Our Producers
The Hilt & Jonata
The Hilt makes estate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from its Bentrock and Radian vineyards in the Sta. Rita Hills, and sister winery Jonata makes Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sangiovese from its estate in Ballard Canyon, with Matt Dees making the wine for both.
No expense has been spared at The Hilt and Jonata to make some of California’s finest wines. With Ruben Solorzano managing the vineyards and Matt Dees heading up winemaking, an all-star cast has been assembled to show how great Santa Barbara County wines can be.
While The Hilt might be the better known of Stan Kroenke’s Central Coast wineries, it’s Jonata that started it all. Both wineries have been run by Matt Dees since their inception. He came to Santa Barbara County 20 years ago as a rising talent and has become one of its shiniest stars. Making wine from both the coldest part of the Sta. Rita Hills and one of the county’s warmest sites, Jonata’s Ballard Canyon estate, gives him a perspective few winemakers in California have.
THE VINEYARDS
The Hilt, known for its signature Bentrock and Radian vineyards, farms some of the Sta. Rita Hills’ finest sites, blessed with diatomaceous earth and Botella clay soils. While Sanford & Benedict and John Sebastiano vineyards put the AVA on the map, it’s Radian and Bentrock fruit that many of the county’s finest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay producers covet. Known for dense, purple-fruited Pinots and sharply crisp Chardonnays, these sites have a balance and texture that’s hard to find anywhere in California.
Jonata’s sandy soils, in places as deep as 400 feet, give a densely concentrated structure that makes its Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sangiovese some of the most age-worthy wines in the region. Many wines from Jonata’s Ballard Canyon blocks only begin to reveal themselves 10 years after release, and peak 18 to 25 years later!
WHAT'S IN THE
GLASS
The Hilt’s estate wines are quietly powerful, more like the collective force of a classical orchestra than a power chord from a three-piece Seattle alternative rock band. And that power reveals a unique attribute of Pinot Noir: purple-fruited notes with hints of violet. Jonata shows off the 90-degree growing season of a vineyard 20 miles inland from The Hilt, where longer ripening lets Syrah and Bordeaux blends show their true colors.
VISIT
The wines of The Hilt and Jonata have graced our tasting room for more than sixteen years, both their single-vineyard wines on our Reserve Flight and their blends on our Flight of the Day. We'll usually pour older vintages that you won't taste at their winery off of Santa Rosa Road. Find out more about these wines by tasting one of our flights.
