By: Simon Roberts
Friday was a good day, a trip down South on the 101 from San Francisco had Greg and I visiting the interesting little town of Lompoc, California. We headed down the coast to visit Rajat Parr at his winery nestled behind the Santa Rita hills. Raj has been making some very impressive wines at Sandhi and Domaine De La Cote in recent vintages so it was great to taste the 2013 out of barrel, get a smell of the 2014 vintage and also taste a few others around the table with Raj and winemaking team over lunch.
The winery was a hive of activity upon arrival as they were nearing the end of harvest. The warehouse was full of trays loaded with just picked grapes, vats and a working Press. Raj was manning the grill and making lunch for his team when we turned up. He graciously downed tools and showed us around the concrete vats where the wine was sectioned into vineyard designate vats that had been fermenting for the past week. The crop looked to be plentiful for the 2014 vintage, with Raj commenting on how good the fruit was, it looks like they have two great vintages in a row.
We headed off and tasted the 2013 vintage out of barrel, Raj was liking how the 2013 vintage was tasting and Greg and I were in full agreement.
Both Pinots from Domaine De La Cote were really expressive. The 2013 Domaine De La Cote Bloom’s Field was well balanced out of barrel showing great structure and ripe fruit. I think this wine is coming together beautifully and will be rocking by the the time it hits the bottle. We also tasted the 2013 Domaine De La Cote Santa Rita Hills Pinot from barrel and again the balance was spot on, with a prominent cherry nuance on the nose, and savory notes and light spice on the palate. Finally we tasted the 2013 Sandhi Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir which was more powerful for me than the Cote wines. The balance of fruit and acidity in the wine was again impressive and judging by these barrel samples, 2013 will be a great year for the winery.
At lunch we sat with Raj’s team and his lovely fiance Jessica. We were waited on by Juliette, the delightful six year old daughter of Winemaker Sashi Moorman, Sashi also sat down with us after the last vat was filled. We tasted some local wines from Jim Clendenon, Lutum and Talley Vineyards East Rincon, all from the 2012 vintage. It was interesting to see the team discuss the vineyards and wines from around the area. We also tasted a 2011 Sandhi Encantada Pinot Noir that was drinking very well. It is always interesting to see what a couple of years in bottle do to the wines and this Pinot grew in the glass as we tasted. It was one I kept going back to throughout the lunch and one I will be tracking down if there are any left!
After lunch Raj took us up to the Domaine De La Cote Vineyards. Standing at the top the vineyard and looking down over the valley in the afternoon sun had me wondering how you just pick a slope and plant a vineyard on it. I asked Raj the question and he told me Sashi was driving along the road one day and thought that the slope where we stood might work. 6 years later the vineyard is vibrant with closely planted vines and producing some really well balanced wines. I guess sometimes you have to have courage in your convictions!
This was a cool visit and this will definitely be a project that we will be supporting at Graileys.