TYLER 2015 VINTAGE RELEASE WINE SOURCE EXCLUSIVE Justin Willett - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

TYLER 2015 VINTAGE RELEASE WINE SOURCE EXCLUSIVE “Justin Willett made some of the most memorable wines of the 2015 vintage. His Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs are exceptional. It’s hard to know where to start with this range, as quality is so high across the board… Willett’s style is one of grace and understatement” - Antonio Galloni

VINEYARDS Justin Willett is crafting superb, Burgundian Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from some of the fjnest vineyards in California. His fjrst vintage was 2005, since then, his wines have become a reference for the new wave of restrained winemaking in the region. When we discovered Justin Willett and Santa Rita Hills is a remote, fringe appellation his Tyler wines (Tyler is Willett’s middle of Santa Barbara, and the site of one of the name), we knew we had found something county’s most important early plantings, extraordinary. The vineyards he is working the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, which was with are of exceptional pedigree – rare and established in the early 1970s. In the mid- special sites throughout the Santa Rita 1990s, more vineyards were planted in the Hills and Santa Maria Valley within Santa Santa Rita Hills as newcomers came to realise Barbara County, one of the most promising the potential of this seemingly inhospitable, appellations in California. The distinct terroir windswept, foggy land. Sanford & Benedict here, of marine-based soils, transverse and Bien Nacido are “own-rooted”, old vine ranges and valleys, and cool climate derived vineyards, capable of withstanding heat and from the terrain’s proximity to the Pacifjc giving beautiful acids and density of fmavour, and its fog line makes it the ideal home for thanks to the deeper root structure. Along pinot noir and chardonnay. with these old vine plots, Willett works with a handful of younger vineyards, such Willett has sought out the oldest vineyard as Zotovich and Dierberg, which are 1990s blocks in the County. Many of the original plantings. 1970s plantings of Santa Barbara have been grubbed up as yields dropped and the vines Willett currently produces 15 difgerent became less fjnancially viable, meaning bottlings under the Tyler label, from 23 there is huge competition for the remaining parcels within 8 difgerent vineyard sites, with old vine fruit. As with Burgundy’s Grands a total annual production of approximately Crus, tenacious winemakers dedicated to 5000 cases. working with these rare lands count their allocations in rows rather than acres. “Justin Willett made some of the most

JUSTIN WILLETT AND HIS PHILOSOPHY Willett was born and bred in Santa the fermentations, and Justin practises Barbara and has spent much time in much less extraction than his peers. His the vineyards of France. The infmuences wines are aged in a modest amount of of his birthplace and travels are evident new wood, just 20-30% new French oak. in the generosity of fruit, energy and He prefers to work with older wood, to graceful purity that characterise his give texture, weight and suppleness wines. He takes his inspiration from other whilst allowing the wines to express Californian winemakers, and favourite themselves. After the wines are made, Burgundy producers such as Roulot, Justin then selects difgerent wines to Bonneau du Martray, Dujac, Bachelet blend. This may result in as many as four and Rousseau. difgerent bottlings from grapes grown on one vineyard plot. His aim is to work with specifjc Santa Barbara terroirs and climats to produce Willett’s fjrst vintage was just eight barrels wines of delicacy and balance, structure in 2005, following his tenure as assistant and nuance made only from pinot noir winemaker at Arcadian Winery. At the and chardonnay. He selects and leases time, the dominant style for California his vines but farms each block himself, pinot noir was opulent, powerful and according to its particular needs and his sweet, but Willett was fjrmly committed exacting specifjcations. to his preference for lighter-bodied pinot noir and chardonnay. He said “When I fjrst He picks earlier for savoury fmavours, started doing it, everyone said “You’re freshness and vibrancy, for “long-term nuts.”” Yet after the initial resistance, drama” in his words. “If the wines are not buyers and critics alike have woken up long term what is the point of making a to the compelling nuance, grace, soaring single vineyard?”, he says. Early picking aromatics and exceptional purity of also means lower sugars and less these superb Tyler wines. alcohol. In the cellar, native yeasts begin