Archive for the 'Pinot Noir' Category

Pressing Pinot Noir Lafond Vineyards

Published on September 24, 2009 in Harvest and Pinot Noir. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

I took a day trip out to Lafond Winery yesterday to catch up with our winemaker, Bruce, and see how the red wine harvesting was progressing.  Little did I know I would find myself ten feet deep in a fermentor bin with a shovel and rubber boots halfway through the day.  I now longer need to ask myself how our production staff can be completely covered in all things grapes and water by the end of each Harvest day.

Pinot Noir is the first to come off of the vines, and we started harvesting it a couple of weeks ago (early September).  After the fruit comes off of the vines, it is crushed and subsequently fermented over an approximately two week period on the skins.  Depending on the size of the lot the fruit ferments in an appropriately sized vessel.  

Yesterday, we pressed the juices off of the skins that had finished fermentation inside of the stainless steel containers.  The free run juice is first extracted from the vessel and then it is a more laborious process to get the rest of the juice.  After the free run juice is pumped out, the bin is left full of the remaining grape skins.  We then shovel out those skins into bins, which are then taken out to the press.  For the skins that we cannot reach from just shoveling from the outside through a relatively small whole, I put on my gear and hopped into the bin.  Let me just say, after this experience, my respect for our production staff sky rocketed, my arms are exploding with soreness this morning.  But how fun!  Then we sprayed down the tanks and got them squeaky clean and took all of the bins full of skins to the delicate press, which extracts the remainder of the juice that needs to be gently separated.  

This was just one day, don’t ever let anybody tell you that winemaking is “easy.”  

If you are local or in the area, come visit the Lafond Winery and Santa Barbara Winery Tasting Rooms to experience Harvest first-hand.  

Joanie Hudson, Director National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards

Lafond Winery New Release

Published on April 13, 2009 in Lafond Winery, New Releases and Pinot Noir. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

2006 Pinot Noir Clone 115 from the Lafond Vineyards

Nestled in the Santa Rita Hills of the western Santa Ynez Valley, Lafond Vineyard is ideally situated to produce Pinot Noir exhibiting the unique and exotic flavor profile one finds in only a few regions of the world.

Specific areas within our vineyard exhibit elevated concentration and complexity due to soil and exposure to the elements. We have also planted eight distinct clones of Pinot Noir, each with subtle differences in flavor and aroma.

After several years of working with the eight Pinot Noir clones planted in Lafond Vineyard, Bruce has become very familiar with the attributes of each particular clone and uses them accordingly in each of the Pinot Noirs he makes.

Bruce felt that the vines were now old enough for small batches of individual clones to be bottled, thus showing off their character and the flavor profile each brings to the blending regimen. Clone 115 was grown across the river from its’ sister bottling, Clone Martin Ray.

The soils are different but, farming and vinification are identical. The comparison of these two clones from the same vintage gives one the winemaker’s view of a rather new element in winemaking as the availability of many Pinot Noir clones is a viticultural story less than twenty years old in North America.

The complexity and depth of flavor make this Pinot Noir a great match with savory foods such as lamb, Copper River salmon, and hearty mushroom dishes.

Suggested Retail: 45.00/750ml
To order:

Passport Pairings

Published on January 5, 2009 in Joanie Hudson, Pinot Noir and Restaurant News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

I am eagerly awaiting the first Wednesday of the month with our new Passport to the World of Wine series now in full swing.  Pinot Noir will be this coming Wednesday, giving tasters and visitors the opportunity to taste five different pinot noirs from around the world (this time being New Zealand, France, Oregon, and two from the Sta Rita Hills). 

The tasting menu that will pair alongside each of these wines demonstrates the versatility of the grape in terms of matching with a variety of different weights and flavors, particularly dependent upon style.  Sesame tuna on cucumber discs will be the starting point paired with the New Zealander from a winery called Wild Earth. 

Baked Camambert cheese on crostini drizzled with a nutty pear walnut dressing will be served with the French Burgundy. 

Mushroom and Bacon Tartlets will be paired with Oregon’s Willamette Valley Pinot.

Pulled Lamb Sliders will go alongside the Santa Barbara Winery and Lafond Pinots.

All of these wines are served at the Bistro, so it’s a nice way to get a sampling of their new wine list.

Passport to the World of Wine, Pierre Lafond Bistro

January 7, 2009

25.00 per person

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

New Release Lafond Winery

Published on December 24, 2008 in New Releases, Pinot Noir and Wine News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Lafond Winery SRH 2007 Pinot Noir

Rising in the middle of the western Santa Ynez Valley, the Santa Rita 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 bud break 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. 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 palate of flavor and texture from which to craft each Pinot Noir. In 2007, Bruce chose 8 clones from 18 vineyard lots (Lafond Vineyard and the nearby Arita Hills Vineyard) picked at ripeness over a four week period.

Vintage 2007 saw crop yields at 1.6 tons acre, about half of the avearge haul, with very good fruit concentration. Because of the very good quality, Bruce upgraded areas of the vineyard that are usually used for the supple Pinot Noir produced at sister winery Santa Barbara Winery for this bottling.

The intensity from this vintage will reward cellaring through 2016 with 2011 being a great year to begin enjoying this wine. 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.

Price: 27.50/750ml

To Order:

New Release Lafond Winery & Vineyards

Published on December 8, 2008 in Lafond Winery, Pinot Noir and Vineyard Designated Wines. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Vineyard Select
Lafond Winery Arita Hills Vineyards 2006 Pinot Noir

Nestled in the Santa Rita Hills of the western Santa Ynez Valley, and across Santa Rosa Road from our Lafond Vineyard, Arita Hills Vineyard is located in prime Pinot Noir country.

As we continue our relationship with Arita Hills Vineyard, Winemaker Bruce McGuire will seek out specific areas within this vineyard that exhibit elevated concentration and complexity due to soil, exposure and clonal selection.

The 2006 Pinot Noir was harvested from the upper slope of the vineyard in a section where the vines tend to produce small clusters and berries due to difficult growing conditions. Bruce blended two clones,115 and 667, a selection he felt made a full, lengthy wine.

This was a lower yield year than 2005 marked by a late harvest date (2.5 weeks later than 2005 and a month later than “normal”). These young vines still show more perfumed character than the more established vines in our vineyard, but we are seeing more complexity of flavor as the vines become established. In this wine’s youth, a little “air time” via decanting will help the flavors marry.

Bottle aging through 2013 will be beneficial. The complexity and depth of flavor make this Pinot Noir a great match with savory foods such as Copper River salmon, hearty mushroom dishes and stewed meats.
Suggested retail 48.00/750ml

To purchase:

A Trip to Napa Valley

Published on December 8, 2008 in Joanie Hudson and Pinot Noir. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

I just returned from a long weekend spent up north in Napa Valley, and while I wish I was waking up for one more day up there, Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara Winery are not bad places to come home to.  Being my first trip to Napa, trying to choose my winery visits so as not to be overwhelmed in my two full days was like making a Christmas list when you just don’t know when to cross things off.  But, sometimes you just have to put your foot down and decide.  I have that same problem even down here in Santa Barbara, I want to hit up my favorite places, but always want to try new things.  I try to hit the balance of those two poles.

While I have heard stories of Napa becoming very corporate, huge, and overwhelming, I found that every visit was extremely engaging and intimate.  I took an Insignia blending seminar at Joseph Phelps (sign up with Michael Cawelti who was knowledgeable and very friendly), went on tours, and took a book full of scribbled notes.  I also have officially exceeded the storage capacity of my closet (anybody else have the problem where they just start sticking bottles wherever they may fit?).  I have the dangerous wine bug where buying wine has become just as exciting as actually opening and drinking the bottle.  I heard comparisons to baseball card collections as a kid.  There is just something about opening that case box at the end of the day, unloading, and admiring your purchases.  

I use a great online service to keep track of my wine called Cellar Tracker and the whole drive home all I could think about was how excited I was to lay everything out, decide what gets sent to the storage facility, and enter each bottle one by one into my online cellar.  This website is a nice way to not only easily access the bottles that you own, but also sets drinking windows for each wine.  So I can log into my account, open my cellar, and browse through to see not only everything that I have, but also which wines I should put priority on drinking.  Some wines should be drank right away, some need a couple of years, and some are built to be put away for a decade.  In other words this service helps me keep track of my wine’s lifespan.  

The drive from Santa Barbara took about 7 hours with one stop in Paso Robles to visit Turley Cellars (Assistant Winemaker Ryan’s Mom works here – ask for Joella).  I passed the massive Schied Vineyards up in Monterey County, where we source our juicy 2007  Color Label Pinot Noir from.  When I finally made it home last night, pulling off of the freeway I noticed fireworks over the Harbor, why the fireworks in December I thought.  Most importantly, why is my street (which is only a couple of blocks from the Harbor), filled with cars that will keep me from easily unloading my wine!?

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

New Release 2007 Santa Barbara Winery Pinot Noir

Published on October 21, 2008 in New Releases, Pinot Noir and Wine News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Santa Rita Hills 2007 Pinot Noir
Santa Barbara Winery

The 2007 Pinot Noir was grown in our Lafond Vineyard and the Arita Hills Vineyard located in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. The cool climate in this area is the result of a geographical anomaly and proximity to the cold California Current that flows down the coast of northern and central California.

The Santa Rita Hills are at the western terminus of Southern California’s Transverse Ranges, the only major east-west mountain range in North America. During the growing season, hot inland temperatures draw in cold ocean air through our valley making the western part of the valley the coldest region.

Temperatures warm as one travels eastward through the Santa Ynez Valley. We often see bud break in our vines in the third week of February, a happenstance that is not as worrisome as in Northern climes because we rarely get a late frost.

This jump-start in vine growth sets up a long growing season with the harvest of Pinot Noir usually occurring in September. As we feared, a late frost affected much of the Pinot Noir to the tune of 1.6 ton/acre (about half of normal). Fortunately, the berries were small and the growing season was moderate leading to a wine of greater concentration than normal.

Vintage 2007 is from 10 vineyard sites up to 18 years old and from eight different Pinot Noir clones. The wine was aged in an assortment of French and Hungarian oak barrels and puncheons. Herbed meats, grilled salmon, truffle pecorino, and sautéed mushroom medley are all exciting companions for the succulent, red fruit flavors of this Pinot Noir.

We are thinking the concentration of fruit will lead to greater agability of this wine, with 2014 seeing complete flavor development and perhaps full aged character out to 2019. Caution is warrented however, because this is the sort of vintage that can get dicey in ten years.

Retail: 25.00/750ml
To order:

Ryan Ralston on SRH Pinot

Published on October 8, 2008 in Joanie Hudson and Pinot Noir. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Assistant winemaker Ryan Ralston was the speaker at Spiritland Bistro’s Wine & Dine event on Monday evening. The second Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir-themed tasting and dinner in the past month was sold out just like the first, which took place on September 24. Ryan spoke about his past winemaker experience, the transition from his beginnings in Paso Robles, and SRH pinot characteristics. The dinner menu was full of classic pinot pairings from a mushroom tart to salmon and a delicious berry crumble.

One of the three cheeses paired with the stand up tasting course in the beginning of the meal was different from the last dinner, Cypress Grove Midnight Moon. This was definitely my favorite cheese of the night and its semi soft texture went really nicely with the pinots. Midnight Moon is a pasteurized 100% goat’s milk (Chevre) cheese (Chevre = goat in French) that is aged for at least 6 months. During the aging period, it develops a caramel nuttiness. This cheese is made by Cypress Grove Creamery up in Humboldt County and would be great served with Fig preserves or used in grilled cheese.

Spiritland’s next dinner is West Coast Cabernet on October 29.

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

Pinot Noir and Cheese Pairings

Published on September 26, 2008 in Joanie Hudson, Pinot Noir and Wine and Food Pairing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Another day, another wine dinner in Santa Barbara… Spiritland Bistro’s Wednesday Wine and Dine featured Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir as their designated varietal this week. If you have missed my previous postings about this event, each month a four course meal is paired with a designated varietal of which each guest brings their own bottle. Between each course an expert on the varietal speaks about its characteristics and food pairings.

Lafond was the most popular label of the night, I think there were about 7 bottles of Lafond brought in the mix of 35 wines. I brought two bottles: 2006 Lafond Martin Ray Clone Pinot Noir and 2007 Santa Barbara Winery Pinot Noir. These dinners provide an amazing opportunity to learn about specific areas of wine, particularly pairings of food and wine. It is great to be able to taste wines from the same appellation against each other and see why the wine works with the menu and cheeses.

Food was delicious – delicate mushroom tart to start followed by baked salmon and potatoes au gratin. Dessert was a delicious berry crumble. The stand up cheese course featured three cheeses that matched perfectly with the wine – Cabra al Romero, St. George, and Brie de Nangis. There is always an effort here to collect an assortment of diverse cheeses from around the world while still keeping their flavor profiles in line to complement the pairings.

Cabra al Romero is a pasteurized Spanish gourmet goat cheese from La Mancha. This is an area in central Spain where you can also find the famed Manchego cheese. It is coated with rosemary, which seeps through the outer walls to produce a fragrantly subtle herbal nose. This quality makes it a really nice match with pinot. Its texture is dense and firm with a slightly fruity finish.

St. George is a richly textured, semi-hard, full flavored cow’s milk cheese from Northern California. It is based on a Portuguese recipe, but retains a distinctly American spin. It has a depth of flavor that effortlessly works with pinot and is fantastic when melted in polenta.

Brie de Nangis (bree duh nahn-ZHEE) yields from France and is firmer in texture than its relative Brie de Meaux. It is milder than other Brie cheeses with a hint of earthiness. It is soft ripened (bloomy rind), which gives it a creamy and smooth texture.

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery