Rancho santa rosa
Located in Santa Barbara County’s Santa Rita Hills AVA, Rancho Santa Rosa represents one of the most ambitious hillside endeavors in the country. The historic 460 acre ranch was once part of the original Spanish land grant of the same name. Purchased in 1998 by William P. Foley II, the property boasts a magnificent 230 acre, south-facing hillside vineyard. With elevations that range in excess of 1000 feet above sea level, the property has a variety of soil types and exposures. It’s proximity to the Pacific Ocean creates an ideal cool-climate setting for the cultivation of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Summer temperatures are moderated by the continual onshore flow, lengthening the growing season and allowing a longer, steadier ripening period.

Rancho Santa Rosa Vineyard is farmed with painstaking care and attention usually associated with much smaller properties. Actually conceived as multiple micro-vineyards, it is divided into 59 unique blocks averaging less than four acres a piece. While this process of micro farming is unusual in this country, it is commonplace in the famed Cotes d’Or of Burgundy.

Winemaking notes
With the various blocks ripening on differing schedules, our Rancho Santa Rosa Chardonnay was hand-harvested throughout the month of October. Employing classical techniques, the grapes were brought to the winery for gentle whole-cluster pressing, with the resulting juice transferred to tank. Following a day of cold soaking the juice was inoculated with yeast and racked to small French oak barrels. The lees were stirred weekly, and the wine completed both primary and malolactic fermentations while in barrel. Ten months of barrel aging was followed by a light filtration and subsequent bottling. This wine has a lovely bouquet of tangerine, pink grapefruit, graham and a mineral note of struck stone. The wine is beautifully balanced, with creamy textures off-set with bright acidity.