Growing Conditions
Our Santa Barbara County Syrah site is a historic vineyard situated at 1400’ elevation against the San Rafael mountains of Santa Barbara County in well drained Chamise Shaly Loam soils and is known for consistently elegant Rhône varietals. Located above the summer fog layer on the valley floor, this Grenache vineyard expresses richness and deep color due to long, warm days and cooling nights during the growing season.
The Grenache hails from an up-and-coming vineyard just south of the town of Orcutt along the 101 highway. Sandy soils prevail here where the vineyard is tucked into gentle, rolling slopes. While seasonal marine layers occur almost daily through summer in the morning, late summer warms to allow slow fruit maturation.
The 2021 growing season was very typical where the early morning marine layers gave way to warm days and light breezes throughout the growing season. Some mid-summer heatwaves delayed growth a bit, but late-summer cooling resulted in a slight delay of harvest while we waited for acidity, pH and brix to balance creating mature flavors.
Bottling
February 2023
Winemaking
Hand-harvested clusters were sorted in the vineyard to assure only the highest quality would reach the winery where they are gently destemmed. After being destemmed, these lots were fermented in a four-ton stainless-steel open top fermenter for 20 days. After daily pump-overs (for color and tannin extraction) the tanks are tasted and analyzed for their tannin and structure to determine the length of extended maceration.
Aging
The lots were aged separately for 12 months, in 53% Twice Used French Oak, 47% Neutral French Oak. The lots were racked once during its cellar life, with the second to blend the lots together then barreled down in 55% New French Oak and 45% Twice Used French oak where the lots will rest for three months until the final racking, just prior to filtering and bottling.
