SPRING 2004
Despite the fact that we are
a tiny winery, you may have noticed that we produce quite a few different
wines. And while it can be argued that blending various batches of
wine can improve quality, I have obviously chosen another path. The
wine world is full of big rich harmonious wines that, to me are utterly
boring and have no sense of place. I like wines from a particular
spot
I like their quirkiness and distinctiveness.
What drives me is terroir (I'm
not talking George W. Bush or Osama). Others have defined the word
elegantly, but simply put, terroir is the distinctiveness that a wine
from a particular spot possesses. The combination of the local climate,
the micro-climate of the spot, the soil and how it affects vine growth,
the exposure of the site..really everything that has a consequence
on vine growth can be called terroir. My first experience of the effect
of terroir was when I made pinot noir from two vineyards literally
planted across the street from each other, and, despite identical
winemaking, produced two totally different wines. I have been hooked
ever since, trying to understand the subtle differences between vineyard
sites and their influence on wine quality.
The most difficult question
pertaining to terroir is what influences the vine (and therefore the
wine) the most. The French tend to see the soil as the great definer
of terroir. If you are in a particular area, and the climate, microclimate,
and exposure are all the same, I can understand the logic that only
soil is left to explain vinous differences between seemingly identical
vineyard sites. Somehow it is different in California. Here, we didn't
have monks who spent a thousand years figuring out just the right
spots for vines; the climate is so benign we are not limited to just
a few spots that can ripen grapes.
The most exciting wines I drink
are planted in places where there is barely enough heat to ripen the
grapes by the end of the season. So, I see the general climate as
the paramount influence on the quality of a site. It is the one thing
that can override all other influences on a vine. For example, one
can choose an otherwise lousy site in a cool climate for the finicky
variety pinot noir, and make a much better wine than you could from
the best site imaginable in a warmer area. Why? The ripening process
is profoundly altered in cool climates: the grapes hang out on the
vine longer in order to ripen, and cooler climates affect the way
vines grow, restraining their vigor. And because the weather is cool,
the natural acidity of the grapes, as well as their delicate aromatics,
is preserved.
The valleys of Santa Barbara
County are unique in that because they lie east-west, there are no
mountains between them and the ocean. So, although we are rather far
south, the western portions of these valleys (Santa Maria, Los Alamos,
Lompoc) are quite a bit cooler than most of Northern California's
cool climate districts. And because we are south, we almost always
escape early fall rains. Thus, this is a perfect area for growing
grapes in a cool climate. We feature four wines from the cooler districts
of Santa Barbara County in this newsletter that we are particularly
proud of.