Santa Barbara CountyCases In Distribution: 325The Tierra Alta Vineyard sits perched on a steep hillside above the quaint town of Los Olivos. This newer planting is in the heart of the Santa Ynez Valley’s “Ballard Canyon” growing area and it’s just a matter of time before this special site gets the same attention as its renowned neighbors - the Beckmen Purisima Mountain Vineyard, the Stolpman Vineyard, and the Jonata Vineyard. Our flagship wine comes from side-by-side blocks planted on the very top ridge of Tierra Alta – where the afternoon winds gets stronger and the limestone-infused soil gets thinner.
We set out to maximize complex aromatics and flavors in this wine, yet stay true to the vineyard. With this goal in mind, the 2006 Tierra Alta Vineyard Syrah is handcrafted every step of the way using two different clones of Syrah – ENTAV Clone 877 (80%) and UC Davis Clone 1 (20%) – and just a touch of Viognier (2%) to add elegance and lift to the finished wine. Our 2006 Tierra Alta Vineyard Syrah welcomes you in with a deep purple hue then offers rich notes of blackberry and dark cherries. This array of dark fruit is complemented by hints of mocha, spice, and just a touch of sweet tobacco smoke.
The fruit for our Tierra Alta Vineyard Syrah was handpicked just before dawn, then carefully sorted before it was laid down nice and cold in 1.5 ton open top fermenters. 80% of the fruit was de-stemmed, and 20% was left whole cluster. This entire picking, sorting, and destemming effort is finished by around 8:30 am (it’s great to work with a vineyard that’s just a few miles from the winery). Once the fruit is picked, it’s made in a “let the vineyard speak” style with as little manipulation as possible. After traditional foot pigeage for the first few days while the must is warming-up, fermentation kicked off and the cap was punched down 3-4 times a day throughout primary fermentation. The wine was then laid down without settling in a mix of French oak barrels where it completed natural malolactic fermentation. Only a touch of new oak (approx. 12%) was used in order to showcase the fruit and natural structure of the wine.
2006 “East Meets West”™ Syrah Santa Ynez Valley AVA,
Santa Barbara CountyCases In Distribution: 75The Santa Ynez Valley is one of the only coastal valleys in the world that runs East-to-West. This East/West corridor that stretches from the Pacific Coast near Lompoc up to the foothills surrounding Lake Cachuma creates one of the most diverse wine growing regions on the planet. Our "East meets West" Syrah is an AVA blend that celebrates this incredible diversity and tries to capture the best Santa Ynez Syrah has to offer. Warm climate richness and strength meets exotic cool climate aromatics and structure.
The “East” component (roughly 25%) comes from a block of Clone 1 Syrah in the Happy Canyon growing area in the far-eastern corner of the Santa Ynez Valley. Afternoon temperatures out here can be as much as 20 degrees higher than the western end of the Valley and allow our "East" component to express a bold flavor profile packed with dark fruits and a plush mouthfeel. The "West" portion of this blend (roughly 75%) comes from a block of Clone 1 Syrah planted in the heart of the Santa Rita Hills AVA. This growing area on the western edge of the Santa Ynez Valley is a true cool-climate region heavily influenced by coastal fog and bracing afternoon winds. Our "West" Vineyard was planted on a sandy knoll next to some of the Santa Rita Hills' pioneering sites such as the Melville, Babcock, and Clos Pepe Estates. The cool, long growing season at this end of the Valley allows our "West" Syrah to showcase healthy acidity and elegant cool climate aromatics. This “West” lot was picked almost three weeks after the “East” block, yet it is only a few miles away.
These two lots were made in our usual “let the vineyard speak” style and blended together to a create a wine that welcomes you in with a vibrant purple hue and aromatics laced with lavender, white pepper, and violets. These exotic aromatics are followed by a rush of classic blueberry, blackberry, and licorice notes. Only a touch of new oak (20%) was used in order to showcase the fruit and the feminine aromatics of the cool-climate Syrah that makes up the majority of the blend (1 of the 5 barrels was new).
2006 Silacci Vineyard Pinot Noir Central Coast AVACases In Distribution: 75The Silacci Vineyard sits on a south-east facing slope 14 miles from where the Santa Lucia Mountain Range opens into the Pacific Ocean. This beautiful stretch of the Central Coast near Monterrey Bay is home to the quaint town of Carmel, the dramatic coastline of Big Sur, and the iconic Pebble Beach Golf Links – it’s also home to world class Pinot Noir. For more than a decade, vineyards on eastern slope of the Santa Lucia Highlands such as Pisoni and Garys’ have produced some of the most expressive Pinot Noirs in the New World. The Silacci Vineyard is a newer planting in this growing area that follows in this rich tradition. Planted in 1999 under the guidance of Gary Pisoni, the Silacci Vineyard is starting to show its true potential and we are proud to offer this special wine from the 2006 vintage.
Our Silacci Vineyard Pinot Noir was gently handcrafted every step of the way using three different clones of Pinot Noir – Dijon clone 777, Dijon clone 667, and the “Pisoni” suitcase clone (it’s rumored that vintner Gary Pisoni “borrowed” vine these cuttings from the hallowed soil at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) in Burgundy, France).
Each of these clonal lots adds a different dimension to the final blend. Our Silacci Vineyard Pinot Noir welcomes you in with a deep ruby hue and aromas of ripe red fruit and baking spice. The clone 777 and 667 lots provide the backbone of this wine and add raspberry, strawberry, and sweet dark cherry notes. The Pisoni clone complements this foundation of rich fruit by lacing in notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, and roasted herbs. The wine was raised in a combination of new and seasoned French oak barrels and offers just a hint of vanilla and smoke to complement the ripe fruit and spice profile this wine offers.
2006 Santa Barbara County SyrahSanta Barbara County AVACases In Distribution: 125Just before the 2006 harvest got underway, a good friend approached us with an offer we just couldn’t refuse – he had a few extra tons of Syrah from one of Santa Barbara County’s most coveted Syrah vineyards. This vineyard is planted on a patch-work of steep hillsides just off Foxen Canyon Road (a growing area that’s home to the earliest plantings of Syrah in Santa Barbara County – circa 1978 – and that has established itself as a prime growing area ever since).
This Foxen Canyon component was blended with a small lot of Syrah from the warmer “Happy Canyon” growing area on the eastern end of the Santa Ynez Valley, as well as a small lot from the limestone-infused Ballard Canyon area.
The Foxen Canyon lot lays a foundation of rich blackberry and spice to this wine, while the Happy Canyon lot contributes an even darker fruit component (think blackberries dipped in chocolate) and hints of mocha and sweet tobacco. The Ballard Canyon component adds structure and elegance to final blend. We only had access to the fruit for this wine for the 2006 vintage so we hope you grab a few cases while there’s still some around.
We hope you enjoy.