Happy Canyon | Santa Ynez Valley | Santa Barbara County
Vineyards
Happy Canyon Vineyard - Block 1B
Soils
Sandy Loam | River Cobbles | Serpentine
In the Vineyards
We love Chenin Blanc for its quiet display of California’s ocean and sun: cool and ripe all at once. To harness these qualities we need focus—so we work with just one special vineyard-block, custom-planted with cuttings from the region’s oldest Chenin.
With Chenin Blanc, the trick is to harvest the grapes right on the leading edge of ripeness. Like a perfectly picked peach or plum, you know when you bite into it that you’ve captured that fruit at the absolute perfect moment.
In the Winery
We treat our perfectly ripe Chenin Blanc very gently in the winery. First comes a gentle whole-cluster press followed by racking the juice to a stainless steel tank. Our natural fermentations happen in old barrels, in which we also age the wine for the winter. We always bottle our Chenin Blanc before the next harvest to capture loads of mouth-watering freshness and allow the wine to develop slowly in bottle over the seasons and years to come.