Alma Rosa Pinot Noir and Chinese stewed pork belly


It’s good to know there are still visionaries walking among us. In the late 1960s, armed with little more than the determination to grow a Pinot Noir as great as any found in France, Richard Sanford wandered up and down the coast of California before settling on a north facing slope in Santa Barbara (in what is now the Sta. Rita Hills AVA), with the porous soil, chilling winds and cool, extended growing season that he deemed “perfect” for this fickle grape.

Establishing his vineyard (originally called Sanford & Benedict) in 1970, Sanford toiled for years in virtual solitude, because it would be many more years before other vignerons would catch on and start to plant nearby. Call it luck, or call it prescience (in 1970, for one, who could predict Santa Barbara being called the Pinot Noir lover’s “Holy Land” in a multi-award winning movie?). To this day, Sanford’s original vineyard remains a quintessential American Pinot Noir: as spicy, zesty and finely textured as any Burgundian grown Pinot Noir, yet dense, meaty, and compact with wild strawberry and red licorice fruit intensities.

But as often happens, visionaries move on to bigger and better pursuits. In 1983 Sanford planted his first 100% organic vineyard nearby in the Sta. Rita Hills, called Rancho El Jabali; followed by the La Rinconada and La Encantada vineyards: a total of over 100 acres of what would become the first vineyards in Santa Barbara to be certified organic by CCOF.  


Richard Sanford.


CC… so what? In the case of Richard Sanford – who has since relinquished Sanford Vineyards and concentrates solely on his Alma Rosa winery – and his 38-plus years of Santa Barbara grape growing under his belt, the sustainability of organic viticulture means not only environmental health and ecological responsibility, it makes its impact on the resulting wines: specifically, Pinot Noirs of deeper, more focused and soulful connection to the terroir (hence, Alma Rosa – the “soul” of Rancho Santa Rosa, the name of the original Mexican land grant upon which the vineyards stand).

Tasted at the World of Pinot Noir in California’s Shell Beach earlier this month, Sanford’s 2006 Alma Rosa La Encantada “Clone 667” Pinot Noir (about $49) stood out among hundreds of other Pinot beauties as a wine of gorgeous, multi-faceted black and blueberry tart-like perfumes with dark forest, crushed brushy, humus-like undertones; a dense, broad yet svelte mouth-feel held together by sturdy tannin, and fleshed out by luscious, almost sweet, floral, crushed berry flavors. Ah, the ye olde promised land.




Yes, lamb in sweet fruit, thyme, savory or lavender infused natural sauces would make a natural match for this unique combination of perfumed and organic components.  But there is also a dark, exotic, vinous femme fatale quality about the La Encantada Pinot Noir that makes me think of a more dangerous culinary match: like tauyew bak, or Chinese style stewed pork belly, in all its gelatinous, peppercorn and star anise (but not hot) spiciness.  If you’re going to drink a visionary’s wine, you may as well enjoy it with something equally bold and inspired!

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