photos by Bob Dickey
story published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on 9/8/16
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| Pence Ranch |
The
expansion of one of Santa Barbara’s most famous grape growing areas has upset
many in the local wine community. But
for Blair Pence, it’s a major victory.
“We felt
pretty confident that we’d ultimately prevail,” says vintner Blair Pence, who
spearheaded the effort to expand the eastern boundary of the Sta. Rita Hills
AVA near Lompoc. The decision by the Alcohol
Tax and Trade Bureau (or TTB), which took three years to achieve and which adds
2300 acres to the 33,000-acre region, becomes official on September 21.
Sta. Rita
Hills is one of six American Viticultural Areas, or AVAs, in Santa Barbara
County. These zones get official federal
recognition for unique characteristics – geology, weather, even history – that
allow them to grow quality wine grapes.
Sta. Rita Hills, known now around the world for producing supreme pinot
noir and chardonnay grapes, received AVA status in 2001.
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| Blair Pence |
When Blair
Pence, a successful real estate developer, bought a 200-acre property in2005
with the ultimate goal to grow grapes, it was situated right outside the Sta.
Rita Hills’ eastern border. And as his
Pence Ranch label began to gain acclaim, defining the origin of his wines “became
a real pain,” he says.
“People
would ask, ‘Where are you?’
“And I’d
say, ‘Santa Barbara County.’
“‘Where?’
“‘Between
Lompoc and Buellton.’
“‘Where
exactly?’
“Just
telling people where we were always required a lot of explanation,” says Mr.
Pence, so pushing to have Pence Ranch included within the AVA “was really a
matter of clarification,” he says.
More
importantly, he insists that the TTB decision – what he calls “a totally
impartial move” – was based on “relevant data points” that prove that his land
is a natural extension of Sta. Rita Hills, or SRH.
“The east
[boundary] used to be defined by an arbitrary point-to-point between peaks, it
was out of whack,” he says. “What the
TTB decision has done is taken the rationale applied to the west [boundary] and
applied it to the east: a 320-foot
elevation line that wraps around the foothills.”
He calls it,
“topographical continuity.”
The newly
defined border now includes Pence Ranch in its entirety, as well as portions of
neighboring John Sebastiano and Rio Vista Vineyards that were previously
excluded.
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| The grapevines at Pence Ranch |
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| Elevation variation helps define Pence Ranch |
Mr. Pence’s
thoroughly studied arguments, and the fact the federal government agreed, is
not enough to quell the letdown of many of his neighbors, though. The Sta. Rita Hills Winegrowers Alliance,
comprised of many of Santa Barbara’s best-known winemakers, voiced unified
opposition to the expansion from the get-go, citing the integrity of borders
that were carefully studied for years before approval. The TTB decision to push out the eastern
border, which is a rare occurrence in the wine industry, disappointed many in
the group.
“It’s ill-founded,”
says Richard Sanford, a pioneer winemaker who planted the first pinot noir
vineyard in Sta. Rita Hills in 1971, long before the area was officially
defined. “It reduces the meaningfulness
of appellations.”
“It sets a
bad precedent,” says Richard Longoria, who’s been making wine locally since the
early 1980s and who planted his Fe Ciega Vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills. “What stops the ranch adjacent to Pence from
applying for an expansion? Where does it stop?”
“Truly
legendary places and institutions are built upon strong foundations,” winemaker
Chad Melville writes in his Notebook blog, which is published on Melville
Winery website. “If a foundation is
ever-shifting, how can permanence and true greatness ever emerge there?”
But a more
conciliatory tone is coming from J. Wilkes Wines winemaker Wes Hagen, the man who
led the charge to have the Sta. Rita Hills officially green-lighted in 2001. “I’m glad we’re moving forward after this
decision’s been made so we can continue to elevate the region as the United
States’ premier cool-climate region for growing great pinot noir and chardonnay,”
he told me. “The decision is
what it is, and what we need to focus on is what we do best in the wine
industry: putting delicious wine on the table and getting people back
together. I love that there was passion
on both sides. To me, the main issue is
that the Sta. Rita Hills is now valuable enough to elicit this type of passion,
and that’s a win no matter how this thing came down.”
The ruling
now allows Pence Ranch to print the lucrative Sta. Rita Hills name on its
labels, a potential boon with consumers.
But he doesn’t plan on bumping up the prices of his grapes; the lion’s
share of the Pence Ranch crop stays with the proprietary label (with wines made
by Sashi Moorman and priced between $40 and $56), while some fruit is earmarked
for two other labels only, Whitcraft and Bonaccorsi. And his focus is on business as usual.
“I’m keeping
emotion out of this,” Mr. Pence says. “We’re
just out to grow the very best grapes and make the very best wines.”
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