Babcock Winery Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara County 2001
Price $23
Rating 91
"There is an ocean of wine out there today pushing wineries to make attractively priced wines that are appealing to a broad range of wine drinkers," explains winemaker Bryan Babcock, "and it is important that the wines are of high quality as well as having broad based, irresistible charm. To that end I have found that the strength of great raw materials must come into play. In the current oversupplied market, I am glad my Pinot Noir is growing in Santa Barbara County. For the past couple of years we have been working with some great up-and-coming Pinot Noir vineyards that have sold us fruit at very reasonable prices. The fruit is top notch allowing us to keep our basic product well under $25 a bottle, though its weight and stature could easily place it in a higher price category."

"Tied to all this is the area’s signature of intense, ripe flavors along with the firm natural acidities that continue to make our 'regular' bottling pure and deep in character. Five excellent Pinot Noir vineyards ensured a wine of complexity. While our 2000 bottling was quite good, I think I like this wine better from the standpoint of pure Pinot flavors. Typical of the variety, it’s real jammy, with sensations of ripe, baked fruits. But with this wine it’s more of a seductive smoky effect, with a touch of violets. On the pallet, the wine is very rich, arguably fat and rich. It really is pinot at its best in this price range," adds Babcock.

Babcock Winery Chardonnay, Santa Barbara County 2000
Price $22
Rating 90
"The fruit for our 2000 Chardonnay hails from four great Santa Barbara County sources," explains Babcock, "For starters, the Careaga Ranch is located between the Santa Ynez and Santa Maria Valleys, in the up-and-coming Los Alamos Valley. This interesting viticultural pocket is rapidly growing. Unlike its neighbors, this valley is not as directly open to the ocean. The slightly warmer climate leads to chardonnay effusive in tropical characteristics. Next in our blend is Rancho Sisquoc. Located in the interior (eastern) end of the Santa Maria Valley, it is also slightly warmer. Like Careaga, its wine from 2000 was tropical, with additional hints of flower petal and citrus. Fruit from the western edge of the Santa Ynez Valley comprises the remainder of our blend. About three miles east of our vineyard lies the Hilltop Ranch, which produced delicious, apple-like chardonnay in 2000. Last but not least is our own estate vineyard which produced an ample supply of its typical spicy, citrusy fruit with mineral nuances, and crispness...this wine shows mineral, melon, citrus, pear, and slightly tropical characteristics backed by spicy, toasty oak."

"What has the Babcock's most excited these days is the promotion of a newly proposed appellation, which is tentatively going to be called Santa Rita Hills. Named for the hills that lie in the western end of the Santa Ynez Valley between two other ranges, the Purisimas to the north and the Santa Rosas to the south, this proposed AVA is situated at its closest point within 10 miles of the Pacific Ocean. If confirmed by the BATF, Babcock and a number of other nearby vineyards will be in
the heart of this viticulturally distinct area. In a cool climate (Region 1), it takes longer for the fog to burn off here than it does in the greater Santa Ynez Valley to the east. Generally 10 to 15 degrees cooler than Santa Ynez, this district also is caressed by cooling ocean breezes at mid-afternoon that help keep temperatures moderate on warm summer days." (Tom Hyland, The Wine News)

Babcock Winery "Grand Cuvee" Chardonnay, Estate Grown, Santa Ynez Valley 2000
Price $27
Rating 91
"Over the past ten years, we have been methodically fine tuning almost every aspect of our farming," explains Babcock, "and it is the way that we manage our vines' shoots and leaves that has undergone the greatest transformation. In the old days, we simply let nature take its course. The system was humorously called the 'California Sprawl' and I still see plenty of it around today. We now are in constant canopy attack mode, making as many as four to five passes each year through the vineyards to direct the vines' growth up in a vertical direction, removing the basal leaves, and increasing the exposure of the fruit to sun and air. Initially we headed in this direction because I thought it would lead to more intense fruit and better wines. After ten years I can confidently say, indeed it does. But ripeness aside, there is also another huge bonus. The bottom line is that the new farming is allowing us to return to a more purely Burgundian style of winemaking."

Winemakers define this term in different ways. "For me, a truly Burgundian chardonnay is one that starts with the utilization of as much of the grapes as possible. Today, with our fruit being exposed to sun and air, the mildew and rot infections are held completely in check," adds Babcock, "and consequently, we have been able to use much less fungicide. In fact, though most growers customarily use sulfur as their main weapon in against mildew, we have been able to eliminate the use of sulfur altogether!"

The Babcock Winery "Grand Cuvee" Chardonnay is packed with concentrated citrus fruit along with that creamy, mineral quality that has become associated with yeast interaction during aging.

Babcock Winery "Black Label Cuvee" Syrah, Santa Barbara County 2000
Price $44
Rating 93
"Years ago, I started hearing kids describing things that were good as 'bad'. If something was especially pleasing in an awesome sort of way, then it was really 'baaad'. Being in my forties, I will admit that the latest in hip linguistics could be happening right under my nose, and I would not even know it," says winemaker Bryan Babcock, "but it seems to me that at least one of the more recent terms for something that’s really good, is that it’s 'sick'. Now I have known that this 2000 Black Label Syrah was going to be quite good from the moment we started crushing its grapes. The fruit was just too strong to suggest otherwise. But at its first racking over a year ago, a point at which the master blend was put together for the first time, I asked one of my young winemakers how it tasted in the tank. When he said, "it’s totally sick", that was when I knew we might have something really special. That was when I knew we might have one of those wines that hits a sort of stupefying level of quality."

"The wine is dark, dense, and extremely rich. But what really impresses me are the accompanying effects of restraint and elegance. Often, when I taste wines that are this ambitious in their ripeness, extraction, and cooperage, they come across like Port. They show lots of fruit and sweetness, but an aldehydic, raisny overripness goes along with it. This wine’s acidity and textural density do a great job holding its more high-toned Syrah fruit tightly together. The wine lets your palate explore the realm of a hedonistic, dark chocolatey fruit syrup, but it never lets you get stuck in it like quicksand. Intense blackberry resonates throughout the wine. In the nose are Syrah’s trophy elements of pepper, truffles, and violets," boasts Babcock.

Babcock Winery Pinot Grigio, Santa Barbara County 2001
Price $15
Rating 89
"Pinot grigio (a.k.a. pinot gris) is really starting to hit its stride in our vineyards. This 2001 bottling is another excellent one and fulfills the basic requirements- food-friendly wine with vivid fruit at a good value," says winemaker Bryan Babcock.

"We have pushed the frontier of ripeness. Compared to previous vintages, the texture is fatter, and as it is given time after bottling, I predict dazzling layers of fruit will be more apparent in the aroma. Right now there are quivers of peach, apple, and kiwi laced together with herbal elements that strike me as an exotic cross between anise and juniper berries. The oak is slightly more stated this year as well, giving more of a foundation to the fruit, and playing a bit more into pinot grigio's natural inclination to come across as creamy," concludes Babcock

In 1978, Walt and Mona Babcock were seeking a retreat from Walt's dental practice and the rigors of being restaurateurs in Seal Beach and Oysters in Corona del Mar. Their search led them to purchase 110 acres of land on the western edge of the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County. At that time the area was just emerging as a fledgling wine region. This inspired and prompted the Babcock's to plant a 25-acre vineyard in 1980. By the end of 1983, various notable winemakers had purchased Babcock fruit and had made important wines. It was soon apparent that the special soil and the perfectly cool climate of the Babcock estate was ideal for producing magnificent grapes. For more info, go to www.babcockwinery.com.