2017 Alma Rosa Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills California 750 ml

To write the foreword of Vines & Vision, his new book about Santa Barbara wine, Wine Enthusiast critic Matt Kettmann turned to vintner Rick Sanford. If you ask us, the honor could have gone to no other: Rick planted some of the first vines in Santa Barbara County, which means that every producer there—from cult Pinot house Sea Smoke to Wine Access-favorites Foxen and Dragonette—can thank him for their success. 

It only takes one sip of the 2017 Alma Rosa Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills to show that the living legend is still on top. Crafted on Rick’s watch by accomplished winemaker Nick de Luca—alumnus of Sonoma County icon Williams Selyem—Kettmann described the wine as “wondrous,” singling it out as an Editors’ Choice selection and awarding it 93 points. That score puts it alongside $80 Domaine Serene and $150 Alpha Omega. 

Pale lemon with a slight silver sheen, the 2017 bursts with aromas of freshly picked apples, Asian pear, and quince. It’s focused and lively, with a perfect balance of ripe fruit and bright acid, and finishes with a touch of saline minerality that gives away its Sta. Rita Hills roots. 

Sometime in the past 15 years—no doubt partly because of the movie Sideways—the world rushed in to Sta. Rita Hills. Seemingly overnight, the gorgeous coastal AVA set in Santa Barbara’s famous fog and sunshine joined the ranks of California’s most prized regions. Massive winery players from Sonoma and Napa headed south, paying top sums for land in the neighborhood that Rick Sanford’s Sanford & Benedict Vineyard put on the wine map. 

After selling his revered Sanford Winery, Rick founded Alma Rosa, using grapes from the organic Rancho el Jabalí Vineyard he planted in 1983. A very small-production wine, it’s been three vintages since we offered Rick’s Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay, and we’re thrilled to have it back.

Only 700 cases were made of the 2017 Chardonnay, which hails from vineyards located along Santa Rosa Road, in the southern portion of the Sta. Rita Hills. After harvest, the pristine grapes were fermented at elevated temperatures (to enhance mouthfeel and citrus aromatics) before spending 14 months on the lees in used French oak. Now, the wine offers the perfect balance of ripeness and energy that comes from Sta. Rita Hills’ “refrigerated sunshine.” It’s a “regionally indicative” bottling (in Enthusiast’s words) that stands with some of the best of the appellation, and well beyond.