Sanford’s tasting room is on a cute little square off of State Street. Bronze sculptures greet you at the entrance to their wood paneled tasting room.
Katie expertly guided us through our tasting beginning with a 2014 McGinley Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc. A steely minerality underneath a citrus palate with bright acidity made this a very approachable Sauvignon Blanc. This was followed by Shannon’s and my favorite wine of the tasting which was their 2013 Pinot Blanc. The grapes were sourced from the Sierra Madre vineyards in Santa Ynez. It was a lovely, full bodied Pinot Blanc with clotted cream on the nose, baked apple on the palate and a tangy finish. Shannon declared it to be “cozy and bright.” We took this one back to her home in LA and paired it with a chicken, rice and butternut squash dish.
We tasted through 7! more wines of which I found three to be highlights. We were able to compare three different Chardonnays, all produced from different clones or blends of clones. The top two in my opinion were the 2013 La Riconada Vineyard Chardonnay and the 2012 La Entrada Chardonnay. The La Riconada was our favorite and Katie explained that this was produced with grapes from two estate vineyard blocks at Sanford, designated as R5 and R14. the R14 block is planted with a Wente clone of Chardonnay. The Wente clone is historically interesting and important. Ernest Wente, whose father C.H. had established a vineyard southeast of San Francisco in the Livermore Valley, was effectively the father of Chardonnay in California. Ernest researched and traveled in order to bring the perfect clone to suit that particular area of Northern California. He developed clones based on cuttings of Chardonnay that he obtained in from the University of Montpelier in France. The clones derived from these are known as Wente clones and produce some of California’s finest Chardonnays. The 2013 La Riconada is a blend of Wente clone Chard from block R14 and Chard from block R5. It is aged in 30% new French oak and was a wonderful example of a restrained, but balanced California Chardonnay. It had a nose of green apple and Meyer lemon with a creamy finish and a bright acidity. This was my favorite of the two as the La Entrada 2012 had more oak on it which I am not always a huge fan of, but it was still a pretty solid wine.
Finally, our favorite red was the 2012 Founder’s Vines Pinot Noir. Only 6 barrels were made. This had a surprisingly earthy nose for a California Pinot Noir, smelling more like an old world Pinot Noir. Classic strawberry and cranberry flavors danced on the palate.