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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It’s pretty unbelievable that we are a full week into November. Harvest is coming to an end, and we are now getting ready for the holidays. Many of you will be entertaining friends and family and are probably starting to think about which wines will be best suited for your holiday meal. With the variety of flavors present in Thanksgiving dinner, you should look for versatility as well as intensity and complexity to stand up to the culinary competition. You want a wine with a solid acidic backbone to cut the rich flavors and aromas that uniquely present themselves on Thanksgiving Day.
In my opinion Pinot Noir is the most food friendly wine because of its complex red berry flavors and aromas, its mild tannins, moderate alcohol, and lengthy acidity. Its light to medium body and hints of subtle oakiness help make it “the little black dress” of wine and food pairing (as theatrically quoted by our Assistant Winemaker Ryan Ralston).
When choosing a white wine I would recommend a light and delicate Reisling. Its intrinsic acidity showcases and enhances the complex and slightly sweet flavors of turkey, cranberry sauce, root vegetables, sweet potatoes and yams. When choosing a Reisling note that its diversity comes from the range of sweetness (measured by residual sugar) of the varietal. Vegetables that are sweet or imply sweetness are a lovely pair with Reisling.
Another thing to keep in mind when entertaining is the temperature at which you serve your wines. White wines are best served chilled but not glacially cold. Red wines, especially those that are lighter to medium bodied, are best when served at a cool cellar temperature (60-65 degrees). Because of the slightly higher alcohol and acidity that our terroir provides, Pinots will benefit from being served at below room temperature. The higher acidity and freshness of our wines complement sweeter lighter flavored meats and pair well with a mass majority of anything served.
Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery
Pinot Noir is pressed just before fermentation is complete with residual sugar about 3 or 4 percent. At this stage the solids, the must, are treated very delicately and pumps are not used to prevent damaging the skins and releasing undesireable components.
This is a short video — from fermenting tank to wine press.
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A short video taken from the Tasting Room at Lafond Winery, a view shared by many visitors to the winery.
Workers first remove leaves and sometimes rocks and even the occasional shears before the grapes pass through the stemmer. From there they pass over a vibrating screen which allows dried and shot berries to fall through. After that, a longer sorting table where small stems, called jacks, are removed. And from there they are collected in a picking box amd loaded to the fermenter.
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New Release 2005 Arita Hills 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 countryAs 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 2005 Pinot Noir was harvested from the top of the vineyard in a section that “stressed” early and consequently was harvested before most of the vineyard.
This selection consisted of three clones: 29% 777 clone, 29% 115 clone and 43% 667 clone. 2005 was a terrific growing year and Pinot Noir yields were much improved comared to the previous three years This wine shows supple texture and flavor backed by firm acidity. 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 2010 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 Price: 42.00
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The weather is back to normal. The nights, however, are very cool and the grapes picked at night arrive at the winery below 50F.
Today we picked a new block of Pinot Noir, one that we planted three years ago. And, although young vines generally produce less fruit, this has been our most prolific Pinot Noir block this year. The reason, as it was explained to me by winemaker Bruce McGuire, is that young vines bud later and this block by budding later avoided the late February frost which damaged the older blocks.
This is almost the end of our Pinot Noir with one more day remaining, but it is not the end of harvest. We are still picking Chardonnay and Reisling with Grenache and Syrah yet to come. The last two are not quite ready. The Syrah tastes very good, but as Bruce points out, the seeds are still green and it will get better.
Today was the first real fall day — windy and cool with early morning frost on the ground. The images are of the Pinot Noir blocks most of which have been picked. We wil be picking more Pinot Noir tomorrow, Saturday, and in a few days we should have it all picked.
Other varieties, mostly Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, are also being picked at this time and unlike Pinot Noir the yield appears to be normal or only slightly down.
I think the images reflect the coolness.
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