The Alternative Future Prediction.

Vineyard Designates

They are already on many bottles. The thanks and respect a Winemaker has for their patrons who turn their land to grapes. The distinctness one vineyard has to another. This is not a "better" thing. It's a "differentness" thing. Winemakers and vineyard managers will tell you the same thing "Santa Barbara is blessed with many microclimates". It's not just the many wines that are made out here, but the contrast in styles. Syrah from Colson Canyon does taste different to syrah from Tierra Alta, yeah you could argue the clones, the clones, but when the same clone starts to taste different from vineyard to vineyard you know we're already ahead of you. Santa Barbara encompasses Santa Maria Valley, Santa Rita Hills and Santa Ynez Valley (the future looks towards Los Alamos and Happy Canyon), we are now seeing a new trend. A compromise from the "Estate" to the Vineyard Designate. Gaia Vineyard admittedly doesn't have the same ring as Ashley's Vineyard but it is the same award winning fruit, Westerly Vineyards in the eastern end of the Valley, the Larner Vineyards in the middle, or Bien Nacido in the north are all recognised locally yet the labels carrying these wines are becoming known nationally. Maybe it's the sword of Damocles hanging over the county with regards to a mooted county split, more significantly it's a badge of pride. It's the way a Winemaker can show how much access to fruit he has from a little parcel of land. A hundred cases of wine from Vogelzang fruit may well be preferable to a hundred thousand cases of California wine. It's more the break up of the former Soviet Union than the Orewellian consolidation of Oceania.

The sport is in seeing what Winemakers can do with fruit from the same vineyard than what he can do with the same fruit from within the greater appellation.

It's a subtle difference for sure, that's why we drink the stuff.