Today it’s a tasting of one of California’s newest premier wineries, Jonata, with estate manager, Armand de Maigret.
Interesting notes on the winery …
Vineyard is all sand and was thought not to be conducive to growing good grapes, French flying winemaker and consultant Michel Rolland thought property would make a great golf course – (though he did decide to work with them). Others thoughts it great for growing asparagus.
NB: Other sandy vineyards around the word include Lafite (50%) and Vega Sicilia
They thought they would start with 10 varieties and then ripe out then graft back what is growing well … turns out that all the varieties are doing well (here’s what they grow by acreage): Cabernet Sauvignon (19), Cabernet Franc (12), Merlot (6), Petit Verdot (~5), Sauvignon Blanc (6), Syrah (22), Viognier (2), Grenache (1), Sangiovese (5), Semillon (2), Petite Sirah (2) … there are 82 acres planted out of 600 available. They crop at around 2 tons to the acre, max is 2.2
Wines have to be perfect before they go in the bottle – at times they will not make the wine if it is not up to their standards. Second label is called “The Pairing” – these are “barrels that don’t behave properly” … and those that don’t fit at all are sold as bulk.
Wines are all named – even if they could be labeled as a straight varietal … thus Jonata can hedge their bets in case of a bad vintage with any one grape variety.
The name Jonata means “tall powerful live oak” and is pronounced Honata.
Their AVA is part of the bigger Santa Barbara … smaller is Santa Ynez … specifically, Ballard Canyon
(As for the wine, click here to see the reviews of 9 of the tens wines tried)