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Current News & Tasting NotesWhitcraft Winery & Tasting Room
The 2007 harvest went very well, our second at the new winery at 36 S. Calle Cesar Chavez in Santa Barbara down by the beach. We had two Aussies, Luke and Ryan help along with Nick, Brian, Randy Jr. and Sr. while Drake was doing most of the decisions as I watched over his shoulder. It was pretty easy on me this year except for a disk that wanted to leave my body about two weeks before the last syrah, (that’s right!), was done. We are going to four releases a year so you’re not bludgeoned like last fall with six wines and allow us to consider a wine club. I’m still of two minds on that! Some say I don’t have one mind. They might be right. Three wines on this release and they are the old standbys. 2006 Melville Pinot Noir Bright red fruits, very French like with a nose that includes chocolate cherry truffle and a sense of place, soil even the air around the vineyard. Crisp flavors of raspberries, cherries and the ‘high’ spices typical of Santa Rita fruit. Extremely well balanced and possessing a long finish. A keeper. 2006 Bien Nacido Pinot Noir “Q Block” As usual, good red burgundy color. Oak, toast and crème caramel nose with hints of pepper tree, not corn, in the nose along with Bing cherries and a citrus like aroma that reminds me of Summa Vineyard. A full mouth feel, with good acidity and balance. The alcohol is down on all these wines, thankfully! All the good fruits help the finish last and last. 2006 Bien Nacido Pinot Noir “N Block” What a nose! Huge cherry/Dr. Pepper and cinnamon nose with all the spices one could hope for. A perfect amount of oak on the nose with favors in the mouth of strawberry and black cherry and baking spices. Dry but could be a desert! It reminds one of a young burgundy if I may be so bold. A wonderful finish that lasts forever which is one of my most important criteria’s in a wine. Some idiot once said that the Martini clone doesn’t make good red wine. This will make him eat his words. Orders for these wines will be shipped in late March or early April and they are very limited.
There are a few things I'd like to remind you of concerning the way and care we,(Drake and I), put into the wines. All of the reds and most of the whites are never fined, filtered or pumped and the smallest amount possible of sulfur is used. No other chemicals, other than natural yeast and, if necessary, natural acids are used. This requires a much larger effort than most other wineries are willing to do. We don't even use electricity unless absolutely required. This is to bring you the purest rendition of the fruit possible. Whitcraft wines are living things and go through different stages of life at different times. Decanting is recommended on wines older than five years. 2006 California Pinot Noir The wine is a blend of Bien Nacido Young Vines, Clone 115, Morning Dew Ranch and Melville Vineyards in descending parts and is our loss leader this year. Med. red color, bright cherry nose with a strong Burgundian and pinot nose. Creamy oaky finish with lots of complexity and promise. Years of improvement ahead but accessible now. 2006 Aubaine Vineyard I was at this vineyard on the 13th of August and the fruit looks great this year. Sadly on the 16th, 30 years after Elvis, Bob McHolland passed away at the age of 61. I wish he could have tasted this wine. Not as huge as last year but possessing the same flavor components as the 2005. Thick black cherries and cassis in the nose, and mouth dark red/purple color with great texture and body. Smooth and long finish and years of life ahead. I miss Bob but Sharon, his widow, is going to continue this great vineyard. 2006 Morning Dew Ranch This part continues the line of great wines from Burt Williams’s vineyard in Anderson Valley and he tells me the 2007 looks smaller but great and who would know better? This wine is a blend of all the clones we get and is a classic. Here’s Randy’s notes as they mirror everyone else’s,”Wow! Old world fruit! Nuances of rose, earth and cherry fruit. Very tight, slight nose of vanilla and coke. Wonderful mouth feel and texture. Burgundian complexity and delicacy.” Why I keep him around! He’s gota ‘purdy’ mouth. 2006 Morning Dew Ranch “FI” This part of the vineyard is planted to the Mariafeld or ‘23’ clone and was suggested to be planted by Burt’s, sadly, late son Fred who made some great wine from the clone elsewhere. It’s from both Germany and Switzerland and I think this is the first bottling of the clone by itself. I know that neither country is known for it’s pinots but here…ou lala! Might as well get a fourth country in there! Nose like an Assmanhousen but deeper, great depth of flavor, different pinot but almost food like in its complexity with a tannic component that insures a great future “FI” stands for Fred’s influence or F’ing Incredible! 2006 Morning Dew Ranch/Morningwood I took a page from my good friend Craig Jaffurs book and blended what we thought were the standout barrels regardless of clone with the idea of not taking anything from the other two and ended up with a wine that has 6 of 7 barrels that were new, hence the ‘Morningwood’ part of the name. (Heh, heh!) It has some of everything of the other wines in spades. As you can see, not much of it, great nose, great taste, great finish. Again the combination of all the other wines but bigger in all ways. It has ‘sonority’. (Look it up, you’ll like it.)Thanks for the idea Craig. Sorry no percentage buddy. 2006 Bien Nacido Chardonnay - SOLD OUT Almost an exact copy of the 2005 but with less alcohol and not as much burnt butter in the finish. We have ½ as much as last year but paid the same thus the price increase. Big and rich in the nose, mouth and finish. Great balance and color of lemon yellow, flavors of Crème Brule and apple. Don’t miss it if you like chardonnay, especially mine. 2005 Bien Nacido Pinot Noir This is the wine that should have been the Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir but it’s all Bien Nacido fruit so we’ve gone back to the old label. Wonderful berry fruit in the nose and mouth, sweet and lush on the tongue with a nice long finish, this wine is not to be missed. It is good now; we sampled people with it in the tasting room yesterday, and will be great for a long time. Our second vintage of this beautiful vineyard is very dark and tastes like blackberry jam! (And just about as thick!) It rolls around the mouth like jello it’s so rich. It’s also good now but will get better and better with time if you can stay away from it. Burt and Jan Williams vineyard is the jewel in the winery. It stands out because the fruit is so different than what we get from down here. High spices, clove and cinnamon abound with raspberries all around. Lower in alcohol than the other wines but with a fullness that only great vineyards have. 2005 ‘Q’ block Drake says it reminds him of the 2001, movie wine, and that’s high praise and I agree with him. Light red color compared to all the other ‘05s with a great burgundian nose with sweet fruit flavors and finish. 2005 ‘N’ block Always one of my favorites, big and spicy. Huge nose and color with all the berries and cherries you’ve come to expect from the Martini clone planted at Bien Nacido Vineyards. Wonderful finish too. 2005 Melville Vineyard I’m so glad I get these grapes! (Seven years) Santa Rita Hills is a great place to grow pinot and this year is great! It’s like the ’04 but even more elegant as each year seems to surpass the last. Opulent and very burgundian in the nose, mouth and anywhere else you care to put it! I’m very proud of these pinots and Drake has much to do with it. 2004 Lagrein I’m sorry that this is the last year but it’s not an easy sell because most have never tasted the intense black cherry fruit this delivers. There is very little of it and it’s like all the others. Nine years of doing it but no more. Sniff, maybe I’ll find something else…hint-hint. 2003 French Camp Lagrien 2002 French Camp Lagrein - SOLD OUT
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