Our Producers
Racines
Racines is an Old World take on New World fruit, bringing hundreds of years of winemaking experience to bear from fruit sourced in the Sta. Rita Hills’ finest vineyards (Sanford & Benedict, La Rinconada, Bentrock, Wenzlau and De Montille). The result: world-class Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and sparkling wines.
Racines (French for “roots”) is a partnership between two of France’s most noble wine producers, Étienne de Montille of Burgundy and Rodolphe Péters of Champagne house Pierre Péters. They scoured the West Coast with Brian Sieve (Burgundy cellar master and UCSB alumnus) looking for a New World AVA worthy of their centuries-old winemaking heritage and decided the Sta. Rita Hills was the best place on the West Coast to make age-worthy wine, thanks to its diverse mix of soils (diatomaceous earth, clay, sand and limestone) and one of the most unique microclimate AVAs in the world.
While preparing their new vineyard site, the French duo learned Sta. Rita Hills fruit from the AVA’s first vineyard. Their first bottling was a 2016 Pinot Noir from Sanford & Benedict, made with locally acclaimed winemaker Justin Willett of Tyler. Other nearby vineyards followed, including La Rinconada, La Encantada, Bentrock and Wenzlau. The team was later joined by Ryan Hannaford (formerly of Oregon’s Evening Land) as onsite winemaker and viticulturist.
THE VINEYARDS
Vineyard diversity is the key here. The Botella clay loam and Monterey shale at Sanford & Benedict and La Encantada lend power to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, while colder sites like Bentrock and Wenzlau bring out broodier notes in the Pinot Noir and the clean sharpness of Chardonnay. Meanwhile, their De Montille estate vineyard, planted in 2020, is grown mostly in limestone: extremely rare in Santa Barbara County, plentiful in Burgundy, and a soil Étienne and team are perfectly suited to farm. Situated on a northern hillside, the nearly 25-acre site is planted 60% to Chardonnay and 40% to Pinot Noir.
WHAT'S IN THE
GLASS
These wines are class personified. Lower alcohol levels let each vineyard’s character come through in the glass. Stem inclusion Pinots show quiet power and structure (we call them classical music rather than pop or hard rock), while the Chardonnays highlight the stoniness of their sites rather than the buttery notes of fermentation that define other wines. Their estate Chardonnay has a refined finish like a Puligny-Montrachet, and the Pinot Noir is equally graceful, sparked by dried herb, pepper and lush cherry notes. The Racines Sparkling NV is the finest expression of Central Coast grapes made méthode champenoise, as you might expect!
VISIT
You’ll undoubtedly love a splash of Racines’ Blanc de Blancs Sparkling to start the Reserve Flight but make sure you ask about their equally exceptional Pinot Noir and Chardonnays too. Better yet, find out when vintners Étienne de Montille, Brian Sieve or Ryan Hannaford will be in our room to pour these for you themselves!
