Label: Whitcraft Winery
Vintage: 2021
Fruit: Pinot Noir
Region: Sta. Rita Hills, California, United States
ABV: 13%

uncertified organic

forest pulse / electric plum / butterfly effect

The La Rinconada vineyard was planted in 1997 and provides a vibrant, youthful contrast to it’s older uncle from Pence Ranch. Foot treading begins the process of carbonic maceration, in which the wine is blanketed with co2 to break down the cell walls and loosen the juice. But this is no lunch box fruit punch, oh no, it is deep with black plum, garden soil, and black tea. And maybe a teensy bit of Hawaiian Punch. Are we so bold to suggest it as a breakfast wine? Sure, why not.

Grapes come from La Rinconada vineyard, planted in 1997, adjacent to the famous Sanford & Benedict vineyard. Located at the heart of the Sta. Rita Hills, 10 miles inland from the Pacific with flint soils. The east-west orientation of the Santa Ynez Valley provides a pathway to the ocean allowing cool air to be drawn inland and this creates the perfect conditions for growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

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The Whitcraft Winery story is as wholesome and apple pie-American (in the good way) as a Beach Boy’s song. Chris and Kathleen Whitcraft started the winery in 198. As the host of a local wine radio show, they gradually gleaned tips and techniques from the best California winemakers, and now they have passed the farm on to their children Drake and Alyssa. Despite how gosh darned cute this all is, their website and branding is refreshingly straightforward and humble, while wine is all hot-dogging and grandstanding (in the good way.) Working with a few classic varietals (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Trousseau, Syrah and Grenache) with minimal intervention and regenerative viticulture, using electric power only when necessary, thier wines prove exactly what all the fuss is about when it comes to site specific terroir and the magic of California wine.

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Please note, all orders come with chips!