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I want to thank all of you who have inquired about the hiatus since the last issue. A family illness precluded publishing during that period. Everything is back to normal and I'll be catching up.

News

"Pinot Noir Grape's DNA is Uncorked"

"Italian scientists have cracked open the genetic makeup of pinot noir in a breakthrough that may lead to hardier vines and less expensive fine wines. The researchers, who published their finding in the Public Library of Science's online journal, said they had found more than 2 million genetic variants within the Pinot Noir grape, providing growers with a treasure-trove in the hunt for new strains. It may be possible to breed disease-resistant grapes without sacrificing taste, said lead author Riccardo Velasco."

Santa Barbara Food

Food
Around the town of Lompoc on the West side of the Santa Rita Hills AVA you see fields of flowers growing. Adding flowers to your food can make a wonderful difference both visually and in taste.

Santa Barbara County is also home to three early California Missions ~ Mission Santa Inés, La Purísima Concepción and Mission Santa Barbara. Dried Black Mission Figs were first cultivated in these California missions in the 18th century. I've combined the wonderful California Mission Figs and flowers to make a beautiful appetizer ~ recipe below.

Midway between the Mission Santa Barbara and La Purísima Concepción was the Mission Santa Inés. The native tribes in the Santa Inés (aka Ynez) were the Chumash. Today the Chumash have a beautiful resort located near the mission. At their Willows Restaurant I enjoyed the best salmon, served with a Pinot Noir Beurre Sauce.

Recipes
I make the following Fig Cake and serve it many ways. I usually serve it with Manchego Cheese. It's also great served on top of purchased paté with a few edible flowers sprinkled on top. I usually wrap some extra in plastic wrap, put in a muffin pan, to pop out and serve at any time.

Paté, Figs, and Flowers

Spanish Fig Cake
Adapted from a recipe by Terry N. Teplitzky, Chef/ Owner- Michael's Catering & Wild Thyme Deli
Serves 12-20

• 3 lb dried Figs (stems removed and cut in half)
• 1 bottle Pinot Noir wine
• 2 cups Orange Juice
• 2 Oranges (cut in pieces, seeds removed)
• 1 quart Water
• 1-1/4 cups Sugar
• 2 cups Whole blanched almonds (toasted in oven 5-8 minute)
• Sliced Manchego Cheese
• 9 inch cake pan lined with plastic wrap

Place figs in large pot; add wine, orange juice, water, sugar, and oranges. Bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer and cook until dry. Place figs in food processor and process until pureed. Place toasted almonds in lined cake pan. Press figs on top of almonds. Cover and wrap tightly.

Refrigerate overnight and up to one week or freeze for up to one month.

To Serve: Unmold on a platter; almond side up and surround with sliced manchego cheese and Carr's water biscuits if desired. I like to spread the figs and almonds directly on the cheese.

Note: Place 1/2 cup portions in muffin tins lined with plastic wrap and wrap plastic wrap over fig cake. Freeze.

Pinot Noir Butter Sauce
I've developed this sauce based on my remembrance of the sauce served with salmon at the Willows Restaurant in the Chumash Resort.

• 1/4 cup Blueberry, black cherry or black currant vinegar
• 1/4 cup Pinot Noir
• 1 Tbsp Shallots or green onions, very finely minced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp white pepper
• 12 ounces (3 sticks) chilled butter cut into 24 pieces
• to taste Salt & Pepper
• to taste Lemon juice

Boil the liquids, shallots or onions, and seasonings until they have reduced to about 1-1/2 tablespoons.

Remove saucepan from heat and immediately beat in 2 pieces of chilled butter using a wire whip. As the butter softens and creams in the liquid, beat in another piece. Then set the saucepan over very low heat and, beating constantly, continue adding successive pieces of butter as each previous piece has almost creamed into the sauce. The sauce will be thick, the consistency of a light hollandaise. Immediately remove from heat as soon as all the butter has been used. Beat in additional seasonings to taste.

Santa Barbara County Restaurants

Los Olivos Café & Wine Merchant

Petros Kafe at Fess Parker Wine Country Inn & Spa in Los Olivos. Set to open in May 2009, the Petros Kafe offers Mediterranean Cuisine.
http://www.fessparker.com/restaurant.htm

Sissy's Uptown Café

The Ballard Inn & Restaurant in Ballard. We enjoyed a lovely romantic dinner on the porch of the Inn. I remember the Summer Corn Soup with Dungeness Crab Tower and the Pan Seared Foie Gras with Crispy Shallot-Fig Wonton. I especially recommend Chef Budi Kazali's award winning French Asian cuisine. Besides the great food we enjoyed gracious service and a good wine list.
www.ballardinn.com

The Willows at the Chumash Resort in Santa Ynez. At this beautiful restaurant we enjoyed wonderful service and food. I recommend their salmon served with Pinot Noir Beurre Sauce. They also feature an exceptional wine list with many of the best local Pinot Noirs.
www.chumashcasino.com/dining/willows/

The Vineyard House in Santa Ynez. We enjoyed a lovely lunch in this downtown Santa Ynez restored Victorian. Their wine list offers a good selection of the wines of the area.
http://www.thevineyardhouse.com/

Sissy's Uptown Café in Lompoc. When exploring the Santa Rita Hills AVA we found Sissy's Uptown Café in Lompoc. This unpretentious café was truly a find. They have both great food and a great wine list featuring 300 local wines. They also feature 20 local wines by the glass. After your lunch explore their wine shop for hard to find local Pinot Noirs. You won't be disappointed in this local's favorite.
http://www.sissysuptowncafe.com/

Los Olivos Café & Wine Merchant If you saw Sideways this is where the hapless couples went to dinner. Don't let that stop you though. They feature California-Mediterranean cuisine.
http://www.losolivoscafe.com/

Mission Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara County Accommodations

Fess Parker Wine Country Inn & Spa. Beautifully decorated hotel in downtown Los Olivos with especially lovely rooms. Rates include a full American Breakfast.
http://www.fessparker.com/html/inn2.html

The Ballard Inn & Restaurant in Ballard. Lovely, gracious, and romantic hotel. No TV or phones in the rooms - but who needs them in this kind of environment. Be sure to have dinner here. Especially if you like your food with a slightly Asian twist.
www.ballardinn.com

The Willows at the Chumash Resort in Santa Ynez. This luxurious hotel is both elegant and surprisingly affordable. Home of the wonderful and elegant Willows Restaurant.
http://www.chumashcasino.com/

Taste & Purchase Wine

Below I've listed a few places to both taste and buy wine in Santa Barbara County.

Sissy's Uptown Café in Lompoc. Sissy's features 300 different local wines, including some very limited production and difficult to find bottles. They offer Wine Tastings from 11am to 3pm Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and from 11am to 5pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They have a range of premium Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir wines for $3 per taste. 112 South I Street, Lompoc.
http://sissysuptowncafe.com/

Los Olivos Café & Wine Merchant. Evening with the Winemaker Wednesdays. A favorite night out for Central Coast residents and visitors. Meet local wine producers and tease your palate with tastes of five selected wines with Chef Nat Ely's tempting hors d'oeuvres from 5:00-6:00 PM every Wednesday. No reservations are required. $15 per person. Check out the schedule on their website.
http://www.losolivoscafe.com/

Things To Do in Santa Barbara County

Santa Barbara County
Robert Parker declared that within the next decade, Santa Barbara's Wine Country will "rule America". The 2004 Oscar-winning film Sideways brought fame and attention to the Santa Barbara Wine Country as well as Pinot Noir. To download a self-guided tour map of the actual filming locations go to the website below. The website also lists a 101 things to do in Santa Barbara County.
www.santabarbaraca.com/wine-country/

Santa Rita Hills

Wine Festivals

Click Here for a complete list of Pinot Noir Wine Festivals. If you have a Pinot Noir festival you would like to add send a note to pat@pinotnoirs.com

Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir

Both the Santa Rita Hills and the Santa Maria Valley stand out as Pinot Noir producers in the Santa Barbara County area.

Santa Rita Hills AVA

Santa Rita Hills AVA - The US recognized the Santa Rita Hills as an official AVA (American Viticultural Area) in 2001. The AVA started out as the Santa Rita Hills but because the Santa Rita Winery in Chile protested they changed their name to Sta Rita Hills in a compromise.

Santa Rita Hills lies between Buellton (Hwy 101) and Lompoc (Hwy 1). Two East-West valleys connect the two cities - Santa Rosa Rd and Hwy 246 to make up the Santa Rita Hills.

Tasting in the Santa Rita Hills - A wonderful day of tasting can be had by taking Santa Rosa Road West from Solvang in the morning. Stopping at wineries such at Richard Sanford's Alma Rosa along the way. Have lunch at Sissy's Café in Lompoc. Stop at Fiddlehead Cellars Tasting Room in Lompoc. In the afternoon taste your way back to Solvang on Hwy 246.

Cool temperatures and marine fog make it ideal for premium Pinot Noir in this western Santa Ynez Valley location. Well-drained sandy loam rich in calcareous matter make up the soil. This soil promotes firm structure and pure fruit expression in the grapes. These grapes produce concentrated wine with dark berry/cherry character, and rich tannins.

The Santa Rita Hills demonstrates how Pinot Noir's dynamic character gets reflected in a specific site. A few of the vineyards to look for in the Santa Rita Hills AVA are:

Cargasacchi Vineyard - Located at the extreme west end of the Santa Rita Hills appellation where its proximity to the Pacific Ocean makes it one of California's coolest vineyards. Cargasacchi planted this 16-acre property in 1998. The soils consist of ancient sea floor sediments made up primarily of calcareous shale.

Clos Pepe Vineyard - This 28-acre, family-run estate, contains soils of low-nutrient sandy loam rich with calcium and calcareous shale. This soil naturally restricts yields to 1.0 ton per acre. These yields produce intensely flavored wines of blueberry and blackberry fruit.

Fe Ciega Vineyard - The Longoria Estate vineyard planted in 1998.

Fiddlestix - Located in the heart of the Santa Rita Hills, at mile marker 7.28 on Santa Rosa Road, Fiddlestix pulls together perfect Pinot Noir elements of soil and Region I climate. On the north side of a tight east-west running valley, fog hangs over the vines until mid-morning, the temperature barely rises above 75, and the coastal breeze blows through the Santa Rita Hills, ensuring cool grapes throughout a lengthy day of sunshine. The well-drained Gazos and Botella clay loam, loaded with chirt and Monterey shale, make up the soil.

Melville Vineyard - Fourteen different clones planted in this North/South facing vineyard.

Presidio Vineyard - Certified Organic and Biodynamic using sustainable farming techniques including composts and cover crops sown between the rows to create a healthy and more balanced soil, accentuating the fruit's desirable aromatics.

Rancho Santa Rosa Vineyard - Owned by Foley Estates Vineyard and Winery. Formerly a thoroughbred horse ranch, the property boasts steep, south facing hillsides and limestone soils.

Rio Vista Vineyard - Owned by the Thorne Family and planted in 1999 on the eastern border of the Santa Rita Hills. Planted primarily with clones 115, 667, and 777.

Sanford and Benedict Vineyard - Birthplace of the Santa Rita Hills appellation, this vineyard helped bring to light the great potential of the region. The original vines of the Mt. Eden clone of Pinot Noir planted in 1971 are still producing small quantities of outstanding fruit. Newer Pinot Noir plantings of top quality rootstocks and clones have been added in recent years to fully explore the range of Pinot Noir quality and ensure Sanford and Benedict's place as one of Santa Rita Hills premier vineyards.

Sea Smoke Vineyard - Perched on south-facing hillsides above the Santa Ynez River.

Santa Maria Valley AVA - Situated in a valley flanked by east-west mountain ranges, Santa Maria Valley also benefits from cool temperatures and coastal fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean. Soils, however, differ greatly from those in the Santa Rita Hills. With a higher sand content, Santa Maria Valley's soils promote lush, opulent wines, fusing complex cherry and spice characteristics. Some of the vineyards to look for in the Santa Maria Valley AVA are:

Bien Nacido Vineyard - Over 200 acres of Pinot Noir in 12 different clones. Grapes used by many wineries all over California.

Julia's Vineyard - Located in the coolest section of the family-owned Estate. Cambria grows Several clones of Pinot Noir including Pommard Clone 4, Swiss Clones 2A, 23 and Dijon Clones 115, 667, 777.

Rancho Ontiveros Vineyard - New vineyard in the south east portion of the Santa Maria Valley.

Two special Santa Barbara County Wineries
I chose Ken Brown Wines and Fiddlehead Cellars to write about in this newsletter. Both are devoted to Pinot Noir and the Santa Rita Hills.

Ken Brown of Ken Brown Wines

Ken Brown Wines
Ken Brown and his wife Deborah focus on very small lots of Pinot Noir from the finest vineyards of Santa Rita Hills. They produce their wines at their winery in Buellton - just east of Santa Rita Hills. Most lots consist of 250 cases or less. Ken started at Zaca Mesa Winery in 1977. He, Deborah and several partners founded Byron Vineyard in 1984. His first experience with Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir began in 1976 when he met Richard Sanford and Michael Benedict and tasted their Pinot Noir. In 1990 they sold Byron Winery to Robert Mondavi but he continued on as the wine maker. Under Mondavi he embarked on an extensive experimental vineyard program featuring various rootstocks, clones and planting densities as well as a state-of-the-art gravity winery.

In 2003, Ken and Deborah founded Ken Brown Wines, a venture in which he feels he can optimize the best sources of Pinot Noir with uncompromised winemaking. Deborah started her career in the wine business in 1973 at Simi Winery in Sonoma County. She works side by side with Ken, handling the business side of their small winery, including direct sales. Ken and Deborah have a daughter who attends college in New England. Ken Brown Wines open by appointment only. www.kenbrownwines.com

Kathy Joseph and I

Fiddlehead Cellars
Kathy Joseph established Fiddlehead Cellars in 1988 to make Pinot Noir. Now in her seventeenth vintage as "Head Fiddle", Kathy's silky, intense estate Pinot Noirs come from the western-most part of the cool Santa Rita Hills. Kathy also crafts Pinot Noir from Oregon's Willamette Valley.

Fiddlehead produces approximately 5,000 cases of wine each year.

She convinced a flower farmer "across the street" from the historic Sanford & Benedict Vineyard to accept her offer. She then carefully planned and developed the Fiddlestix Vineyard at mile marker 7.28 on Santa Rosa Road. Well-drained Gazos and Botella clay loam, loaded with chirt and Monterey shale make up the soil. She farms the vineyards with extreme care and attention - all sustainably, some organically and even some with a move toward biodynamic. Many winemakers use the wonderful Fiddlestix Vineyard fruit to make their wines.

There's always an event at Fiddlehead Quarters in infamous Wine Ghetto at the edge of the Santa Rita Hills winegrowing region. They are open for tasting Thursday - Sunday, 11am - 4pm or by appointment. Groups over six people must schedule an appointment in advance by calling (805) 742-0204 or e-mailing info@fiddleheadcellars.com. Or visit the web site www.fiddleheadcellars.com/

About my scores: I believe that no one gains by embarrassing someone or something, be it my husband, my children, someone’s wine, a co-worker, a subordinate, an enemy or a friend. I therefore, try to never criticize a person or a thing. I believe in keeping my life and surroundings positive. So, I rate all the wines I taste and then draw a cut-off line at 85 points. Who knows, maybe that wine that got an 84 was just having a bad day — why make it worse!

About Scoring: As I go around to Wine Events I hear a lot about Wine Scoring. At the “Women in Wine Seminar” many of the speakers (not all) seemed to feel that numerical scoring for wine was wrong — not the womanly way! They seemed to feel that some kind of “Wishy-Washy” system like good, bad, or ugly would be better. Having been formally educated as a mathematician I first like to see a numerical score. Second, I like to see a description where I can look for key words important to me such as Black Cherry, Dense, Earthy, etc. Third, I recommend to wine enthusiasts that they look for wine critics who like what they like and stick with them — it’s a three step formula for finding wines you’ll enjoy.

With that, here are my scores and descriptions for Pinot Noirs from the Santa Rita Hills and the Santa Maria Valley.

Wines

Patty's Pinot Closet lists all the wines reviewed in current and past newsletters. We've included a price taken from the winery website or other retail sources if possible. They are included for relative comparison only, your price may be different. All prices in this newsletter are in US dollars unless stated otherwise.

Glossary:
Aftertaste – Flavors and odors that linger in the mouth after wine is swallowed.
Racking – Pumping wine from one container to another to clarify it by leaving the sediment behind.

You can find more definitions in my wine glossary at www.pinotnoirs.com

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