The Santa Barbara County Grenache is made up of fruit sourced from several top vineyard sites within Ballard Canyon, Santa Maria Valley and Santa Ynez Valley. The fruit is de-stemmed and fermented in 1.5-ton open top fermenters, where gentle punch downs are conducted 3-5 times daily to allow gradual extraction of color and tannin from the skins. A cool and long fermentation retains fruit aromatics and increases flavor concentration. A soft pressing yields a wine full of complex tannins before maturing in neutral French oak puncheons. The wine is then aged for 14 months in neutral 500-liter French oak puncheons.
