Thomas Cottrell is Bellevue Club’s contributing wine columnist and the owner of La Cantina Wine Merchants.
I can’t tell you the first time I tasted a Richard Sanford wine with certainty, but it was in the late 1970s when La Cantina Wine Merchants became the first in Washington state to offer the wines from Sanford and Benedict Vineyards. They were bold, exciting wines—unlike any others we’d ever tasted. Over the years I’ve admired and recommended both Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs from the Sanford Winery. The thing that stood out about those wines through the years was their
balance and fine expression of the essential fruit flavor of the grape—a sort of harmonious intensity. I’ve just discovered Richard’s most current wines, selections from Alma Rosa down in Santa Barbara, and they’re an exciting group that quite impressed my palate. And, besides delicious wine, Richard and his wife Thekla have a serious commitment to sustainable agriculture. Their two vineyards, El Jabali and La Encantada, were the first in Santa Barbara County to be certified organic by California. And, all their wines are sealed with twist top-closures, even their most expensive bottlings. Bravo!
The Sanford’s dedication to fine winemaking at Alma Rosa, from the vineyards on up, is evident in every bottle I tasted. You will be impressed as well.
2007 Alma Rosa Pinot Gris (Santa Barbara $18): Rich and intense, yet with fine balancing acidity, this version reminds me more of an Alsace-styled Pinot Gris rather than the lighter, more delicate Italian Pinot Grigio (the same grape). You’ll find ripe melon fruit in the nose and on the palate, with tropical hints and a light touch of spice that lingers on the impressive finish. It’s a showy style that pleased me very much.
El Jabali Vineyard
2006 Alma Rosa Pinot Blanc (Santa Rita Hills $18): This close cousin of the Chardonnay grape shows an enticing display of ripe fruit, especially melons and dabs of green papaya. As with the Pinot Gris, this wine is essentially oak free, having spent only a few months in neutral oak barrels. I love the bright, mouth-watering acidity and fine length—both features that make this a great food wine.
2007 Alma Rosa Chardonnay (Santa Barbara $18): Here’s a classic Santa Barbara-style Chardonnay, full of ripe, tropical fruit flavors laced with a moderate touch of vanilla and spice oakiness. The acid is bright to keep the balance just right and the finish lingers impressively. This is a delicious change of pace for those who usually drink our Washington Chardonnays.
Richard Sanford
2006 Alma Rosa Chardonnay “El Jabali Vineyard” (Santa Rita Hills $30): I loved this wine. The nose shows toasty oak with vanilla and spice notes, paired beautifully with delicate peach and apricot fruit notes. All these follow on to the palate with its creamy notes of richness balanced by fine acidity and impressive length. I had to have a second glass of this beauty.
2006 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir (Santa Rita Hills $36): Surprisingly dark, rich and sweet, no one will mistake this for a red Burgundy or Willamette Valley Pinot. It is its own style, and it is delicious. Think sweet cherries and plums with a touch of blackberry, all mixed up with spice and toasty, almost smoky oak. It’s a showy, sexy approach to the grape that’s distinctly Californian, yet balanced and harmonious.
2006 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir “Encantada Vineyard” (Santa Rita Hills $49): Perhaps more recognizably Pinot Noir than the “regular” bottling above, this is a more complex and nuanced, if less sexy, wine. The color is not as inky dark, more classic. Raspberry, cherry, strawberry and plum all vie for attention
beneath the enticing overlay of spice and sweet oak. This is elegance and finesse instead of sheer power. I’d like to see how this one ages for a few years.
It will be difficult to find these wines—production is tiny—but they are well worth the search.
