Clementine Carter, Sta. Rita Hills (Santa Barbara County, California) Grenache 2020

 This is a Santa Barbara Grenache lover’s heaven.  Quintessential flavors of tinned cranberry, red cherry, red licorice, and floral notes highlight the well-integrated quality of Sonja Magdevski’s wines.  Sourced from sustainable vineyards, Sonja prefers a gentle minimalist approach to winemaking.  From her viewpoint, every decision from vineyard location to barrel choice is an intervention and she seeks to minimize interventions when able.  She is meticulous in making quality decisions from sourcing used barrels to adding yeast from an already fermenting wine as a starter culture.  Her style produces terroir-focused wines that are successfully highlighting the elegance and quality of Santa Barbara Rhône-styled wines.  If you do visit, she would definitely recommend a trip out of the city to Santa Barbara to see where all of the magic is made — in the terroir.