Don's Gillette's Wine Blog
Musings from our store's resident wine guru
Don has over thirty years experience in the wine industry. For the last eighteen years his attention has been focused on the growing local industry. Don has a large following of customers who search out his opinions (never in short supply!) on new releases and on what's currently most distinctive on our shelves. Others seek his insights on wineries and trends that are still under the radar. Read Don's full bio...
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Pinot Noir: Regional Character as the Winemaker's Canvas...part five
The segmenting of the Santa Ynez Valley appellation and formal establishment of its Santa Rita Hills sub-appellation (aka Sta. Rita Hills) near the northern Santa Barbara coast was a tipping point for local viticulture. Most area wineries, prone in the past to blend valuable coastal grapes with cheaper inland fruit, began to either offer their SRH juice separately or to completely stop producing fruit outside the new area.
Wine drinkers were quick to embrace the new and better wines which began to appear and proved willing to pay a premium for the SRH labeled product. What they were getting for their dollars, or hoped to get, was accurate and focused varietal aroma, flavor, intensity and length. All those characteristics had been found, if sporadically, in Pinots associated with the western end of Santa Ynez. The flavor profiles were diverse, some reflecting red fruit orientation, some black fruit, and some showing intense minerality.
SRH wine makers were successful early on in providing the virtues listed above, but less so in eliminating the vices that often attended them. High alcohol, coarseness of texture and a sometimes ridiculously grand sense of scale marred many wines, even those of the vintners most committed to improvement. These were wines of richness, versus elegance, rather than richness with elegance.
Coastal fog and wind give the SRH an extremely long, cool growing season, and significant rain rarely arrives before November. The grapes develop wonderful spice and varietal flavor, but carry a high level of natural acidity, which may not come into full balance before the fruit hits problematically high sugar levels. The result is higher alcohol and bigger body and frequently, the loss of Burgundian-style femininity.
Problems and solutions
Vintners from around the state were attracted by the possibilities SRH fruit offered, and new planting began in earnest to meet the demand. The tendency for alcoholic richness to blunt elegance was even more problematic with the "young vines" fruit that became, for a time, dominant.
A variety of approaches were adopted to deal with the issue or alternatively, to justify or embrace the wines that resulted. For a time it seemed that true Burgundian elegance might never be a part of the SRH profile. A quiet shift was in the works however and with the 2005 vintage, one of particular grace, progress was clearly evident.
In 2005 both Siduri and Loring (each previously dedicated to power and ripeness above all else) made obvious efforts to control their excesses; while others like Longoria, Roessler and Ken Brown made wines possessing both impressive richness and splendid elegance. Melville (in their Reserve line) and Brewer Clifton seem determined to mold power and elegance into especially cellar-worthy bottlings. I think their efforts will deliver great individuality and polish, given time.
As masculine and mineral-laced a vineyard as Clos Pepe, seemed a puppy in the hands of vintners Roessler and Brown in 2005, but it was not a fluke. The 2006 Siduri Clos Pepe captures the distinctive character and firm backbone of the property, without ever seeming less than classically balanced. Siduri's 2006 Clos Pepe is an example of what the combination of vintage; grower dedication; vine age; and the vintner's art can accomplish.
At this point one needs to keep an eye on everyone in the Santa Rita Hills, as everything is in flux. No single producer (local or out of town) is leading the way, but many appear to be on the right track. As the vines get ever-older things should get even more interesting. Stay tuned!