Sea Smoke has 40ha of vines planted, all Pinot Noir except for a bit of Chardonnay that’s grown for other producers. Other vintners have felt the same attraction, among them Victor Gallegos, director of winemaking for Sea Smoke Cellars, owned by Bob Davids. Most California coastal valleys run north-south, with mountain ranges blocking the marine conditions Sanford found that the river canyon pulled fog into the otherwise warm valley, creating superb cool-climate growing conditions. What first delighted him about the area was its east-west running valley, split by the Santa Ynez River, which channels chilly Pacific Ocean breezes and fog into the area. Sanford sold his winery to the Terlato Wine Group in 2005, and started anew with Alma Rosa, also in Santa Rita Hills. Yet today Santa Rita Hills shows Californians again pushing the limits, yielding Pinots that have a keen richness, structure and acidity. In the Santa Rita Hills AVA of Santa Barbara County (labelled as ‘Sta Rita Hills’, to appease Chile’s Viña Santa Rita) Richard Sanford planted the Sanford and Benedict Vineyard in 1970, the first in this western part of the county. ‘It’s as exciting a region as any: the Pinots have the aromatic qualities of Carneros and the power of the true Sonoma Coast.’ ‘The Gap is a part of the Sonoma Coast that is just now being recognised,’ says Lynmar winemaker Hugh Chappelle. Azari Vineyards, Keller Estate, Pflendler Vineyards and Ridgeway Family Vineyards are also among the rising stars in the Petaluma Gap. Terra de Promissio also sells grapes to Kosta Browne, Lynmar and DuMOL. It’s an advantage over Burgundy, which must contend with rain and botrytis.’ ‘It doesn’t get above 27☌, and while the wind is not my friend, I like what it does to the grapes (in drying out moisture). ‘I like the balance of temperature and light here,’ Malbec says of the Petaluma Gap. Daily temperature swings of 20☌ and more are common, and there’s just enough sunlight to ripen small yields of tiny, intensely flavoured grapes. By late afternoon, the cool air returns, and by nightfall, the fog envelopes the vineyard again. The grapes come from Charles and Diana Karren’s Terra de Promissio Vineyard in the Gap, a west-to-east break in the coastal mountain range southeast of the Russian River Valley and northeast of Marin County, through which cool marine winds and fog blast their way across vineyards.ĭuring the growing season at Terra de Promissio, mornings are usually shrouded in fog, which burns off around noon. In the Petaluma Gap region of the Sonoma Coast appellation, Denis Malbec, a former Château Latour cellarmaster who consults in California with his wife, May-Britt, produces Pinot under the Notre Vin brand. We want to see all the differences between vineyards and vintages.’įlowers’ and Littorai’s Sonoma Coast Pinots are highly valued, as are the wines of Peay Vineyards, Joseph Phelps’ Freestone Vineyards, and Hartford Court’s Land’s Edge Vineyard Pinots, all just a salty marine whiff away from the Pacific. Alcohol obscures detail we’re ramping down on alcohol, so we can see the vineyard character in the wines. ‘Master Sommeliers tell us they want more delicacy in Pinot than they did five years ago. ‘There has been a huge acceptance of a more vineyard- and vintage-driven style,’ adds Dan Goldfield, winemaker/partner at Dutton Goldfield, which makes Pinots from the Russian River Valley, Green Valley, Sonoma Coast and at Mark Pasternak’s Devil’s Gulch Ranch in Marin County. ‘We’re finally planting grapes where vintage makes a difference.’ ‘It’s about going to the most dangerous places to grow grapevines, without going over the edge,’ says winemaker Greg La Follette, whose Tandem Wines brand sources fruit from, among other sites, the Sangiacomo family’s vineyard in the Petaluma Gap area of the Sonoma Coast. September releases 2022: full score tableĬalifornia Pinots made from the state’s most marginal growing sites – the ‘true’ Sonoma Coast the Petaluma Gap within the Sonoma Coast appellation Marin County and the Santa Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County and Anderson Valley in Mendocino County – deliver the same, expressing terroir, vintage and a finesse that California doesn’t get enough credit for.Rhône 2021 score table: top white wines.March releases on the Place de Bordeaux 2023.
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