The New Reds- By Brian Freedman
One of the shining stars of this brave new world of Santa Barbara cabernet production is Nick de Luca, winemaker for Star Lane and Dierberg Vineyards. -March 2008

The New Reds- By Brian Freedman

It’s tempting to think of the wine world as a firmly codified place. No other agricultural industry is as rigidly regulated in terms of geographical boundaries, planting, and processing, as wine. French AOC law (Appellation d’Origine Côntrolée), for example, not only determines which grapes can be grown in specifically demarcated areas, but also how much juice can legally be produced in a vineyard of a certain size and what the minimum alcohol content of a specific type of wine must be.

 

Italian DOC law (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) takes this a step further, as it regulates the wine-making process itself, specifically setting rules for the aging in barrel or bottle, of specific wines.

 

But on this side of the pond, for better or worst, there are no such nationwide regulations governing the growth of grapes or the production of wine aside from a few cursory rules. And while this occasionally acts as a detriment to the American wine industry—the term “reserve,” for example, may be used to mean whatever the producer wishes, even for nothing more than demanding a higher price tag—it is also beneficial in terms of discovering new or unexpected areas for the production of certain types of wine.

 

Nowhere is this ancillary benefit of our dearth of national wine laws more apparent than in California’s Santa Barbara, from which I have recently tasted a number of remarkable, and remarkably unexpected, bottles.

 

For most California wine lovers, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Santa Rita, and Santa Ynez are havens of chardonnay and pinot noir production. Producers like Au Bon Climat and Bonaccorsi have made their mark on the wine world with stunning bottlings that express these Burgundian grape varietals with exuberance. The film “Sideways,” in fact, was essentially a two-hour love letter to Santa Barbara pinot noir—and, I’d argue, justifiably so.

 

But to only focus on these grapes, or on the Rhone Valley varietals that also do so well in Santa Barbara, would be to miss out on one of the most exciting revolutions underway in the world of American wine. These days, Santa Barbara is finding its inner Bordelais. That’s right: Some of the most exciting cabernet-based wines coming out of California are being produced right here. And while Napa Valley is still the beating heart of American cab production, the quality and relative value of Santa Barbara’s red Bordeaux-varietal wines is nothing short of astounding.

 

One of the shining stars of this brave new world of Santa Barbara cabernet production is Nick de Luca, winemaker for Star Lane and Dierberg Vineyards. He is the man who’s responsible for one of the most exciting California reds I’ve tasted this past year and the one that opened my eyes to the potential of that part of the state: The Star Lane Vineyard “Astral” Cabernet Sauvignon 2005.

 

The first vintage of this standout wine, the 2005 was released this past August for $51.89, and embodies what de Luca told me was “almost a religious faith type of thing” in the potential of Santa Ynez cab. A barrel sample I tasted was an ink-colored blockbuster with a rich, perfumed nose of wild flowers, sweet berries, and chocolate. It tasted of superripe red and black berry fruit, coffee, and cocoa. You could certainly enjoy it now—though I'd decant it for an hour or so—but it also has the stuffing to last for years in the cellar. What was most interesting to me, though, was that combination of richness and perfume, which I think will really surprise and charm people who have not had a cabernet-based wine from Santa Ynez before.

 

Star Lane also crafted a winner with the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, another $50 bottle whose deep, dark well of ripe fruit seems to embody everything wine lovers associate with modern California cab.

 

The other marquis player in Santa Barbara is Screaming Eagle, whose Santa Ynez project, called Jonata, is making waves across the world of wine. There are nine different wines being produced, and they include grape varietals as varied as sangiovese, pinot noir, sauvignon blanc, syrah, and cabernet sauvignon, among others.

 

According to critic Robert Parker, one of the standouts in this first vintage to be released is the “Alma de Jonata,” a Cabernet Franc-based wine that, though certainly not inexpensive at $125, is still significantly less than Screaming Eagle’s flagship Napa bottling. (The most recent vintage of Screamer, as its fans refer to it, the 2004, cost $500 on release and is already commanding nearly $1500 at auction.)

 

The point is this: As the wine world expands and shifts to unexpected or unfamiliar places, smart collectors will remain open-minded when it comes to deciding where their wines come from. These days, the old assumptions—for example, that Napa is cab country and Santa Barbara is better suited to Burgundy varietals—are not only being challenged, but turned on their heads in deliciously unexpected ways.

Connoisseurs' Guide 2005 Star Lane Cabernet Sauvignon
91 TWO STARS:(91-94 points) A highly distinctive wine. Likely to be memorable.

Connoisseurs' Guide 2005 Star Lane Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 STAR LANE VINEYARD (2 Puffs) Cabernet Sauvignon Santa Ynez Valley Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine Volume 32 Issue 6: April 2008 91 TWO STARS:(91-94 points) A highly distinctive wine. Likely to be memorable. 80% Cabernet Sauvignon; 15% Cabernet Franc; 5% Petit Verdot. The Santa Ynez Valley is not the first district that comes to mind when thinking of top-shelf Cabernet, but this deep and densely fruited bottling is just that. From its concentrated nose of cassis, cream and loam to its extracted and incisively varietal flavors, the wine hits all the right marks and ends with a lengthy albeit moderately hot, tannic finish. A half decade of bottle age would be of benefit here. Limited production and/or limited geographic distribution.Medium Red. Balanced, good depth, medium tannin. Beef and lamb.Cellar for future drinking. Wine will improve with bottle aging. $50.00

The Wine Enthusiast April 2008
2005 Star Lane Cabernet Sauvignon.....92 Points

The Wine Enthusiast April 2008
you’ve seen the movie; you’ve read the editorials; you’ve even tasted the wines. So let’s say it together: Santa Barbara County is Pinot Noir country. Except that potentially—and shockingly—it’s also Cabernet Sauvignon country as evidenced by a pair of new Cabs from Star Lane Vineyard. For years I’ve heard about, even visited Santa Barbara’s eastern outlands. Happy Canyon it’s called, and it is the warmest sector of the Santa Ynez Valley. Alas, the Cabernets, Merlots and Bordeaux-style blends from Happy Canyon have always fallen short. Often funky and sometimes vegetal, these wines seemed to confirm that Santa Barbara could never truly compete with Napa Valley when it comes to Cabernet. Enter Jim and Mary Dierberg, the owners of Star Lane Vineyard who, back in 1996 when they bought 4,000 acres of raw land in a corner of Happy Canyon, believed that proper clones of Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varieties, if planted in the highest and toastiest part of Santa Ynez Valley, could not only ripen but thrive. First planted in 1997, Star Lane Vineyard is now 237 acres of grapevines, including a plot of Sauvignon Blanc. Vines span from the valley floor up to the foothills of the San Rafael Mountains. All plants are on their own rootstocks, and a gravity flow winery is under construction. The 2005 Star Lane Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (92 points, $50), made by winemaker Nick de Luca and renowned consultant David Ramey, offers ripeness and multilayered fruit flavors; the 2005 Astral (not yet rated, $100), which contains 15 percent Cabernet Franc and 5 percent Petit Verdot is even deeper and more concentrated than the varietal wine. Tasted blind alongside powerhouse Napa Cabs like Hourglass and Hundred Acre, as well as fellow Santa Ynez upstart Jonata (a sibling property of Screaming Eagle), the Star Lane wines held their own. Taking risks and pursuing the unusual is what made Jim Dierberg a successful banker in Missouri. More so than the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vineyards the Dierbergs also own in neighboring Santa Maria Valley and Santa Rita Hills, Star Lane represents a significant gamble. But the cards have now been played, and you can take these wines to the bank. —MICHAEL SCHACHNER

Wine & Spirits Magazine
As the development of Star Lane Vineyard is now in progress, word of the quality of the wines and the creation of the winery and caves is getting out....94 Points

Wine & Spirits Magazine
As the development of Star Lane Vineyard is now in progress, word of the quality of the wines and the creation of the winery and caves is getting out.

In Wine & Spirit Magazine's "Year's Best Syrah" issue, the 2004 Star Lane Syrah garned 94 points and an Exceptional rating. Of 652 wines tasted, only 2 wines scored higher.

"The wild blueberry flavor and mineral-edged tannin give this syrah the intensity of a great petite sirah, attained here with freshness and length that buzzes for minutes after each sip. The tannins explode with the dust of crushed granite while the fruit coasts along, delicious and lithe."

Food & Wine Magazine
"Best New California Cabernet - 2007"

Food & Wine Magazine

American Wine Awards ’07
Best Wines of 2007 - Best New California Cabernet
BY RAY ISLE

Somewhere around September, I lost track of how many wines I’d tasted this year. Fifteen hundred? Two thousand? Suffice it to say, it was enough to make me wish for a cold beer at the end of it all (never mind how many beers I tasted—that’s another story).

 

But what struck me, looking back through my many pages of notes, is the number of terrific wines that never made it into this column. There simply wasn’t room for them all. That’s why I’m delighted that this
month’s column is a selection of the year’s top wines that have never appeared in Tasting Room before. Representing a wide range of regions and grape varieties, from Lebanese reds to Mâconnais whites, the selection here is a global overview of some of the best wines currently in stores. I’ve limited my choices to wines customers should be able to find with relative ease (no mailing-list-only cult Cabernets) and that are, for the most part, quite affordable (a number of the bottles here are less than $20). I’ve also added a retrospective look at my favorite value wines from all of this year’s Tasting Room columns (including two really good $9 bottlings).

 

The main thing this list suggests about the state of wine right now is that it’s incredibly vibrant. One of my picks is from a vineyard that’s been producing wine since just after the birth of Christ; another is the
first Cabernet release from a new producer in the Santa Ynez Valley, one of California’s top up-and-coming regions. Several are made by famous winemakers; others are the work of young talents who are just beginning to get attention. Some, like the 2005 Albariño from Spain’s Rías Baixas region, represent the best of several remarkable recent vintages. If anyone wants a vivid illustration of just how exciting wine is now, then track down seven or eight of these bottles and throw a best-of-2007 tasting party.

Best New California Cabernet: 2005 Star Lane Cabernet Sauvignon
($50) California’s Santa Ynez Valley is principally associated with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but the far eastern end, which has substantially warmer temperatures than the rest of the region, seems to be ideal Cabernet Sauvignon territory—as evidenced by this satiny, cherry-inflected wine.

Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
2005 Star Lane Cabernet Sauvignon, Excellent & Recommended

Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
2005 Star Lane Cabernet Sauvignon, Santa Ynez Valley. Ruby-red. Inky cherry and dark berry preserve aromas are complemented by sexy vanillin oak and baking spices. Plush dark fruit flavors verge on liqueur-like, with soft tannins adding gentle grip. Finishes with a good wallop of vanillin oak. As rich and sweet as this is, there's good structure and focus.

Deleware Online

Cheek by jowl, both pinot noir and cabernet thrive

Jim Dierberg wants to make world-class cabernet in the "Sideways" territory of northern Santa Barbara County.

Deleware Online

It is difficult to imagine a spot in Bordeaux that would produce a great pinot noir. Nor a place in Burgundy that would fully ripen Bordeaux's cabernet sauvignon. Both regions grow what they grow not so much as a matter of tradition or even soil but because of climate. And they will continue to do so, unless global warming accelerates.

That's what makes the California coast so interesting. The balance of a marine climate with its cold ocean breezes and pervasive fog lures the pinot noir grower, while, just a few miles inland, relentless sunshine makes ripening cabernet a cinch. Some of the world's best cabs come from the heart of Napa Valley, while, 15 minutes away, delicious pinot noir is being grown in the Carneros region. Same with Sonoma. Now Jim Dierberg wants to make world-class cabernet in the "Sideways" territory of northern Santa Barbara County. Dierberg is a banker from St. Louis who took the family enterprise and extended it into the First Bank franchise. Along the way, he bought Missouri's Hermanoff winery in 1974, and then he and his wife, Mary, decided to go west with their winegrowing in the late 1990s.

Two properties they purchased are in prime pinot noir and chardonnay territory -- the Santa Maria Valley and the Santa Rita Hills -- and produce very good wines under the Dierberg label. But it was a 4,000-acre tract in the eastern end of Santa Ynez Valley that attracted their attention because it is both the highest and hottest vineyard land in the appellation.

Here, Dierberg planted Bordeaux varietals and some syrah. The wines are called Star Lane, and the early cabs are very promising. A third line, Three Saints, produces wine from all three of the "Saint" properties.

"What we're looking for is consistency year after year," Dierberg said in a telephone interview from Star Lane. "Anyone can be successful for one vintage."

Dierberg, who describes himself as a hands-on winemaker, is working with a veteran team in winemaker Nick de Luca and consultants Paul Hobbs and Dave Ramey.

The reason that Bordeaux varietals grow so well at Star Lane is that the 237 planted acres go from hot valley floor, which is still affected by cool nighttime ocean breezes coming up the valley, to hillsides and mountaintops, where the heat is less severe but more constant. The soil varies, but sand, gravel, and cobbles over clay and loam are the primary elements.

Star Lane cabs go for about $50, syrah $35, and an excellent sauvignon blanc for around $20. Dierberg pinot is about $42, and the chardonnay $36.

Another attraction for Dierberg is the economy of having only one winery. "The cabernet and pinot noir are only 15 miles apart," he says, "and the roads are good."

And that's a saving Dierberg can take to the bank.

 

 

California Grapevine
2005 Star Lane Sauvignon Blanc, Santa Ynez Valley......Highly Recommended!

California Grapevine
Medium-light golden yellow; attractive, forward, toasty, slightly grassy, citrussy, gooseberry and green apple aroma with a hint of sweet pea; medium-full body; clean, herbal, slightly grassy, citrus and honeydew melon flavors; crisp, lemony finish; lingering aftertaste. Highly recommended.

Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine
Here is the rare California Sauvignon Blanc that makes a great success out of high ripeness and higher acidity.

Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine
Here is the rare California Sauvignon Blanc that makes a great success out of high ripeness and higher acidity. One might ask for a bit more juice if one likes the typical local model, but this bristling effort is not of that stripe. Rather, it shows just enough melon and pear-like fruitiness to provide a solid platform for the pineappley, citrusy flavors and finish of this young, ageworthy bottling. It would be a big success with fresh-shucked oysters or a bucket of steamed clams, but its greatest rewards might well come with a year or two of bottle age.

Wine Enthusiast Magazine
92 points Here's a delicious, rewarding Syrah. It brims with wonderfully ripe fruit, yet maintains balance and dryness. Blackberry pie, cherry preserves, cocoa, sweet tobacco, white pepp- S.H.

Wine Enthusiast Magazine

Vinfolio
Wine writer Doug Wilder recently reviewed our Star Lane Sauvingon Blanc and Syrah in his weekly wineletter, Wilder Side of California. Doug awarded our Sauvignon Blanc 95 points, and 93 points to our Syrah.

Vinfolio

The Santa Barbara Independant
"Spearheading the efforts to place Happy Canyon on the figurative Bordeaux- and cabernet-lover's map is Jim Dierberg of Star Lane Vineyard.

The Santa Barbara Independant
"spearheading the efforts to place Happy Canyon on the figurative Bordeaux- and cabernet-lover's map is Jim Dierberg of Star Lane Vineyard. Dierberg, a Missouri native, has planted expansive vineyards at his Star Lane property, located in the heart of Happy Canyon, and is currently building a world-class winery at the same location, based on old French winemaking techniques that include a gravity-flow winemaking facility and mountain-dug caves for barrel aging. When it opens, his Star Lane production facility will be the first in Happy Canyon.

The gateway to Happy Canyon is at the base of Hwy. 154, at Armour Ranch Road, as one heads inland into the Baseline Road area. It is located within the Santa Ynez Valley appellation, but is distinct for its warmer days and cooler nights. The vineyards located in the canyon benefit from warm days, which allow varietals such as cabernet sauvignon to ripen to full maturity. The cool nights, created by a maritime influence and bank of coastal fog that flows inland up the Santa Ynez River, allow the grapes to rest and to reach higher levels of acidity and complexity, two components vital to the creation of worthy Bordeaux-varietal-based wines. Add to that the careful selection of clonal materials by winegrowers in this area, and the recipe for world-class wines is set into motion. Dierberg, a champion of research and development in Happy Canyon, weighed in,"We have [the] George de Latour clone. ... Star Lane is unique [for] having many vineyards within a vineyard because of the many aspects and microclimates. We want Star Lane to represent Star Lane, and not be a copy of some other vineyard. We continue to tweak Star Lane, ever so slightly, in an effort to bring out its best. Last year, it was tweaking the irrigation; next year, we will graft some two acres of cabernet franc, merlot, and syrah to clones new to this area. We are very excited to add to our clonal selection."

The buzz surrounding Star Lane has reached both coasts of this country, including the insular wine buyers at Napa Valley's premier restaurants and retail wine shops. Like Opus One and other world-renowned Bordeaux-blend producers, Star Lane will boast a gravity-fed winemaking facility. This will be the first entirely gravity-fed winery in Santa Barbara County. Also like Opus One, the third level of the winery will be for grape receiving, sorting, and destemming. The second level will be for fermentation. The first level will be for barrel storage and bottling. The first level will also lead directly into their expansive hillside caves.

Because gravity is employed to move the wine from one level to the other, no pumps are used in the production of Star Lane wines. Therefore the wines are able to maintain much of their varietal purity, which can otherwise be compromised by the use of mechanical pumps. Of this Dierberg said, "The easier it is to make the wine, the better the wine will be." Dierberg has included the implementation of a traveling hopper for the transfer of fruit from one tank to another. This practice, new to the United States, helps ensure that grapes are handled as delicately and naturally as possible, resulting in wines of great character and depth.

Dierberg is such a passionate perfectionist when it comes to his Happy Canyon-based fruit that each faucet in his soon-to-be-operating winery will release Dierberg's own mountain spring water, from several natural springs located at Star Lane. By using spring water, he can guarantee that Star Lane lines are chemical free. Again, another artistic gesture toward creating true Bordeaux-inspired wines. Additionally, the spring water will fall a distance of three miles before reaching the winery and will power their co-generation plant, providing enough power to run the winery. Dierberg added that Star Lane wines should stand among the finest wines produced and should stand out for the unique place that is Star Lane Vineyard."