A California Winery Blog

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
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