### 2012 Santa Lucia Highlands: A Winemaker’s Vintage

After two challenging years in 2010 and 2011, producers in the Santa Lucia Highlands were given a much more typical California growing season in 2012, with plenty of sunshine, no shock weather events to speak of, and a long, leisurely harvest. There has been quite a bit of excitement building over the 2012s. How have the wines turned out?

**It’s a Question of Yields**

Last year, when I was tasting through the 2011s, producers told me over and over it was a ‘winemaker’s vintage.’ I am not so sure. In 2011, Mother Nature made a lot of decisions. Spring frost was an issue in many places. Flowering took place under difficult conditions, while the rest of the growing season was long and cool. The worst of the rains and the rot that followed were reserved for the North Coast, Napa Valley in particular, but growers in the Central Coast had their hands full. Ripeness was achieved at lower sugar levels than most winemakers had ever seen. Throughout the year, growers had to be highly reactive.

Things were totally different in 2012. Mother Nature made no decisions. Instead, producers had to make all the choices, and that required a whole different skill set. Think of it as playing defense versus offense. Vines set a healthy crop and the weather was picture perfect. After highly challenging seasons in 2010 and 2011, 2012 was a piece of cake. Growers could pick whenever they wanted under pretty much ideal conditions. Sounds perfect, right?

![](https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1405003328842-Landscape.jpg)

_A landscape view from the southern edge of the Santa Lucia Highlands_

Well, not exactly. Yields were up massively in 2012, in some places double of what is normal. After the very challenging, low-yielding 2011, my sense is that some growers tried to compensate for that shortfall in 2012, a very dangerous and tricky proposition. The culture of outsourced farming and a reliance on purchased fruit works, but winemakers have to be in the vineyard all of the time and have the ability to call the shots. Long-distance farming can also work, but it won’t give consistently outstanding results every year, even in California.

Huge yields created all sorts of logistical nightmares, as producers had to scramble to pick all of that fruit at the optimal time, something that is next to impossible. Then, with all of the fruit in the cellar, tank space became a problem. Some winemakers simply did not have the room to process all of their fruit. This is where we start to see the breakdown a bumper crop can create; fruit that was not picked at the ideal moment and/or not processed as optimally as possible. Guess what…all of that eventually manifests itself in the quality of the wines.

This is also a vintage that leaves a very strong mental imprint on the qualitative potential of different sites across the region. The whole idea of vineyard designate wines is to highlight sites that have unique signatures, but in California, where no formal hierarchy of vineyards exists, the temptation to label wines as vineyard designates has resulted in a large number of wines from sites that aren’t truly distinctive at all. The simple reality is that there are only a small number of sites – in any region – that consistently produce fruit of high enough quality and distinctiveness to the point of being worthy of being singled out on a label.

![](https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1405003358054-SierraMar.jpg)

_Sierra Mar Vineyard_

Where producers were not diligent, the wines are diluted and lacking in concentration. In the Santa Lucia Highlands this is especially an issue for Pinot Noir. One of the most fickle and sensitive varieties, Pinot must be judiciously cropped. Overall, the 2012 Santa Lucia Highlands Pinots are uneven, with some bright spots, but more disappointing wines than standouts. Chardonnay is more forgiving. Not surprisingly, average quality is marginally higher. Syrah is the clear winner in 2012. Heat spikes in September were too little too late for the Pinots, but Syrah, which ripens further into the fall, benefited from a last blast of heat and sunshine that gave the grapes the extra bit of concentration they needed.

In sum, growers had to make all the decisions, which is the reason why 2012 is truly a winemaker’s vintage. The best 2012 are pretty, supple and radiant, but readers must be highly selective.

**Looking Forward to 2013**

I also tasted a handful of 2013 Pinots, wines from a more favorable vintage. Yields were generous in 2013 as well, but skin-to-juice ratios are better and the wines generally have more energy, tension and complexity. Today, it appears pretty clear the 2013s will surpass the 2012s, perhaps by a wide margin.

**Further Reading**

[The Santa Lucia Highlands 2011s: Chardonnay Reigns Supreme](http://vinousmedia.com/articles/the-santa-lucia-highlands-2011s-chardonnay-reigns-supreme-jul-2013)

[California’s Central Coast: Better than Ever](http://vinousmedia.com/articles/california-s-central-coast-better-than-ever-aug-2012)

[Exploring California’s Central Coast](http://vinousmedia.com/articles/exploring-california-s-central-coast-aug-2011)

### 

_Cover: Soberanes Vineyard, courtesy of ROAR. Used with permission_

-- Antonio Galloni



2012 Santa Lucia Highlands: A Winemaker’s Vintage

2012 Santa Lucia Highlands: A Winemaker’s Vintage (July 2014)

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