A tip of the hat to Dr. Vino for pointing out this bit of narcissism from the Sea Smoke winery in California’s Santa Barbara region. Grand cru is a classification of vineyard, most notably in the Burgundy region of France. It is an official classification with historical underpinnings.
California has no such official classification for vineyards. Perhaps it should, but that is not the reality at the moment. To use the term grand cru is to mislead the consumer. The wine in the bottle is not from a grand cru vineyard.
What’s more, if a ranking of Pinot Noir vineyards in California did exist, I doubt very much Sea Smoke’s patch of land in the Sta. Rita Hills would be included. Sea Smoke enjoys a strong following among certain wine enthusiasts, but I’ve never thought the wines merited either the price or the attention.
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