One of the trends driving California wine over the past few decades has been the evolution of what it means to be a winemaker: A role once confined to the winery and now making its way into the vineyard, combining the roles of enologist and and viticulturist.
Add Sanford's Trey Fletcher to the list. That the Sanford winemaker agreed to meet early one Sunday morning was proof enough of his commitment to this cause. But as he greets me, he says, “We’ve got some soil pits dug somewhere in the vineyard. Want to go find them with me?”
“You had me at soil pit,” I say.
This Santa Barbara Pinot and Chardonnay trailblazer and its two vineyards—La Rinconada and Sanford & Benedict—is a perennial California wine top performer, and the wines are better than ever. Wine Spectator's James Molesworth tastes the 2023 vintage—and climbs down into a few of those soil pits…
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