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2007 SAUVIGNON BLANC MCGINLEY (FORMERLY WESTERLY)
Santa Ynez Valley

OK, here's the story: The folks who owned Westerly Vineyard and Winery sold the vineyard to the McGinley's, but they kept the winery and the name, so now the vineyard has a new name. We still buy our same two little sections and it is still custom farmed by Jeff Newton's terrific Coastal Vineyard Care.

The 2007 worked out great, and I see it as a bit more precise and correct compared to the 2006. It has the same herbal nerviness and zippy acidity that previous vintages possess, it just comes across as more elegant. There were no major changes in the growing--we are farming to keep the crop in our areas to about half that of the rest of the vineyard. This gives us a wine that is more minerally and more intensly flavored. We continue to be the first to pick this vineyard each fall, as we prefer to harvest when the grapes' acidity is still high, and the fruit still filled with personality.

In the winery the sauvignon blanc is whole cluster pressed, fermented and aged in older French oak barrels, and we actively block the malo-lactic fermentation to preserve the wine's natural acidity. In a departure from our usual hands off approach, we chose to rack (decant) the sauvignon blanc once after fermentation was complete. We think this gave the wine greater aromatic clarity, without compromising its richness.