The Santa Lucia Highlands AVA was established in the Central Coast region of California in 1992, and our Estate Vineyard located in the AVA is now 52 years old. Given the relative youthfulness of our AVA compared to old-world regions such as Burgundy, we are looking for ways to accelerate the pace of discovery to optimize our unique terroir. We feel like we’re still shooting at the target with a shotgun, while Burgundy, with their vast experience, is using a sniper rifle. Consequently, we developed our Winemaker Series of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to hit the ultimate quality target more often!
After spending 40+ years in the industry, I enlisted four of my winemaker friends to make separate lots of wine and do whatever they wanted in the vineyard and cellar. No limits and totally separate from our normal Estate winemaking team process. Once the wines are bottle-aged for six months, we assemble a tasting among all four winemakers and several sommeliers to evaluate the wines and candidly discuss what we learn from each other. From this process, we accelerate our pace of discovering ways to achieve our highest and best quality potential for the site and our Estate winemaking. The process requires each of us to check our egos at the door but provides a continuum of improvement and excitement!
