Archive for the 'Chardonnay' Category

Planting Chardonnay Lafond Vineyard

This week we started planting our new Chardonnay block – a little over 10 acres. We are using 5 different clones — some of these clones are already in some of our older blocks, and a few that are new to us, but have been tested in other vineyards in the Santa Rita Hills.

First the ground is softened by drip irrigation, although this may not really be necessary — the soil is very sandy – which we think ideal for Chardonnay. The Chardonnay has been grafted to a root stock that is well adapted to our soil — disease resistant, not too vigorous and good in sand.

Organic mulch is added at each vine location, hopefully to jump-start the plant’s growth. The vine is then planted and enclosed in a growth tube to protect it from the fierce winds and the blowing sand which are common in the Santa Rita Hills.

The first year is dedicated to establishing the vine — growing a solid root system. The following winter the vine is cut back to two buds — almost to where it started. The growth tube remains during the second year until the vine grows out of the tube and can be trained on the wire. The third year we get a small crop. Maybe.

The thumbnails show the planting sequence. Click to enlarge:


 

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2007 Santa Barbara County Chardonnay - The Bulldog Method

If you have ever been into the tasting room and noticed the barrels that are kept in the room right behind the bar, those are not just for decoration, they are full of wine.  All of our white wine processing is done right here in our downtown facility, from grape to bottle.  Right now we are tanking up the 2007 Santa Barbara County Chardonnay out of barrel, prepping it to be bottled in about two months. 

This tanking process is very meticulous as it requires efficiency and timeliness in moving the wine around.  The barrels are first pulled from the barrel room by a forklift.  Next, our winemakers sort through these barrels, sampling them to decide which barrels are going to be used in the Santa Barbara Chardonnay, and which will be saved for our other Chardonnays. 

To get the wine from barrel into tank, a method called “Bulldogging” is used.  This refers to the apparatus, The Bulldog, that is used to pressure the barrels using Nitrogen.  If you pressurize the barrels in this manner, the wine is pushed out by the inert gas through the hose.  By not using a pump to transfer the wine into tank, any oxygen uptake into the wine is reduced.  According to our Assistant Winemaker Ryan, this “raises the freshness factor of the wine tremendously.”  Over the past 10 years, Ryan has honed his skill for moving wine around, and he has developed techniques in speeding that process along. 

Right now we also have an allotment of 2006 red wines getting prepped for bottling.

2006 Primitivo Joughin Vineyard

2006 Sangiovese Stolpman Vineyard

2006 Nebbiolo Stolpman Vineyard

2006 Lagrein Joughin Vineyard

2006 Negrette Joughin Vineyard

2006 Syrah Santa Ynez Valley

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager

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Staking out the New Block at Lafond Vineyards

Images of the workers staking out our new Chardonnay block at Lafond Vineyards and the beauty of the surrounding Santa Rita Hills. The hills are green and in a few short weeks they will be brown again. We enjoy them now, but we also enjoy them when the rains have gone and they revert to their natural state — It means summer is here.

Click images to enlarge:


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Growth Tubes and Chardonnay

An interesting view inside a growth tube. This is Chardonnay planted in 2007 and pruned back to two buds. The tube protects the new vine from the strong winds that blow in the Santa Rita Hills. Once the vine has grown stronger and reached the first wire the tube is removed and can be used again.

Click image to enlarge:

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Spring Planting Lafond Vineyards

We are preparing and staking about 16 acres of new vines. The first image is of last years planting. The vines have been cut back to two buds and will remain in the protective growth tubes until they reach the first wire on the post.

We are leasing 37 acres from our immediate neighbor, the Burning Creek Ranch, to plant Pinot Noir. Since we plant dormant vines, vines grown in the nursery for one year, we will not be planting until Spring of 2009. Meanwhile, we are analyzing the soil to best determine the root stock the Pinot Noir will sit on. We have selected six Pinot Noir Clones, all but one that we already grow.

And, finally, the hard work involved in setting up a vineyard.

Click images to enlarge:

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Re-Planting

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 Chardonnay

Located in the western Santa Ynez Valley, the Santa Rita Hills AVA is an ideal environment for growing intensely flavored full-bodied Chardonnay.
The AVA is distinguished by the very cool and long growing season created by a convergence of unusual geography in this part of California. Our southerly latitude means that frost danger is usually behind us in February of most years.

This leads to early bud break, which can start the growing season as much as a month earlier than growing regions to our North. During the summer, heat rising from the Mojave Desert 90 miles inland and the eastern boundary of our unique east-west system of mountains and valleys draws in cold air from the Pacific Ocean 15 miles to our West.

This guarantees cool days and chilly nights during the long growing season of the nine-mile length of the Santa Rita Hills AVA.

A blend of four neighboring vineyards, the 2006 Chardonnay SRH is winemaker Bruce McGuire’s selection to showcase the ripe, concentrated Chardonnay for which the Santa Rita Hills is known. Bruce had each vineyard block picked as the fruit ripened about three weeks later than average to the late date of Nov. 5th.

This wine is a good choice to pair with many cows’ milk cheeses such as Brie or Camembert and, as a nice surprise; the fantastic washed-rind triple-creme Cow Girl Creamery Red Hawk. Richer foods such as roast chicken or whole, farm raised striped bass are also ideal pairings.

This bottling will reward aging through 2012 and promises to be quite showy through 2116.

Suggested retail price 22.00

To order:

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