What makes our growing region (AVA) unique?
Lafond Vineyard is planted in the acclaimed Sta. Rita Hills AVA (American Viticultural Area). In 2001, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) approved this designated area as its own unique appellation within the larger Santa Ynez AVA. Today there are three federally approved appellations in Santa Barbara County – Sta. Rita Hills, Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Maria Valley.
AVA designations are put in place to provide consumers with clear information in regards to the area that the wine was grown. Climatic and geographical influences are considered as well as slope and soil type. These factors are all very important components that influence the wine. The appeal to create a distinct AVA for the Sta. Rita Hills was put in place for these reasons – the distinct geological uniqueness of the area, combination of slope, climate (maritime), soil (sandy alluvial), and a desire to distinguish the western edge of Santa Ynez.
Our winemaker Bruce has said that it is not uncommon for temperature to drop one degree per mile as you drive closer to the ocean. Our vineyard is flanked by two east-west mountain ranges (Purisima Hills in the north and Santa Rosa Hills in the south) that funnel cool morning fog into the valley, thereby extending our growing season and creating wines of intense concentration and excellent acidity. Burgundian varietals, such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, flourish in this climate.
Syrah plantings in the region have a pronouced white pepper and lavendar aromatic profile compared to Syrah planted in the warmer inland area. It is a demonstration of two styles of Syrah both coming out of Santa Barbara County, and appellation labelling helps customers differentiate between the type of Syrah they are tasting or purchasing.
The Sta. Rita Hills AVA stretches roughly from Buellton on the east to Lompoc on the west. The unusual occurence of east-west rolling hills on the north and south are the other borders.
Lafond Vineyard was one of the first vineyards planted in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA in 1972.
Joanie Hudson, Director National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards
I’m sure you have all heard the saying that great wines happen in the vineyard. The way a vineyard is farmed is ultimately one of the most, if not the most, important contributing factor to producing wow-worthy wines. I have recently been reading a lot about the impact of “stressing” the vines to get the most complex and flavorful fruit. For example, placing your vines on a steep hillside, where they have to fight to flower, creates more intensity. Inhibiting dramatic growth and high yields leads to better wines.
Here is an excerpt from an article on “Stressed-Out Vines” in Business Week:
Location, location, location.
And I bet you thought that well-worn phrase referred to the world of real estate.
Well, perhaps it does, but it also applies, with equal veracity, to the world of wine, specifically to the location of the vineyard from which a particular wine comes.
Most of Napa Valley’s pioneers planted their vineyards on the valley floor, where the soil was fertile, the land easy to work, and yields high. However, while these are conditions than can produce good wine, they rarely result in the best wine.
By contrast, all over the world, you often find this wine, the very best wine, wine with what I call the WOW! factor, that ability to amaze as well as please, comes not from the flat easy plains but the more challenging hill- or mountainside elevations.
Restrained Power
Poorer, rocky soil, lower temperatures—especially cooler nighttime temperatures—longer growing seasons and lower yields all lead to wines with those elusive, hard-to-define quality that mark great wine. Call it complexity, if you like—wines with that mysterious sense of restrained power, of depth and wonder.
Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery
These are photos taken last Saturday March 7. The Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are beginning to bud – just barely. The cover crop has grown, in spite of the very low rainfall, and needs to be cut. In some areas, where it is very sandy, it is cut and left to keep the soil in place, in others it will be cut and disked and turned into the soil so that it does not harbor harmful insects. The rows are narrow – 6 feet, the tractor 4 feet and the ground is uneven. The driver in the photo is Enrique, our foreman. The last photo is a view form our upper vineyard looking south. The Lafond Winery is accross the river at the foot of the mountains.
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