These wines are extremely limited
There’s only so much to spare of these wines as most of their case production is allocated to the current or upcoming Wine Club, so be sure to act fast.

Cellar News & Notes

Another fantastic wet winter has the Santa Ynez Valley teaming with plant life; mountains are green, with the yellows and purples and oranges of the wildflowers, beginning to add to the grandeur. The grapevines are beginning to break bud in some of the earlier varieties, like Pinot Noir at Fiddlestix.

In the cellar we are working our way through the bottling of the 2022 wines, which are extremely promising, especially considering some of the challenges of the year. As they are bottled, we will be slowly releasing them to the Wine Club and the general public. Last month it was the 2022 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir, now we are moving to the 2022 single vineyard Sauvignon Blancs. You might recall from last year; the 2022 Happy Canyon Sauvignon Blanc was fabulous. Alas it sold out long ago, but it portended great things for the Single Vineyard wines, which were aged an additional 9 months on the lees in the finest mostly neutral French oak cooperage.

New Release – 2022 Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blancs

You all know Happy Canyon by now. The combination of fascinating soils (alluvial, clay loam, serpentine, river cobbles from old river beds, etc.) and a unique climate (warm days, cold nights) combine to make this one of the most ideal places in the world to grow Sauvignon Blanc. Our grape sources are truly at the pinnacle of Sauvignon Blanc quality, combining great sites with impeccable farming, and these are among the highest rated Sauvignon Blancs produced anywhere in the world.

2022 was framed by a dry winter, a March deluge of rain, and a cool windy spring that led to shatter and low yields. The vintage was then largely cool until August when sustained warmth led to a rapid ripening of the some of the lowest yielding Sauvignon Blanc in many years (akin to 2015 and 2017). Unlike those years, however, the cool vintage meant that acidities were still excellent when August warmed up, and the harvested pH’s were surprisingly excellent. With careful timing at harvest, we were able to quickly and efficiently bring in very high-quality fruit.

**Note. The Grassini and Vogelzang are wine club selections, and therefore, we can only let a small amount out today, as we must reserve the lion’s share for the club. Given their tiny production, we suggest acting fast, or better yet, joining the wine club to ensure access.

2022 Sauvignon Blanc, Grassini Family Vineyard ** Wine Club Wine, Fall 2024

Juve Buenrostro has been managing the excellent crew here, led by Manuel (Meno) Cardoza, which has been farming our sections for more than 10 years. At Juve’s direction, Meno and the team perform precise pruning and canopy management strategies just for us, eschewing the extra canes and other high production techniques often characteristic of other Sauvignon Blanc vineyards. We love these guys and gals!

In 2022, we had to be nimble due to the low yields and warming weather. The grapes were harvested quickly from August 19-24, with field sorting by the owners themselves. Yields were very low for Grassini, just about 3.25 tons per acre in our sections. As a result, we made only 225 cases of this wine.

The 2022 Grassini wine is comprised of selected lots, which were aged on the lees for 16 months in 100% French oak barrels (228L) and Cigars (300L), 10% of which were new. The wine shows its usual kaleidoscopic green fruited (kiwi, honeydew) and tropical (passion fruit, fresh coconut) and flavors, with nice lift from vibrant, yet round and lip-smacking acidity.

The 2022 Grassini has not been reviewed but the 2021 Grassini was rated 94 points by both Vinous and Jeb Dunnuck.

Extremely limited – Only 225 cases produced, most going to the wine club this Fall.

2022 Sauvignon Blanc, Vogelzang Vineyard ** Wine Club Wine, Winter 2025

Vogelzang continues its run of spectacular vintages. We have leased several acres here since 2009, and these wines have been some of our most highly sought after wines. Farming is by the acre, with specialized pruning, canopy management and irrigation strategies. As with Grassini, Juve Buenrostro runs the team at Vogelzang, and they provide truly excellent farming. Vines are now almost 25 years old, reducing yields and concentrating flavors.

In 2022, yields were extremely low, managing at most 2 tons per acre due to poor set and drought. Fortunately, we have more than 2.5 acres here and were able to just barely produce 250 cases. Choosing which lots went into the single vineyard wine was almost impossible as all the barrels were truly excellent.

Ultimately, we selected 100% French oak barrels of varying sizes (228L barriques, 300L “cigars”  and 320 L “Muid’ocs”). In total the new wood represented 28% of the blend.  The wine was aged for a total of 16 months on its lees before bottling.

The resulting wine shows classic Vogelzang character of powerful stone fruit, mango and pineapple aromas, with some floral and herb notes, followed by dramatic fruit flavors of great concentration and texture.

The 2022 Vogelzang has not yet been scored, but is a worthy successor to the 2021 version to which Jeb Dunnuck gave 96 points (among his highest scores for Sauvignon Blanc globally for the year).

Extremely Limited. Only 250 cases produced, with most going to the Wine Club in February 2025.

2022 Sauvignon Blanc, Grimm’s Bluff Vineyard

We do not like to say too much about Grimm’s Bluff. It is a small vineyard, producing very little fruit. But, it is such a remarkable site and produces such exquisite Sauvignon Blanc that we feel fortunate, even downright lucky to obtain fruit here. We love the farming team too, led by Rick Grimm and Garrett Gamache. Here it is all about quality. We have three separate blocks here (head trained clone 1, vertical shoot position (“VSP”) clone 1 and VSP musque clone). The small amounts of grapes we receive are specially handled, mostly in French oak “cigars” initially developed by Didier Dagueneau, a portion of which is new (light long toast). Here the wood frames the wine, stretching it and lengthening it so that the finish lasts minutes.

In 2022, yields were again, miniscule, only 1.4 tons per acre. The selection for this wine was 64% from the head trained section, and 36% VSP, and we aged wine for 16 months on its lees in 100% French oak, 37% of which was once used and 63% neutral. As is typical, this wine is tightly coiled, but massively concentrated and supremely long, lifted in the finish by powerful minerals from the clay and river rock soils, with spectacular round acidity. The wine gives the taster both excitement and contemplation, which we truly love in a wine.

No reviews yet, but the 2021 was rated 96 Points by Jeb Dunnuck.

This wine is extremely limited, only 140 cases were produced.