March 2007 Wine Tasting Notes:
2004 Lucas & Lewellen Petit Verdot, Santa Barbara County.
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This wine is dark purple-garnet in color. The nose displays medium intensity coffee, light caramel aromas highlighted by notes of dark cherries and blackberries. The palate expresses upper medium coffee backed by caramel and light vanilla oak and dark red fruit notes. This full-bodied, spicy wine with firm tannins and appropriate acids has a plush mouthfeel. The finish is a bit truncated and ends a bit hot after medium intensity cherry and blackberry flavors accented by spice. |
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Cumulative Score: 89 breakdown 15.5% Alcohol $40.00 Retail (from winery); 207 cases produced |
Masculine and firm, this Santa Barbara County Petit Verdot is subtle and elegant, offering spice over plump dark berries. A bit truncated towards the end, this wine needs air, so decant slowly and wait for an hour or so. For some, an additional year in the cellar may be preferred but this wine should pair well grilled red meats, mushrooms and savory flavors through 2012. |
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More Lucas&Lewellen reviews More on the Santa Barbara County AVA |
100% Valley View Vineyard Petit Verdot. Aged 18 months in neutral French oak. This variety has been blended into the Valley View Cabernet since 2002 and whatever remains of the lot is bottled as a varietal wine. This is the third crop from 7 year old vines.
Petit Verdot is a lesser known member of Bordeaux’s five noble black varieties. It has long been used as a supportive player in Bordeaux and Meritage red blends. Current California acreage of Petit Verdot is approximated at around 900 acres (slightly less than the 1000 acres reportedly found in France). The consistency of California’s extended growing seasons, free of cold and rain, allow Petit Verdot to thrive. As a consequence, it is not only maintaining its place in Bordeaux-style blends but is also being bottled as a varietal wine. This is still on a relatively small scale in California. On its own, Petit Verdot it is deeply colored – often purple - with high extract of floral and spice aromatics and bold alcohol levels. The beauty of Petit Verdot lies in its evolution. In youth, it exhibits aromas that resemble pencil shavings. Some writers also describe a banana-like scent. Violet and leathery aromas evolve with age. Spice and firm tannins are also definitive of this variety. More about Petit Verdot
The lower elevation of the south-facing Valley View Vineyard is known for producing excellent Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah. The hilltop portion of the vineyard produces excellent Cabernet Franc and Syrah. In addition, small amounts of Malbec as well as 1 and 1/2 acres of thigh density Petit Verdot are grown in Valley View Vineyard. Because of the success of this variety in this vineyard, 2 additional acres have been planted. The Petit Verdot at Valley View receives maximal sun exposure and ends up being more physiologically ripe and softer than expected.
The hot 2004 growing season was one of the shortest in the history of the state. Harvest came two to three weeks earlier than usual, at the start of August. Statewide reports of light to normal yields of excellent quality fruit with superb extraction raised anticipation of the wines to come. However, red wines from this vintage are proving variable by our experience. While this "crop of crops" was lauded as producing highly extracted fruit, some wines have been rather unbalanced while others were stunning an memorable. This seems to depend more on the combination of AVA and vineyard management, rather than winemaking techniques. Each offering from this vintage should be judged individually and not by virtue of vintage alone since the shortened growing season affected different varietals in different AVAs and even vineyards.
Louis Lucas is a key figure in Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County viticulture as one of the area's first commercial wine grape growers. Along with a handful other growers, he has become an iconoclast of Central Coast Viticulture. Coming from a grape growing family in the Bakersfield area, he came to Santa Barbara County in 1970 when he formed Tepusquet Vineyards with his brother George and partner Alfred Gagnon. Through a passionate pursuit of knowledge he broke many long accepted rues of viticulture and defined many new ones for the Central Coast. Royce Lewellen, a retired judge joined forces in 1996 and Lucas & Lewellen have been making wines together since. Their wines sourced from their 30+ year-old vines wines have been winning awards for a long time. Their vineyards are located in Santa Maria, Los Alamos and Santa Ynez Valleys. Daniel Gehrs is the winemaker at Lucas & Lewellen. Another prominent figure in the world of Santa Barbara wine, he consults to many wineries in the area and produces wines under his own label.
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5 points |
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Nose |
3 points |
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Palate |
3 points |
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Finish |
2 points |
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Tannins |
5 points |
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Acidity |
5 points |
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Alcohol |
5 points |
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Aging potential |
2 points |
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Overall quality |
9 points |
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