AU BON CLIMAT 2020 “Sanford & Benedict Vineyard” Chardonnay
Santa Barbara Historic Vineyard Collection
Santa Rita Hills, California
VINEYARD
Sanford & Benedict Vineyard was born out of necessity in the late 1960’s after Richard Sanford and Michael Benedict started talking seriously about getting back to the earth and starting a winery. The fine wine grape supply in the Central Coast was practically non-existent. It is one of the pioneering vineyards in what is now known as the Santa Rita Hills AVA. This vineyard has a high degree of calcified marine deposits in the soil, the vineyard orientation is a very cool northern-facing site at an elevation of about 600 feet, and the ocean breezes in what is now the Santa Rita Hills appellation (a sub-appellation of the Santa Ynez Valley) all combine for compelling terroir. The fruit for the Chardonnay (UCD 4 clone) comes from the oldest section of Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, planted in the early 70’s.
CELLAR
The Chardonnay was hand harvested, whole cluster pressed and put into barrel. We fermented in 75% new François Frères French oak barrels. The wine completed alcoholic and malo-lactic fermentation in the barrel, and remained surlies until the following August. After racking and a light fining, we put the wine back to barrel for another 5 months. Barrel age was a total of 18 months.
ABC – Sanford & Benedict Chard – Label
ABC – Sanford & Benedict Chard 2020 – Tech Sheet
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