Author Archive for Pierre Lafond

The Ultimate Holiday Decorations

Published
by
Pierre Lafond
on December 27, 2007
in Videos
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This is a truly spectacular effort. Light and music theatre. We can only guess at the carbon footprint and certainly not something we would recommend. There is no information as to where the house is located.

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Santa Barbara Winery Santa Rita Hills Grenache

Published
by
Pierre Lafond
on December 21, 2007
in Wine News
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Chris Knap writes — that Bruce McGuire’s experiment with Grenache pays big dividends.

Tuesday, December 20, 2007

Chris Knap Wine Columnist
The Orange County Register

When Alexis Lichine wrote his definitive “Guide to the Wines and Vineyards of France” in 1979, the southern Rhone village of Gigondas, purveyor of one of the best Grenaches in the world, rated less than a single paragraph.When Robert M. Parker released the second edition of his “Wines of the Rhone Valley” in 1997, Gigondas got more than 50 pages.Between those two observations lies a whole book about the waning influence of Bordeaux and Burgundy, the influential palates of the late 20th century and the brash new influences that have turned the wine world on its head.

For our purposes here, suffice it to say that many sophisticated wine lovers (and wine makers) now prize a grape that was once considered a footnote fit for the back of the book.

 So it is with Bruce McGuire, winemaker for Santa Barbara Winery. McGuire planted two acres of Grenache in the warmest part of owner Pierre Lafond’s Santa Rita Hills vineyard, still a cool site for this warm-weather grape.The grapes for this second bottling from that planting were picked in early October and the wine aged in used Hungarian oak barrels.The wine is at once soft and powerful, with a nose of cedar and dark berries and flavors of cherry, raspberry and blackberry with notes of briar on the finish.
Tannins are sharp on first opening but fade as the wine gets oxygen and becomes much smoother and subtler. I expect it will continue to improve for at least two years.The wine’s power is belied by its voluptuousness. I suspected the alcohol was high, but when I checked the label I was stunned to see it was 15.7 percent.In his book Parker calls Gigondas “a robust, chewy, full-bodied, rich, generous red wine … (with) muscular, unbridled power that is fine-tuned in the best examples.”
To my taste McGuire has managed a similar trick here. Try it with Provencal-style beef stew or any rich, meaty meal on a cold winter’s night.

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New Release Lafond Winery 2006 SRH Pinot Noir

Published
by
Pierre Lafond
on December 19, 2007
in New Releases and Pinot Noir
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Rising in the middle of the western Santa Ynez Valley, the SantaRita Hills are the distinguishing feature of our AVA, home of Lafond Vineyard and a wonderful area to grow Pinot Noir. The long, very cool growing season of this area is exemplified by February budbreak and September harvest, a long period for vine physiology.

We feel this long growing season is what imparts the complexity of flavor and fruit intensity to our Pinot Noir A tremendous amount of effort has gone into fine tuning the vineyard to coax this fickle grape into producing the exotic, elusive flavors only pampered Pinot Noir will reveal.

Winemaker Bruce McGuire chooses very specific sites in the vineyard for each of his Pinot Noir selections. Several different Pinot Noir clones, some planted as early as 1983, add to the palette of flavor and texture from which to craft each Pinot Noir. In 2006, Bruce chose 6 clones from 16 vineyard lots (Lafond Vineyard and the nearby Arita Hills Vineyard) picked at ripness over a four week period.

Vintage 2006 saw crop yields a little lighter than 2005, with very good fruit concentration. The Pinot Noir harvest was also exactly a month later than in 2005. The wine was aged in French oak from Burgundy (25% new oak) and bottled in August 2007. The complexity of flavor found in Pinot Noir from Lafond Vineyard is a wonderful match with savory foods and a classic with grilled salmon or mushrooms.

Suggested Retail 26.00

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Frost and the Christmas Party

Published
by
Pierre Lafond
on December 14, 2007
in Wine News and Winery News
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We combined both.

The vines close down after harvest. The cold weather allows them to remain dormant during the winter months. Pruning begins once the vines are dormant and continues until February.

The party, a pot-luck dinner, included all those working at the winery, their spouses and their children.

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Re-Planting

Published
by
Pierre Lafond
on December 11, 2007
in Chardonnay
. 0 Comments

The life-cycle for vineyards is usually around 30 years — yields drop — and fashions change.

12 foot rows and 8 foot plant spacing, common in the 70s, was determined by the equipment then available. Todays  6 foot rows and 4 foot spacing — tripling the number of plants per acre – with better clones, better trellising and better farming practices – makes better wine.

15 acres of Davis clone Chardonnay, on its own roots, will be replaced by four new Chardonnay clones grafted to a root stock chosen for its compatibility to the soil and climate.

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New Release Lafond Winery 2006 SRH Syrah

Published
by
Pierre Lafond
on December 9, 2007
in Lafond Winery, New Releases and Syrah
. 0 Comments

 Lafond Winery 2006 SRH Syrah

The ‘SRH’ designation on the Lafond label signals Winemaker Bruce McGuire’s intent to blend a selection of vineyards located in the Santa Rita Hills AVA (American Viticultural Area). Located in the western end if the Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Rita Hills is a cold climate region where grapes benefit from a very long growing season.

After the bountiful 2005 harvest, the Syrah vines rested a little. Between the smaller harvest and Bruce’s strict selection criteria from within our vineyard and the neighboring Hill Top Ranch Vineyard, the production of the 2006 was down by 550 cases. The wine shows the beginnings of being a big Syrah needing time to integrate in the bottle to show off the concentrated fruit and intense flavors.

Bruce’s selection of seventeen vineyard lots from multiple Syrah clones has really paid off in a powerful expression of fruit from aroma to finish. He then aged the wine in a blend barrels to give the wine layers of complexity and texture. This Syrah shows the “cool-climate” character found in Syrah grown in the Santa Rita Hills. Flavors are marked by forward dark berry, violets, and terrific white pepper spice intensity.

This wine will nicely integrate in the bottle before early 2009 and will continue to be very impressive into 2012. One of our favorite wines for pairing with hearty fare and grilled foods, this wine is also fun to match with cheese such as Taleggio.

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Early Winter

Published
by
Pierre Lafond
on December 1, 2007
in Lafond Winery and Winter in the Vineyard
. 0 Comments

We are finally getting winter — the cold nights – but not the rain. Winemaker Bruce McGuire still has some wines to press, mostly small lots that have been kept for extended maceration. Pruning will begin in a few weeks once the vines are completely dormant.

The photo is of the vineyard and winery and can be enlarged by clicking.

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