Summer has finally shown itself in full force. While the June fog seeped into July this year, it looks like August will be filled with blue skies and sun. The time is ripe for barbeques, bike riding and wine tasting. Bring a picnic to the winery and sit outside, sipping Rose or Sauvignon Blanc. Visit the Farmers Market and fill your basket with peaches, pluots, Persian mulberries, and Early Girl Tomatoes.
It should be a beautiful weekend at the winery, come on by and taste through our current releases.
On a side note… bottling continued last week with 2009 Lafond Syrah SRH..
Santa Barbara Winery Chardonnay
Featured on Find the Best
Details:
Grape Type: Chardonnay
Wine Color: White
Regions Grown: Worldwide
Alternative Names: Aubaine, Beaunois, Gamay Blanc, Melon Blanc
Taste Description: Depends on where it is grown; semi-sweet or sour, heady or light
Associated Blends: blends with Albana, Catarratto, Cortese, Erbaluce, Favorita, Garganega, Grecanico, Incrocio Manzoni, Nuragus, Procanico, Ribolla Gialla, Verdeca, Vermentino and Viognier
Optimal Climate: Cooler climate
Optimal Soil: Chalk, Limestone
Click Here for Find the Best
As I have been gathering information for our wholesalers on the upcoming release of the 09 Santa Barbara Winery Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills, I again am reminded and proud of the pioneering efforts of our winemaker Bruce McGuire for Pinot Noir in Santa Barbara County. I sat down with Bruce yesterday to get a little bit more background on the history of Pinot Noir at Santa Barbara Winery and Lafond Vineyard. Our first Pinot Noir was planted at Lafond Vineyard in 1982, Martin Ray Clone. This was after Bruce came on board as winemaker in 1981 and forecasted that Pinot Noir would be an excellent varietal to plant in the cool western Santa Ynez Valley, what is now the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. 1986 marked the first vintage of production of Santa Barbara Winery Pinot Noir. One block remains at Lafond Vineyard of the original Martin Ray clone planting, it represents a portion of the 09 Pinot from 27 year old vines.
Look at what Pinot Noir has become today. It is the shining star of the Sta. Rita Hills, garnering press, accolades, and enthusiasm as a world class varietal terroir marriage. Aside from the Pinot we have planted at Lafond, we have additional 13 acres that we farm and manage across the road at Arita Hills Vineyard. Recently we leased an additional 37 acres from Burning Creek Ranch Vineyard, also a stone’s throw from Lafond on Santa Rosa Road. This was planted to 8 clones, further demonstrating our dedication to the Pinot Noir program, and will come online in 2011.
Joanie Hudson, Director of National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards
We lost an older tree, of undetermined lineage, at the vineyard and will be planting three new Alders to replace it. Alders are fast growing and since they will be planted in the lawn area will be well watered. Excess water probably killed the older tree which originally was not part of the lawn.
The Nursery tells us that Alders can grow 6 to 7 feet a year and although deciduous loose their leaves late in the year and leaf very early – a two month gap without foliage, usually December and January, an ideal shade tree under which to picnic and drink a glass Chardonnay on a warm summer day.
I just finished a great book on wine titled, Notes on a Cellar-Book. Written by George Saintsbury, the book was first published in 1920.
Since its first publication in 1920, George Saintsbury’s classic Notes on a Cellar-Book has remained one of the greatest tributes to drink and drinking in the literature of wine. A collection of tasting notes, menus, and robust opinions, the work is filled with anecdotes and recollections of wines and spirits consumed–from the heights of Romanee-Conti to the simple pleasures of beer, flip, and mum. Saintsbury “tried to be a (very minor) Ulysses, steering ever from the known to the unknown,” eager to sip everything that experience might offer. His thoughts on wine are set into a dense, rich mix of literary and historical allusions from the Bible through the English canon and on to topical issues of his own day. Wine historian and literary scholar Thomas Pinney brings this unique work alive for contemporary audiences by providing the keys to a full understand of Notes on a Cellar-Book. Reintroducing a book that inaugurated the modern tradition of wine writing, this edition includes explanatory endnotes, an essay on the book’s legacy, and additional articles on wine by Saintsbury.
A great read for those who love great wine and great literature…
Joanie Hudson, Director of National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards
It is a little late this year but finally we have veraison in the Pinot Noir. It came rather suddenly, less than a week ago there was no sign and now it is everywhere. This means two things; one the harvest will probably start in early September and two, we need to net the vines.
Netting will start in early August. This year we are experimenting with a new type of netting – one that covers only the fruit area as opposed to covering several rows at a time which makes access complicated. In addition, the new netting, instead of being removed at harvest, will be rolled and tied to the lower drip line wire and remain there until needed again.
It seems like a brilliant idea, greatly reducing labor, making access for sampling a lot easier and depriving our winged friends the opportunity of feasting on our grapes.
(Click image to enlarge)
(click image to enlarge)
Our Burning Creek block, 37 acres of Pinot Noir planted last year, is doing extremely well. This spring we cut the vine back to two buds, keeping it still in the growth tube. The first year the vine grows a root system, the second year the canes that will bear fruit in the third year.
The whole block has thrived. The vine in the photo has two canes extending well above the growth tube, these will be tied to the wire this coming winter and next spring the canes that grow from it will carry the fruit.
Recent Comments