2007 Pinot Noir Cargasacchi-Jalama Vineyard Santa Barbara County

This was my first time to taste with Peter Cargasacchi, whose family vineyard at the western end of the Sta. Rita Hills supplies fruit to Bonaccorsi and Brewer-Clifton, among others. In fact, wines made from that fruit have been some of the best I've tasted from those notable producers. This September I had the chance to spend a morning driving and walking through his vineyard and surrounding sites before tasting with him in his tiny facility in Lompoc. To call Cargasacchi a wealth of knowledge on the Sta. Rita Hills is a gross understatement as he, along with Wes Hagen (Clos Pepe) were responsible for creating the petition that led to the creation of the AVA in 1998. That, plus the fact that his family has been farming in the area for over a century. Cargasacchi is a thoughtful and soft-spoken guy but getting him going on the subject of terroir can be an entertaining exercise as he isn't short on opinions. Chief among his views is that "too many flawed wines, especially from Europe, have been able to get away with being screwed up by hiding behind the smokescreen of terroir. It's been a way to make excuses for bad viticulture and bad cellar practices. Of course, where a vine grows and what type of soil it's planted on and its exposure matter, a lot, but good farming and getting proper ripeness is the real essence of making good wine," he told me. "You can have the most perfect spot for a vine on earth but if you don't take care of it, you can forget about making decent wine."