About Our Wines
Tyler Thomas has chosen five wines for this retrospective and comparative tasting. The 2019 Dierberg Drum Canyon Vineyard Chardonnay is a beautiful example of the quality of Chardonnay that comes from this very Burgundian slope in the heart of the Sta. Rita Hills appellation. Drum Canyon Vineyard is comprised of Loam and Sandstone soils with more cobblestones toward the top of the hill. The cool region is accentuated by the consistent wind that blows through the corridor and brings the chilling ocean influence into play. In general, the south facing slope of Drum Canyon Vineyard allows for a concentration of flavor profile with lower potential alcohols at harvest. Tyler talks about “letting the wine make itself,” and the result is an elegance and balance that is almost a subtle nod to the heritage and culture of Chablis while being distinctly Sta. Rita Hills and distinctly Drum Canyon.
The 2018 Drum Canyon Vineyard Pinot Noir was chosen because it not only represents one of Tyler’s favorite vintages in his last ten years of working with Pinot Noir from Drum Canyon, but it also demonstrates the serious age potential, structure and tension that the wines from this vineyard can produce. This structure is actually similar in context of the Sta. Rita Hills to the structure and longevity of the great wines of Pommard in context of Burgundy. In this vintage, though, we see distinct characteristics of both the Sta. Rita Hills in general and Drum Canyon Vineyard specifically. Made from the best blocks of Pinot Noir on the upper slope of the vineyard, if this vineyard were segmented into Premier and Grand Cru sections, this wine would certainly be a Grand Cru. Moreover, it is the quality of fruit, vibrancy and liveliness of Drum Canyon that could not come from any other region in the world, including Burgundy.
We start the Cabernet retrospective and comparitive tasting by tasting the 2018 Star Lane Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, again from one of Tyler’s favorite vintages of the last decade. This blend is a classic “Left Bank” style with the distinct Cabernet character that comes from the loam and serpentine soils of the vineyard.
Perhaps the show-stoppers of the evening will be the two Star Lane Vineyard wines chosen from Tyler Thomas’s very first vintage, and now aged in the family cellars for eight years (bottled two years after harvest): 2013 Star Lane Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and 2013 Star Lane Vineyard ‘Asral’ Cabernet Sauvignon. In Bordeaux, the devastation of Phylloxera at the end of the 19th century forced the vignerons to graft native Cabernet Sauvignon over to American root stock which was resistant to the insect. At Star Lane Vineyard, we’ve done the opposite, and we are now the largest own-rooted Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in America. If you combine this own-rooted Cabernet quality with the specific soil and climate at Star Lane Vineyard, there is an excellence in Cabernet Sauvignon that has only increased as the vineyard has developed under Tyler’s direction.
