|
There are more than twenty one thousand vineyards in Santa Barbara Country and a lot of them are smaller, family owned properties. The Santa Barbara vineyards are carefully farmed by vineyard managers and owners and they are assessed by talented winemakers. On a map of California wine country, Santa Barbara is right in the south.
Santa Barbara Wines
Pinot Noir has been produced in Santa Barbara for many years although it is a difficult wine to make. This is a light to medium bodied red wine, which tastes of berries and sometimes of oak. Cabernet Sauvignon, which is deeper in color and bolder than Pinot Noir, is also produced here and aged in oak barrels.
Chianti, which is made from the Sangiovese grape, is made here, as is Syrah. Some Premium Syrah wines can be aged ten to fifteen years. Merlot is made in Santa Barbara and sometimes is blended with Cabernet grapes.
Chardonnay, which is the most popular white wine in the United States, is produced in Santa Barbara Country. Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio and both red and white Zinfandel comes from this wine making region too. A few Santa Barbara wineries produce Champagne using a blend of different grapes, often including Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, or Pinot Blanc.
History of Santa Barbara Wine Making
Grapevine cuttings from Mexico were planted in Santa Barbara in 1782 to produce sacramental wine for religious purposes. The Spanish rancheros also produced brandy for their own consumption. There were forty-five vineyards and seventeen wine makers in Santa Barbara by the late nineteenth century. In 1884, Justinian Caire brought vines from France, including Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zinfandel. Prohibition from 1918 until 1933 ground the wine making industry to a halt but when it was over, wine making took off again.
Santa Barbara County has a cooler climate than a lot of Californian wine country and also good soil, water and geology. The first modern vineyards in the second half of the twentieth century were planted in Sylvaner, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Sauvignon, and Chardonnay. Most of the fruit was exported.
In the early 1980s, there were only thirteen wineries in the Santa Barbara region and by the end of the 1980s this number had more than doubled. This was a time of experimentation and finding out, which grape varieties did best in certain areas. The Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria Valley received federally approved appellations and by the 1990s, it was just a case of fine-tuning the farming techniques, winemaking process, and vineyard care.
Santa Barbara Wineries Today
This region of California wine country is still evolving. Family owned wineries still predominate the area but there are new winemakers too. There are over a hundred wineries and more than twenty thousand acres of grapes planted, in nearly seventy grape varieties today.
The Santa Barbara wine industry was virtually non-existent in 1970 but is now a nine hundred million dollar business. Santa Barbara sets itself apart from other parts of wine country California by its spirited, enthusiastic wine making attitude. Innovation and quality control work side by side and Santa Barbara wines have won a range of medals in national and international contests.
Author: California Wine Guide Staff Writer
|
