AND NOW LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, THE ENVELOPES, PLEASEGrapevine chronicles the twenty vintages in Santa Barbara County over the past two decades, and . . .
THE NUMBER ONE VINTAGE IS 1991
It was an unusually cool vintage according to Bob Lindquist, owner-winemaker at Qupe, where the wines he says "have better acidity and show more character and liveliness."
Jim Clendenen, the "mind behind" Au Bon Climat, has also called it a remarkable vintage along with 1986, 1998 and 1999 noting that the vintage was "cooler than even normal." (9.9)
The point scores are so close on the next three rankings.
THE NUMBER TWO VINTAGE IS 1998
Ken Brown, the founding winemaker of Byron, believes that the two best vintages of the past twenty years is a tie-1998 and 1999, although he concedes that perhaps the jury is still out on the last vintage of the century. And even at this early stage, veteran winemaker, Richard Sanford, tells me the 1998 vintage ranks number one for pinot noir in his estimation.
Across the board, Ken believes we had much better vintages in the 90s than the 80s and that the reason for this is primarily weather related. He told me that "we've had more consistent growing temperatures in the 90s."
He told me three additional factors make the 90s a better space in time than the 80s. First, he told me, "we understand canopy management better." Second, higher density vineyard planting based more on how they plant in Europe produces more intense fruit. Third, he noted, "we are planting new and better clones than what was available back in the 70s."
"Because vineyard technology and site selection has been so outstanding in the past ten years, it almost makes differences in vintages almost irrelevant-quality from new sites with the stunning wines being produced overshadows and vintage variability," vineyard consultant and owner of Coastal Vineyard Care Jeff Newton told me.
Bruce McGuire, winemaker at Santa Barbara Winery, added that both the 1998 and 1999 vintages were both cool, late and had long hang times.
Jeff Newton of Coastal Vineyard Care echoes this sentiment about the vintages as does Bob Lindquist of Qupe.
Inherent in these late vintages, though, there is a bit of a crap shoot involved. Mike Brown, veteran winemaker at Buttonwood Farm, told me that the 1998 and 1999 vintages were most difficult and that, in fact, 1999 could stack up among the worst because of the lateness of ripening. Basically, in his view the vintages are variable-the whites which ripened earlier are producing splendid wine, but the Bordeaux varietal red wines will perhaps suffer because of the coolness and long hang time. (9.7)
THE NUMBER THREE VINTAGE IS 1989
In terms of points, a vintage Jim Clendenen (who by the way, ranked this vintage number one) asserted produced exceptional wines. Jim added that for the rest of California, 1989 is regarded as a mediocre vintage because of the rain that fell during harvest in Napa and Sonoma. (9.6)
THE NUMBER FOUR VINTAGE IS 1999
In the words of Jeff Newton, this is a "standout" vintage. The concensus is strong. Ken Brown ranks it as a tie for number one with 1998 since 1980. Jim Clendenen and Bob Lindquist have called it remarkable because of the coolness, and Bruce McGuire has typified it as both cool and late with long hangtimes.
But Mike Brown points out the lateness and long hangtimes might be a negative, especially for some varietals that wouldn't ripen for love nor money. (9.0)
THE NUMBER FIVE VINTAGE IS 1994
A controversial vintage-a vintage Bob Lindquist of Qupe calls difficult, a vintage Ken Brown of Byron considers to be one of the worst, a vintage Bruce McGuire of Santa Barbara Winery calls very good, yet spotty because of the unwanted rains during harvest. A lot of fruit from vineyards in the Santa Maria area was destroyed, or the wines had to be bulked out and sold off because of the inferior quality. (8.7)
THE NUMBER SIX VINTAGE IS 1988
A vintage that was given first rank by pioneer winegrower Richard Sanford for white wines, "particularly for chardonnay, with stunning acids at harvest and wines of depth and great character." (8.5)
THE NUMBER SEVEN VINTAGE IS 1987
A vintage that for Lane Tanner was "incredible," and a vintage that veteran winemaker Rick Longoria has called the best of the two decades. (8.2)
THE NUMBER EIGHT VINTAGE IS 1986
Regarded as a remarkable year by Jim Clendenen, also liked a lot by Byron's Ken Brown and a vintage Lane Tanner says is one of her favorites of the two decades. Not only is the vintage one of Lane's favorites, but also one of her favorite wines she has ever made also comes from the vintage-her 1986 Sierra Madre Vineyard pinot noir- a wine "that has something so incredibly elegant and pleasing about it." (8.1)
THE NUMBER NINE VINTAGE IS 1990
A drought year which produced very concentrated pinot noirs as Rick Longoria recalls, and a vintage Bruce McGuire calls one of the great vintages across the board, along with 1989 and 1996. (8.0)
THE NUMBER TEN VINTAGE IS 1996
A vintage considered very good by Rick Longoria, and great by Bruce McGuire. (7.8)
THE NUMBER ELEVEN VINTAGE IS 1995
The most difficult vintage Jim Clendenen told me, where "frustration is implicit with such incredibly low yields." Lane Tanner and Chris Whitcraft would agree for this was the vintage of the mid 90s where pinot noir yields were off by some 70 percent because of shatter and poor berry set from cold and windy conditions in the spring.
Yet despite the frustrations inherent in the vintage, both Lane Tanner and Byron's Ken Brown have ranked it as the second best vintage of the two decades, and Santa Barbara Winery's Bruce McGuire told me 1995 has the potential for high quality wines, but also warned that despite the size, it was erratic. (7.5)
THE NUMBER TWELVE VINTAGE IS 1982
A vintage Qupe's Bob Lindquist recalls was a good vintage all around, and this appraisal is echoed by pioneer winemaker, Rick Longoria who was winemaker at J. Carey Cellars (now Foley Estates) at the time. (7.4)
THE NUMBER THIRTEEN VINTAGE IS 1981
1981, which, like 1982, was an even growing season with no heat spells. (7.3)
THE NUMBER FOURTEEN VINTAGE IS 1992
1992 overall, seems to be considered uneventful, a vintage that brought no raves or rantings from the winemakers with the perspective of some twenty years of winemaking in Santa Barbara County. (7.2)
THE NUMBER FIFTEEN VINTAGE IS 1993
A vintage Rick Longoria considers "just okay," but one that was Lane Tanner's top three picks for the two decade span. (7.0)
THE NUMBER SIXTEEN VINTAGE IS 1984
A nother unremarkable vintage, but I recall a pinot noir made by Bill Mosby of Vega Vineyards (now Mosby Winery) from Sierra Madre Vineyard fruit from this vintage that took a gold medal at the San diego International Wine Competition and a double gold at the San Francico Fair and Expo as reported in this column at the time. (6.8)
THE NUMBER SEVENTEEN VINTAGE IS 1985
A vintage that Ken Brown tells me was the second worst of the two decade time span, because it was too cold. Lane Tanner told me she considers this to be the worst vintage of her illustrious winemaking career in Santa Barbara County, although I recall how much I liked her pinot noir from Sierra Madre Vineyard for this year! (6.5)
THE NUMBER EIGHTEENTH VINTAGE IS 1980
A hot vintage producing wines of high alcohol, a vintage that Bob Lindquist who was working at Zaca Mesa at the time told me was "a tough year." (6.0)
THE NUMBER NINETEENTH VINTAGE IS 1997
A recent vintage which has produced some remarkable wines, but a vintage many local winemakers like Bruce McGuire and Lane Tanner call suspect. Bruce told me it was a big crop year and suspect in terms of concentration. Although Lane's wines for the vintage were stellar, she told me this was the second worst vintage of the two decades because of the crop size and berry size.
Although a contrast to the sparse 1995 vintage, Bob Lindquist told me that 1997, a bumper crop year, was difficult in the logistics of winemaking because everything was ripening at once and that he was crushing and pressing juice around the clock. (5.6)
NUMBER TWENTY WAS 1983
A disaster all around because of El Nino. Unlike the 1998 El Nino year, Bruce McGuire recalls it rained two and a half inches the second day of harvest and two more times after that. I asked him to tell me about the resulting wines and he told me you had to make wines from fruit whether it was ready to be picked or not. A lot of grapes had low sugars and unwanted botrytis, a mold know as noble rot" which can be a very desirable and sought-after attribute of dessert wines, but something very undesirable in dry table wines. For Ken Brown of Byron (Zaca Mesa at the time), Mike Brown of Buttonwood Farm (of Los Vineros at the time), Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat, Bob Lindquist of Qupe and Chris Whitcraft, 1983 was the worst vintage of the twenty years. Jim Clendenen called it "brutal"; vineyard consultant Jeff Newton called it "a nightmare"; Bob Lindquist called it the most difficult. Yet for Rick Longoria, he tells me it was excellent based on the success of this own pinot noir under his Longoria label and his sauvignon blanc produced at J. Carey Cellars.
Both pinot noir and sauvignon blanc are early ripening varietals, and Rick fortuitously got these wines picked before the hideous downpour of September, 1983. (4.9)
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY VINTAGE CHART 1980-1999
RANK VINTAGE SCORE 1 1991 9.9 2 1998 9.7 3 1989 9.6 4 1999 9.0 5 1994 8.7 6 1988 8.5 7 1984 6.8 8 1987 8.2 9 1990 8.0 10 1996 7.8 11 1995 7.5 12 1982 7.3 13 1991 7.2 14 1992 7.0 15 1993 6.8 16 1984 6.5 17 1985 6.5 18 1980 6.0 19 1997 5.6 20 1983 4.9
Bob Senn writes The Independent's monthly wine column, "Grapevine," lives in the Los Alamos Valley and owns the Los Olivos Wine & Spirits Emporium.
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