For years, vintners have coveted a stretch of land in the western end of Santa Barbara's Santa Rita Hills AVA known to have the perfect microclimate, soils, and exposure to grow world-class Pinot Noir. In 1999, fulfilling a long-held dream of owner Bob Davids, this sought-after stretch of land became Sea Smoke Vineyard.

At Sea Smoke, we produce Pinot Noir grown exclusively on the south-facing hillsides of our estate vineyards. On summer evenings, the Santa Ynez River canyon funnels a cool maritime fog layer (sea "smoke") across our hillsides, slowing the ripening process and providing the extended maturation period essential to the development of top-quality Pinot Noir.

Our shallow clay soils are planted to French clones on vigor-reducing rootstocks, resulting in fewer grape clusters of intense flavor, and our artisinal approach to winemaking results in wines that are a reflection of the unique land on which they are grown.

Production Notes: Hand-harvested, clusters were sorted in the vineyard
and then gently destemmed following an evening in our cold room.
All ‘jack stems’ were removed on the sorting table. Musts were cold
soaked in open-top fermenters for five days, and then inoculated with
cultured yeasts to begin slow fermentation. Each tank was manually
punched down two times per day, with a total maceration time of fourteen to eighteen days. Upon completion of primary fermentation and
maceration, all free run wine was transferred to tank for settling and
then pressed at extremely low pressure (0.08 bars) to avoid extracting
bitterness. After settling overnight both free-run and press wines were
racked to barrels. Southing was bottled with no fining and no filtration.

Varietal: Pinot Noir

Region: Santa Rita Hills, California