Côte, Bloom’s Field, and Memorious vineyards. The 2014 bottling was fermented with roughly 50% whole bunches and small amount of new oak used in the élevage. This wine has a pale red color with perfumed flavors of bing cherry, all spice and leather. The wine is open, softly textured, and finishes with silky tannins. We believe the wines have a long life in the bottle if properly cellared and should develop aromas and flavors of great complexity over the next 7+ years.

The Parker West Pinot Noir exhibits a true sense of place offering forward dark cherry, raspberry and floral notes supported by attractive mineral and spicy notes. This is a structured Pinot Noir that retains elegance and gracefulness due to bright natural acidity. Enjoy!

magine if I took some fruit from the Top Cream section of my estate vineyard, and instead of doing the full Burgundian stylistic expansion with it, I fermented it in stainless steel at a nice cool temperature to lock in its fruit and minerality. Imagine if I borrowed from the Burgundian recipe just a little malolactic fermentation to balance the fruit's natural acidity with richness. What would one call such a wonderful thing? Well, here at the winery we call it "Baby Cream". No it does not have the world class dimension that the Top Cream has. But it does have rip roaring fruit with a mouthwatering finish that goes forever. If you call the winery and ask for Baby Cream, they'll know what you're talking about.

It takes beautiful juice to make beautiful rosé. This salmon colored edition is the result of pinot noir grapes harvested slightly earlier to focus on freshness and vibrancy. Defined by delicate red fruit and laser-like acidity, it is pure, refreshing and immensely drinkable.

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