Arguably the most crucial part of the 2008 vintage is over, the grapes are in and undergoing fermentation. Great wine is made in the vineyard, and this has everything to do with weather, grape quality, vineyard practices, and yields per acre. There is no way to disguise mediocre grapes with expensive technology or science no matter how hard a winemaker will try.
I like to compare this important fact about high quality wine to buying produce at the Farmer’s Market, or getting your fish straight from the harbor where it was caught fresh that day. You wonder why some restaurants are able to make the simplest salad so much better than what you make at home? Even though you think you are using the same ingredients? It is because of the olive oil they are using, the crisp fresh lettuce, fresh cracked black pepper, sea salt crystals. Compare this salad to one made from bagged grocery store lettuce, salt and pepper from shakers, and low grade olive oil. Same ingredients, extremely different product.
Back to the winemaking… so, while yields were low this harvest (meaning we received less grapes per acre than average), quality is extremely high. I get to witness the white winemaking process at Santa Barbara Winery (our reds are made up at the Lafond Vineyard). I have seen Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Orange Muscat brought down from the Santa Ynez Valley in picking bins on trucks for the past two months. I have tasted different stages of these wines fermenting in tank, noticing the sugars slowly turn to alcohol. Literally turning from pressed grape juice to the first stage of a wine’s life cycle after primary fermentation.
So where are we right now in the process? About two thirds of the wine is done with primary fermentation, the rest besides one lot is just about done. The one lot that is still actively fermenting is the Lafond Vineyard Riesling that we are going to do in a sweet wine style. Assistant Winemaker Ryan Ralston says in his 12 years of winemaking he has never had everything in barrel/tank before Thanksgiving.
Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery
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