$150 (2019)
United States
Ballard Canyon, Santa Barbara County
California
Red
95% Syrah, 3% Petite Sirah, 2% Viognier (2022 vintage)
00
2011
You'll Find The Article Name Here
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
In winemaker Matt Dees' opinion, 2011 will go down as "a defining vintage for California, all of it, because so many people were able to prove that they could make elegant wines with intense fruit from a difficult year." That's to a great extent the result of accumulated experience on the part of growers and winemakers but also thanks to "the vines moving into maturity, where the wines can stop being just about fruit," an opinion shared by many of his colleagues this fall. Dees added that the coming years should prove interesting "as now that the vines are able to perform at full potential we'll be able to see if what was planted where was a good call or not."
00
2022
2025 - 2037
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
Jonata continues to move from strength to strength. The wines have always been ambitious in conception. Today, the wines are all that and more. Specifically, I see greater focus and definition than was the norm in the early days. The three top Bordeaux-based reds – Fenix, Alma de Jonata and Desafio de Jonata – are increasingly focused on single varieties, which I think really focuses those bottlings. As good as the more ‘important’offerings are in this range, I once again loved the Todos, which massively overdelivers.
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2021
2025 - 2036
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
The 2021s are some of the very best wines I have ever tasted from Jonata. The quality of the year is most evident in the Fenix Alma and Desafio trio, each of which is distinguished by a very high percentage of a single principal variety driving their respective blends. Readers will find wines that offer the combination of vibrancy, fruit purity and structure that are the calling cards of this superb Santa Barbara vintage.
00
2020
2025 - 2038
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
Matt Dees and his team at Jonata presented a stellar set of wines this year. The range has been pretty much the same since the beginning. The Sangre de Jonata is mostly Syrah, while Fenix, Alma de Jonata and Desafio de Jonata are Bordeaux blends based on Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The biggest change is with the Bordeaux wines, which were once true blends, but in 2020, they are heavily focused on single varieties. Whether that is attributable to a maturation of the vineyards or the latest evolution of thinking here, or some of both, the reality is that the 2020s are incredibly exciting, viscerally thrilling wines on a level I have rarely seen in Santa Barbara.
00
2019
2024 - 2034
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
This is a stellar set of wines from Jonata. The 2019s are the first wines made at the new Jonata/Hilt facility located at Puerta del Mar, which is adjacent to the Sta. Rita Hills. When I visited the new winery, I thought back to the original winery in Buellton, a facility that was best described as makeshift. Quite frankly, I don’t know how the team made wines there at all. The 2019s at Jonata are distinguished by their exceptional polish, especially in the tannins, which are far less forbidding than they were just a few short years ago.
00
2018
2022 - 2033
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
The 2018s from Jonata are positively stellar. Like pretty much most estates, Jonata benefitted from a long, growing season with mostly benign conditions, although winemaker Matt Dees reported a bit more shatter and smaller berries in the Cabernet Sauvignon than normal. Over the last few years, the Jonata wines have become increasingly refined and nuanced. That is especially evident in 2018, a year that naturally favors freshness and vibrancy.
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2017
2022 - 2032
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00
2017
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
Ordinarily I might say that I was impressed with these wines from Jonata, but quality is so consistently high now that it excellence is the norm. Matt Dees is one of the most brilliant winemakers of his generation. But Dees is more than just a winemaker, he has also been able to assemble a team around him to help look after Jonata, The Hilt, The Pairing, vast estate vineyards and a new winery facility, plus whatever other projects are on the horizon, and that may be an even rarer talent than knowing how to make compelling wines. The handful of 2017s I tasted from barrel point to another strong vintage at this Ballard Canyon property, while the bottled 2016s and 2015s are strong across the board, with the exception of the 2016 Fuerza, Jonata's Petit Verdot. The Cabernet-based Desafio and Sangre Syrah are the flagships, but year in year out I find myself drawn to Todos, the estate's entry-level wine, for the superb quality and value it offers.
00
2016
2021 - 2031
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
Ordinarily I might say that I was impressed with these wines from Jonata, but quality is so consistently high now that it excellence is the norm. Matt Dees is one of the most brilliant winemakers of his generation. But Dees is more than just a winemaker, he has also been able to assemble a team around him to help look after Jonata, The Hilt, The Pairing, vast estate vineyards and a new winery facility, plus whatever other projects are on the horizon, and that may be an even rarer talent than knowing how to make compelling wines. The handful of 2017s I tasted from barrel point to another strong vintage at this Ballard Canyon property, while the bottled 2016s and 2015s are strong across the board, with the exception of the 2016 Fuerza, Jonata's Petit Verdot. The Cabernet-based Desafio and Sangre Syrah are the flagships, but year in year out I find myself drawn to Todos, the estate's entry-level wine, for the superb quality and value it offers.
00
2016
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
Jonata and the team led by Matt Dees has turned out a highly promising set of 2016s. The bottled 2014s come across as a bit tough at this stage, mostly likely the result of the drought conditions of that year. I have seen these wines blossom with time in bottle, so perhaps that will be the case here as well. The 2015s were bottled just prior to my visit and were too shocked to taste. I will add notes on those wines to this article and our database in the very near future.
00
2015
2020 - 2030
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
Ordinarily I might say that I was impressed with these wines from Jonata, but quality is so consistently high now that it excellence is the norm. Matt Dees is one of the most brilliant winemakers of his generation. But Dees is more than just a winemaker, he has also been able to assemble a team around him to help look after Jonata, The Hilt, The Pairing, vast estate vineyards and a new winery facility, plus whatever other projects are on the horizon, and that may be an even rarer talent than knowing how to make compelling wines. The handful of 2017s I tasted from barrel point to another strong vintage at this Ballard Canyon property, while the bottled 2016s and 2015s are strong across the board, with the exception of the 2016 Fuerza, Jonata's Petit Verdot. The Cabernet-based Desafio and Sangre Syrah are the flagships, but year in year out I find myself drawn to Todos, the estate's entry-level wine, for the superb quality and value it offers.
00
2014
2019 - 2026
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
Jonata and the team led by Matt Dees has turned out a highly promising set of 2016s. The bottled 2014s come across as a bit tough at this stage, mostly likely the result of the drought conditions of that year. I have seen these wines blossom with time in bottle, so perhaps that will be the case here as well. The 2015s were bottled just prior to my visit and were too shocked to taste. I will add notes on those wines to this article and our database in the very near future.
00
2013
2017 - 2023
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
Jonata's bottled 2013s are superb across the board. Matt Dees continues to do brilliant work at this reference-point Ballard Canyon estate. Unfortunately I was not able to taste the 2014s, as they had been bottled just prior to my visit. In addition to these wines, I also tasted the 2015s, but they were sulfured too close to my visit to be fully expressive.
00
2012
2017 - 2024
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
This is a striking set of wines from Jonata and Winemaker Matt Dees. In particular, the 2012s have turned out as good or better than I had expected. Dees decided to blend in press juice lots after I tasted the wines last year, which has resulted in more powerful, structured wines with greater energy than the barrel samples I tasted last summer. Unfortunately I was not able to taste the 2013 reds, as they were bottled just days before my visit.
00
2012
2016 - 2024
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
Producing consistently great wines often comes down to knowing when and how to make small adjustments. Few do it better than Matt Dees at Jonata. Over the last few years, Dees has put together a seriously impressive range of wines here. The 2011s and 2012s go from strength to strength. All of that is especially impressive considering Jonata has come a very long way. Some years back, a well-known French winemaker was asked what he thought would grow well on the property. The answer? Asparagus.
00
2011
2015 - 2026
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
Producing consistently great wines often comes down to knowing when and how to make small adjustments. Few do it better than Matt Dees at Jonata. Over the last few years, Dees has put together a seriously impressive range of wines here. The 2011s and 2012s go from strength to strength. All of that is especially impressive considering Jonata has come a very long way. Some years back, a well-known French winemaker was asked what he thought would grow well on the property. The answer? Asparagus.
00
2011
2015 - 2026
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
Jonata was one of the most pleasant surprises of my trip in the Central Coast this year. The wines have been terrific for some time, but winemaker Matt Dees seems to be taking things to a new level. A slightly less pushed style, more reliance on slightly larger barrels and less new oak are all relatively recent developments here. Of course, the vineyards are also getting older, and that has a huge impact on quality and complexity. In the past, the Jonata wines haven't always aged gracefully, but I get the sense that is going to be less of an issue going forward. This is a superb set of wines across the board. I tasted all of the wines from two sets of bottles; one was opened just prior to my arrival, the other set was opened and immediately re-corked about twelve hours in advance. In most cases, the bottles that had been opened overnight were more expressive, so I suggest giving these wines a healthy decant it possible.
00
2010
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According to winemaker Matt Dees, "the obsession in California, and in Oregon for that matter, with clonal selection and rootstock doesn't address the even bigger question of whether or not a particular clone on certain rootstock is well-suited for a region, much less a specific site."That's going to require a lot of time, he added, "because you need more than a decade from establishing the vineyard to getting fruit, making wine and then eventually figuring out whether the right call was made.Then you get to start all over if you (or whoever came before you) got it wrong."With more than 50 separate blocks planted across Jonata's 600+-acre property Dees has plenty of room to experiment, that's for sure.As usual, the Jonata wines showed an impressive level of power; in fact, one likely wouldn't guess that the 2010 reds came from a cool vintage.Dees attributed the power of the wines to low yields and, unsurprisingly, the increasing average age of the vines here.He also gave some of the credit for the wines' depth of flavor to the late-season heat spike but pointed out that because of the overcast and colder-than-average summer "there's bright acidity at the wines' core, which will allow them to age gracefully and for longer than most people think."
00
2010
2014 - 2025
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
Jonata was one of the most pleasant surprises of my trip in the Central Coast this year. The wines have been terrific for some time, but winemaker Matt Dees seems to be taking things to a new level. A slightly less pushed style, more reliance on slightly larger barrels and less new oak are all relatively recent developments here. Of course, the vineyards are also getting older, and that has a huge impact on quality and complexity. In the past, the Jonata wines haven't always aged gracefully, but I get the sense that is going to be less of an issue going forward. This is a superb set of wines across the board. I tasted all of the wines from two sets of bottles; one was opened just prior to my arrival, the other set was opened and immediately re-corked about twelve hours in advance. In most cases, the bottles that had been opened overnight were more expressive, so I suggest giving these wines a healthy decant it possible.
00
2010
2013 - 2020
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Jonata truly stands out in the Central Coast as a producer of exceptionally refined wines. This year I tasted with Winemaker Matt Dees and General Manager Armand de Maigret. According to Dees, macerations were quite long in 2009 because the grapes had very high levels of phenolic ripeness. Vintage 2010 was trickier, especially with regards to rain that claimed at least one victim, the Cabernet Franc- based El Alma de Jonata, which was not produced that year. The 2009 reds were all in bottle, while the 2010 reds were in barrel. I also tasted the new releases from The Hilt, a new Pinot/Chardonnay project that is reviewed separately in these pages.
00
2009
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- By Author Name on Month Date, Year
Winemaker Matt Dees told me that he considers 2009 to be a remarkable vintage for syrah "because we were able to get both richness and energy in the wines.They also express red fruit qualities, which people don't usually expect that we can get here."We talked for a bit about the sujet du jour of my trip, which was the pursuit of finesse.Dees averred that "it's really difficult to achieve finesse with young vines.You get intense fruit but to get real elegance the vines have to be mature, and that's starting to happen now."He is very pleased with the fruit he gets from Ballard Canyon "because it holds its acidity for a really long time, meaning you don't have to rush the harvest."In addition, Dees went on, "the tannins in Ballard Canyon fruit are smoother than from other places, which gives the wine more upfront appeal."
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2009
2014 - 2021
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Jonata truly stands out in the Central Coast as a producer of exceptionally refined wines. This year I tasted with Winemaker Matt Dees and General Manager Armand de Maigret. According to Dees, macerations were quite long in 2009 because the grapes had very high levels of phenolic ripeness. Vintage 2010 was trickier, especially with regards to rain that claimed at least one victim, the Cabernet Franc- based El Alma de Jonata, which was not produced that year. The 2009 reds were all in bottle, while the 2010 reds were in barrel. I also tasted the new releases from The Hilt, a new Pinot/Chardonnay project that is reviewed separately in these pages.
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2009
2013 - 2017
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General Manager Armand de Maigret, Assistant Winemaker Drew Pickering and Vineyard Manager Ruben Solorzano showed me a wide range of wines at Jonata. The estate is currently owned by investor Stan Kroenke. Matt Dees is Winemaker, while Michel Rolland is the consulting oenologist. This large, sprawling estate spans 600+ acres, 82 of which are under vine, in Ballard Canyon, a newly proposed AVA that is under review for approval in the Santa Ynez Valley. Vintage 2008 was a colder year overall, with significant amounts of shatter and heat spikes towards the end of the growing season. The 2009s show more overt, fruit forward personalities. Both vintages are quite beautiful. I also tasted a number of older wines. With the exception of the Sangre, the wines appear to be aging at a fairly fast pace. Of course, drinking windows remain a highly personal aspect of wine appreciation, but readers who own the estate's older vintages should be checking in on the wines periodically to chart their development. I don't see too much upside potential from cellaring those wines, the 2005s and 2006s in particular, further. Accordingly I have kept drinking windows for the 2008s and 2009s relatively short. I will be thrilled if the wines end up exceeding my expectations, but at this stage only the Sangre appears to be a wine with medium and long-term aging potential.
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2008
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2008
2014 - 2022
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General Manager Armand de Maigret, Assistant Winemaker Drew Pickering and Vineyard Manager Ruben Solorzano showed me a wide range of wines at Jonata. The estate is currently owned by investor Stan Kroenke. Matt Dees is Winemaker, while Michel Rolland is the consulting oenologist. This large, sprawling estate spans 600+ acres, 82 of which are under vine, in Ballard Canyon, a newly proposed AVA that is under review for approval in the Santa Ynez Valley. Vintage 2008 was a colder year overall, with significant amounts of shatter and heat spikes towards the end of the growing season. The 2009s show more overt, fruit forward personalities. Both vintages are quite beautiful. I also tasted a number of older wines. With the exception of the Sangre, the wines appear to be aging at a fairly fast pace. Of course, drinking windows remain a highly personal aspect of wine appreciation, but readers who own the estate's older vintages should be checking in on the wines periodically to chart their development. I don't see too much upside potential from cellaring those wines, the 2005s and 2006s in particular, further. Accordingly I have kept drinking windows for the 2008s and 2009s relatively short. I will be thrilled if the wines end up exceeding my expectations, but at this stage only the Sangre appears to be a wine with medium and long-term aging potential.
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2007
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2006
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Winemaker Matt Dees took me on an extensive tour of this sprawling property (85 acres are currently planted, out of 600) just outside of Buellton, pointing out the often dramatic soil and exposition differences. "When the vineyard began to be planted, it became obvious that there was an enormous palette to work with, which is why so many varieties work here." Dees' first vine-growing and winemaking experience was in Vermont (!), where he received his undergraduate degree in Plant and Soil Sciences. "It's a little easier to make the vine behave here," he dryly noted. Uber-consultant Michel Rolland has been working here since the beginning, having had a hand in deciding what to plant where, and continues to advise on winemaking. Co-owned by Screaming Eagle partner Charles Banks, Jonata is emerging as a serious source of full-on, intensely flavored wines that blend Central Coast fruit intensity with high-end Napa polish.
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2005
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2004
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