A pale, lemon colour with a delicate mousse. This wine exudes freshness and pure fruit on the nose, showing rich and creamy notes thanks to the minerality of Santa Rita Hills Chardonnay. A good, mid-palate depth and a long finish.\n \n Producer Information\n \n Racines is first a collaboration—the creative and rigorous output of four great voices of wine. Justin Willett of Tyler Winery has been joined in his home appellation, the Sta. Rita Hills, by Étienne de Montille and Brian Sieve of Domaine de Montille and our own Rodolphe Péters of Pierre Péters. Together, they are marrying the time-honored techniques of Burgundy and Champagne with the pioneering energy of California—and, in the process, they are rediscovering the nuances of the appellation’s most iconic vineyards. Following the consolidation of Domaine de Montille, a family estate that dates back to the 1730s, Étienne de Montille looked to California, eager for an opportunity to engage new terroir with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay as his lens. In 2016 he set off on a month of travel among the state’s myriad appellations, meeting their winemakers, tasting their wines. In short order it became apparent that the promise he was seeking lay in the Sta. Rita Hills—and the partner for such ambition was already there. By 2016 Justin Willett, a son of Santa Barbara and career winemaker, had over a decade of experience coaxing forth the character of the region’s best vineyards. Étienne and Justin turned to compelling vineyard blocks that Justin had long coveted, and together they have presented refreshing new entries in the most important discussions of the appellation. And then, of course, there’s Rodolphe Péters. In 2018, Rodolphe joined Racines in deepening their understanding of Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay. Their first sparkling wines, now en tirage, are likely to debut in late autumn. What’s more, in addition to the quick work they’ve made of benchmark sites – from Bentrock to Sanford & Benedict – Racines has leased the Wenzlau Vineyard and embarked on replanting its upper blocks. They have also purchased land adjacent to the Tyler estate vineyards. Planting here will commence this spring and continue in the spring of 2021. The wines here possess more structure and resonance than encountered in Tyler’s ethereal approach. New cooperage and custom vats, tailored to Étienne’s technique, have been imported. The Pinots are composed using further stem inclusion, more extraction, and longer vatting. The Chardonnays are raised with more finessing of the fine lees and longer élevage. The results are immediately apparent in the glass: these are tensile and crystalline expressions of the Sta. Rita Hills– at once familiar and rendered anew.
