September 10, 2003
Oldies But GoodiesSeveral weeks ago I had the opportunity to taste one of the best local chardonnays I can ever remember. It was a magnum of Santa Barbara Winery's 1993 reserve chardonnay. Yes! A ten year old chardonnay! Ten years of depth and complexity and as fresh as the day it was bottled
I spoke with marketing director, Craig Addis of Santa Barbara Winery about this chardonnay last Friday. Craig told me the wine was made from 100 percent Lafond Vineyard fruit. Lafond Vineyard is one of the oldest vineyards in the Santa Rita Hills, planted in 1972.
The fruit was picked at 22.8 to 23.7 brix (a measure of ripeness or fruit sugar.) The pH of the wine is 3.35 Craig told me. According to Frank Schoonmaker's "Encyclopedia of Wine," pH is an indication of a wine's acidity expressed by the number of hydrogen ions it contains. I think pH is probably the most significant measure to know about a wine. The lower the pH, the "healthier" the wine. Wines with low pH have better color and will age longer. I analogize pH to blood pressure in animals. People with lower blood pressure will probably live longer than people with high blood pressure.
A pH of 3.35 is considered low, and possibly "optimal," a number that winemaker Bruce McGuire shoots for, Craig told me. Quite fine wines I have tasted frequently will have pHs in the 3.5 to 3.7 range.
Here are several important related points I would like to share:
I have had fabulous old sauvignon blancs. I recall once a 14 year old with great vitality, a Chateau Malartic-Lagraviere, a white Bordeaux wine that was spectacular. Sweet Sauternes, frequently produced from sauvignon blancs and semillons also frequently age beautifully. I recall tasting a 1921 Chateau d'Yquem in San Francisco in 1984. From age the wine had evolved into a darkish golden brown, and it was one of the most spectacular wines I have ever tasted. Another white varietal which can age well is riesling. Chateau d'Yquem, by the way, was one of Thomas Jefferson's favorites.
- A magnum is 1.5 liters, twice the volume of a so-called regular bottle, 750 ml. For ageing purposes larger bottles should age the wine longer if properly stored because when you increase the bottle size, the ratio of the surface area to the volume changes significantly. To put it another way, as the bottle size increases, the volume increases mathematically at a much greater rate than the surface area.
- Just to show you how crazy the government can be-and our tax dollars at work-federal rules require that wine and spirits have to be bottled in metric size bottles. Beer, on the other hand, cannot; beer must be bottled in pint and quart size bottles. Go figure. And to add even more insult to injury, while wine and spirits are sold in metric measurements, they are taxed in gallons!
- Another point: I come from the camp that doesn't believe chardonnays usually age well. Of course most wine drinkers never age wine anyway-myself included. Buy it today, drink it tonight.
This 1993 Santa Barbara Winery white wine is still available. I would not write about it if it were not. Craig told me the original release price for a 750 ml bottle was $27. If you would like to try a bottle, you should call Craig Addis at the winery. (805) 963-3646.
Santa Barbara Winery's tasting room is located at 202 Anacapa Street in Santa Barbara. From the Santa Maria area, take the Garden Street exit off High way 101. The tasting room is open from 10-5 daily.
Bon appetit!
Times columnist, Bob Senn, lives in the bucolic Los Alamos Valley and owns the Los Olivos Wine & Spirits Emporium.
