Racines, Santa Barbara County Chardonnay

Racines is a collaboration between Étienne de Montille of Domaine de Montille in Volnay and American-born winemaker Brian Sieve. A combination of world-famous vineyards and world-class winemaking makes this one of California’s most exciting, modern winemaking projects.

In 2016, Étienne and Brian spent months travelling across the Golden State in search of its finest vineyards. Their search criteria focussed on three things: access to exceptional vineyards, local expertise and land that was still available for planting. Santa Rita Hills stood out on all three counts, and they were also captivated by the soils here. As Brian puts it, “What fascinated us was the combination of diatomaceous earth, marine sediments, sands, chert, clay and pockets of limestone. Individually these soils are very different from Burgundy, but together they create wines with the same sort of chalky mineral tension that we love. They produce Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with precision, freshness and energy. That really resonated with us.”

Alongside their ten-hectare home vineyard, planted between 2018 and 2020 on land that had previously been used for livestock, they source fruit from a long-term lease of the ‘Wenzlau’ vineyard and work with growers in some of the region’s great sites including ‘Sanford & Benedict’, ‘La Rinconada’ and ‘Bentrock’ as well as the ‘La Mesa’ vineyard, which comprises part of Domaine de la Côte’s prized estate. In 2021, talented Australian winemaker Ryan Hannaford joined the team as the resident viticulturalist and on-site winemaker.

Racines makes five Chardonnays. The Santa Barbara County and Santa Rita Hills ‘Estate’ Chardonnays come from a blend of vineyard sites and are complemented by three single-vineyard wines: ‘Wenzlau’, ‘Bentrock’ and ‘Sanford & Benedict’. The Santa Barbara County Chardonnay is entirely unoaked, while the rest of the Chardonnays are fermented using indigenous yeasts in a combination of 500-litre puncheons, 350-litre barrels, and 228-litre barriques, with around 20% new oak on the finished wines. After a year in barrel, the wines are aged for an additional six months in stainless steel before bottling. They express a precise definition of their sites, each with a vibrant, detailed, and saline character.

The Pinot Noirs consist of the Santa Rita Hills ‘Estate’ Pinot Noir, the ‘Sainte Rose’ (a blend of the ‘Sanford & Benedict’, ‘La Rinconada’ and ‘Rancho La Viña’ vineyards – all of which are located along the Santa Rosa Road) and two single-vineyard wines: ‘Sanford & Benedict’ and ‘La Rinconada’. They are fermented with indigenous yeasts with a significant proportion of whole bunch in the ferment, which lends a lithe and nuanced charm to the wines.

The ‘Grand Reserve’ Sparkling is a Blanc de Blancs made from 100% Chardonnay. Produced using the traditional method, the 2018 vintage base also includes 15% reserve wine from the 2017 harvest. Sourced from ‘Wenzlau’, ‘Sanford & Benedict’ and ‘Bentrock’, the varying soil types of these three sites create an elegant, expressive wine with great minerality and length.