Sea Smoke

The history

Bob Davids was looking for a site to make Pinot Noir in the mould of Burgundy, and in 1999 he bought a property in the Sta. Rita Hills north of Santa Barbara that local winemakers and growers had eyed for years. The potential was not a secret. Nobody else had managed to buy it.

Sea Smoke's first vintage was released in 2001 and landed well, which put the name in the front rank of California Pinot Noir almost immediately. Kris Curran made those early wines, spending seven years at the estate before leaving in January 2008 for a new project elsewhere in the Sta. Rita Hills.

Farming changed early too. Organic practices came in from 2005, biodynamics on part of the estate at first and then across the whole property over the following decade.

In May 2024 Constellation Brands bought Sea Smoke, folding it into the group's higher-end wine portfolio. Victor Gallegos, the estate's VP and general manager as well as director of winemaking, stayed on to run it.

One vineyard, all of it south-facing

Sea Smoke Estate Vineyard covers an area of approximately 70 hectares and is located at an elevation ranging from about 66 to 220 meters above sea level. The vineyard faces south overall, allowing the grapevines to receive plenty of sunlight.

Sunlight is particularly important here because Sta. Rita Hills is a cold region. Furthermore, this vineyard is situated at the western edge of the AVA, in its coolest, most Pacific-exposed corner, and is located on the outskirts of Lompoc rather than in the warmer inland region of Santa Barbara County.

Farming practices follow organic and biodynamic methods, and Sea Smoke is moving even further toward regenerative agriculture. Wildlife is not an obstacle but part of the landscape. Bobcats, coyotes, hawks, and owls inhabit the canyon areas surrounding the vineyards, and rodent populations fluctuate depending on rainfall.

All wines bottled by the winery are produced from this single vineyard. No grapes are purchased from outside sources, nor are grapes from other appellations used.

The terroir

If you dig into the Sea Smoke slope, you'll find that the bottom consists of semi-siliceous shale, a mixture of limestone strata and diatomaceous earth. In Lompoc, located directly below, there is a diatomaceous earth mine, which clearly illustrates just how much of this material is buried beneath the Sta section. Rita Hills.

A thin topsoil layer composed of Gazos, Lopez, and Botella clay sits atop the bedrock. The key point here is that it is thin. Fertility is relatively low, resulting in smaller clusters of grapes and, consequently, greater concentration.

And then there's the fog. Cold air blowing in from the Pacific flows inland through the Santa Ynez River gorge most days, and this sea smoke, which gives the winery its name, slows the ripening of the grapes. While the flavors and tannins have time to fully mature, the natural acidity remains intact, and this is the secret to the balance found in this winery's Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and sparkling wines.

Two grape varieties

Sea Smoke only plants what Sta does best. Here's what Rita Hills does best:

• Pinot Noir: The reason this plot was purchased in the first place
• Chardonnay: the variety for the still white wine and this winery's sparkling wine

There is no Syrah, no Cabernet, and no separately designated experimental vineyard.

A small team and small releases

Sea Smoke is run by a small team, and this scale is reflected in how the wine is sold. Before release, bottles are allocated to mailing list members and distribution partners, so this winery, located near Lompoc, has no wine to offer visitors, and makes no pretense otherwise.

In the cellar, the three Pinot Noirs, produced from different sections of the same hillside, are not treated as if they came from separate vineyards; instead, the focus is on clearly distinguishing the characteristics of each section. The sparkling wine, Sea Spray, is aged in neutral French oak barrels before undergoing dégorgement (the process of removing sediment formed during the second fermentation).

The vineyard management and winemaking practices here have been steadily evolving since the early 2000s. Regenerative agriculture is the current manifestation of that evolution.

Three Pinots, a Chardonnay and a sparkler

The Sea Smoke product line is small and consistent. It consists of three estate Pinot Noirs, one estate Chardonnay, and one sparkling wine.

• Southing Pinot Noir
• Ten Pinot Noir
• Grand Pinot Noir, the third in this estate lineup
• Chardonnay, vinified from grapes grown in the estate's own vineyards
• Sea Spray, a sparkling wine

The names are not permanently fixed. In the early days of this estate, the third Pinot bottling was called Botella, which was the name of one of the clay soils on the property.

Sea Smoke is among the higher-priced wines in the Santa Barbara County lineup, and these wines typically sell out quickly upon release. Ten and Southing are the wines most people encounter first.