Santa Barbara County

Making appellation level bottlings is great fun for winemakers. Rather than the more limited set of colors provided for single vineyard bottlings, many site expressions work together as do many colors arrayed on a painter’s palette. Floral contributions from here, minerality from there, and so it goes.

Mostly younger vines at Bien Nacido provided the framework for this Pinot Noir, with a fraction of super coastal Puerta Del Mar fruit and a discreet but powerful contribution from Kessler Haak in Sta Rita Hills. The wine shows Santa Barbara County’s potential for citrus and floral lift, and soft contoured red fruits that close out juicy. That’s enriched by lively white pepper and a rich umami quality that shows itself with some air.

As we like to make this wine, it’s thirst slaking, food-friendly and demands a refill. Nine months in French oak is a few months shorter than for our single vineyard wines, and that helps us capture the wine when it skews toward fruity and fun. It’s no simple quaffer though—while for years have crafted the wine to allow more openness in youth, we’ve seen our Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir in beautiful form 10+ years after bottling.