Santa Barbara County

Many of you will be already familiar with the style of the Lafond wines since they share many of the same vineyards, barrels and winemaker with the Santa Barbara Winery. Indeed, the Santa Barbara and Lafond whites are produced in the Santa Barbara Winery while the reds for both properties are produced at the Lafond Winery just outside of Buelton (anyone seen Sideways...). From the early 1960s when the Santa Barbara Winery was established, Canadian born owner Pierre Lafond's goal was to open a second winery that bore his name and reflected more specifically the rich and varied terroir of the Santa Rita Hills appellation (SRH). At the end of the 1990's he was able to realize his dream with the release of the first wines under the Lafond Winery name. Lafond wines are made in small parcels - single vineyards lots of 350 cases and slightly larger quantities of approximately 1,000 cases from fruit harvested exclusively from vineyards in the Santa Rita Hills, designated SRH.

Lafond Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2009 Rising in the middle of the western Santa Ynez Valley, the Santa Rita Hills (SRH) are the distinguishing feature of the AVA, home of Lafond Vineyard and a wonderful area to grow Pinot Noir. The long, very cool growing season of this area is exemplified by February bud break and September harvest, a long period for vine physiology. This long growing season is what imparts the complexity of flavour and fruit intensity to the Pinot Noir. A tremendous amount of effort has gone into fine tuning the vineyard to coax this fickle grape into producing the exotic, elusive flavours only pampered Pinot Noir will reveal. Bruce McGuire chooses very specific sites in the vineyard for each of his Pinot Noir selections. Several different Pinot Noir clones, some planted as early as 1983, add to the palette of flavour and texture from which to craft each Pinot Noir. In 2009, Bruce chose 8 clones from 15 vineyard lots (Lafond Vineyard and the nearby Arita Hills Vineyard) picked at ripeness over a four week period. Frost damage affected yields from Lafond Vineyard, which produced only .7 tons/acre (about a quarter of average), leading to tremendous dark berry fruit concentration. The intensity from this vintage will reward cellaring through 2017, with 2011 being a great year to begin enjoying this wine. The complexity of flavour found in Pinot Noir from Lafond Winery is a wonderful match with savoury foods and a classic with grilled salmon or mushrooms.

Visit Lafond Winery.

All wines are available by the unmixed case to Licensees and Private Consumers, subject to availability.

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