The Award-Winning Wine:
Reason for Reviewing:
Santa Barbara Winery 2007 Reserve Chardonnay earned a Platinum Medal at the 2010 Monterey Wine Festival and a Double Gold Medal award from the 2010 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.
Noteworthy:
Santa Barbara Winery was the first winery in Santa Barbara County after prohibition. It would be more than ten years before a second winery opened; today, there are more than 100.
Winery Notes:
“…full-bodied and richly textured with complexity of flavor further enhanced by barrel fermentation. More than half of the fruit used was from vines aged 30 years and older.”
AlaWine Notes:
Santa Barbara Winery 2007 Reserve Chardonnay graces the glass as a medium straw-yellow color. Tropical and citrus aromas present to the nose. On the palate, rich flavors of passionfruit, apricot, and pineapple rush in in a smooth mouth, and sustain through a moderate acidity and buttery finish.
Bottom Line:
Santa Barbara Winery 2007 Reserve Chardonnay is a rich wine of some substance and substantial fruit. Smooth, flavorful, and fresh from start to finish. Both refreshing and satisfying. Suggested retail price is $22. Overall composite score: 95 points.



On January 8th, 2010, the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition concluded the annual week of judging at the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds in Sonoma County, California. Over five days, 63 professional wine experts within the media, restaurant and hospitality, education, winemaking and retail wine industries tasted and evaluated a world-record breaking 4,913 entries, a number that maintains the competition’s status as the largest competition of American wines in the world.
Joanie Hudson, Director of National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards
Located in the western Santa Ynez Valley, the Santa Rita Hills AVA is an ideal environment for growing intensely flavored full-bodied Chardonnay. This AVA is distinguished by a very cool and long growing season created by a convergence of unusual geography in this part of California.
Recent Comments