2016 Section Wines Bordeaux Blend Vogelzang Vineyard Happy Canyon 750 ml

From a dynamic young winemaker who treats winemaking as more art than science, the Section Wines Vozelgang Vineyard Bordeaux Blend is a masterpiece. Elegant yet powerful, it is a fusion of terroir and understated, intuitive winemaking. Italy may have once been home to the Renaissance, but this Bordeaux blend signals the rebirth of Santa Barbara's Happy Canyon subzone.

The 2016's generous display of aromatic complexity and palate concentration is the pinnacle of winemaker Marco Lucchesi’s lifelong dream—to craft truly spectacular, site-expressive wines. From Tuscany, through Napa, the Bordeaux Blend Vozelgang Vineyard speaks to the journey Marco took to land in Santa Barbara’s rolling Happy Canyon vineyards. Created with Italian tradition and new Californian innovation, this showcases the delicious potential of Bordeaux varieties grown in this warm, sunny part of Santa Barbara.

Growing up amidst the vineyards of Tuscany, Marco visited the most famous regions of Italy and Europe with his father as a child and worked with vines when he was just a teenager. He trained as a winemaker in Napa, working at Laird Family Estate, Trefethen, and Judd’s Hill. But something special connected with Marco when he landed in Santa Barbara County in 2014.

Here, he saw the opportunity to realize a lifelong dream of crafting beautiful, terroir-driven wines. With a philosophy of using low-intervention, Old World winemaking techniques to coax out the essence of each Santa Barbara vineyard site and vine into the finished wine, Section Wines was born.

“I dedicate a lot of time to the vineyards where, through detailed viticulture practices,” Lucchesi told us. “We try to achieve a balance between flavors and structure for each individual grape variety.”

The 2016 Section Wines Bordeaux Blend Vozelgang Vineyard is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot from Santa Barbara’s epicenter for Bordeaux grape varieties: Happy Canyon AVA. Located inland, Happy Canyon is one of the region’s warmer sub-zones, but cool ocean fog cools vines and creates sought-after, well-balanced Bordeaux varieties bursting with flavor and character. The rolling hills of the Vozelgang Vineyard were planted in 1998 and are farmed using sustainable practices.

Generous aromas of roses, spice, and tart fruit waft from the glass of this Bordeaux blend, enticing the senses immediately before greeting the palate with rich, chocolatey flavors and grippy tannins. It’s a study in contrasts, melding depth with lift, and it will only continue to unfold its complexity over time.