A few weeks ago, we bottled about 3,400 cases across 11 different wines. Among these wines were some old favorites, like the Estate Roussanne, Estate Viognier, and Château Duplantier, but also some new exciting wines.

We are especially thrilled about two new takes on some old favorites in our white Rhône program, both of which will be available only to club members. The first is our Reserve Viognier. We are well known for our Stainless Steel Estate Viognier, but over the past few years, our winemaker Adrienne and assistant winemaker Gretchen have been incorporating small amounts of oak influence for certain bottlings to explore the versatility of this grape and the range of palates that visit our tasting room. By taking advantage of the micro-oxygenation that happens through the pores of barrels, we have been able to showcase the fleshy tropical fruit notes along with fresh honey and a bit of creaminess. This year, we also included some skin contact on a small portion to see if we could bring out even more of those hidden characters.

Just like in red grapes, there are flavors in the skins of white grapes, but we don’t always take advantage of them because we send those grapes straight to press and separate the juice. This year, Gretchen and Adrienne, with the help of Isabelle, Adele, and Arthur, stomped a few tons of Viognier to make sure that all the berries were crushed while taking extra care not to crack the bitter seeds. We left them in the bins to extract flavors and aromatics from the skins and stems for 24 hours before pressing them off and allowing them to ferment and age in neutral oak barrels. WOW! Every day during fermentation the winemaking team tasted everything, and they were always excited to see what these wines had in store. As one would expect, we found warmed pear, peaches, mango, pineapple, even mai tai, but in addition to that, we found amazing clove and baking spice notes. This quickly became a favorite and we realized we had to keep it separate and reserved from the rest of the Viognier!

Keeping with the theme of skin contact white wines, we also bottled a small amount of our Zaca Mesa-sourced Roussanne that was fermented like a red wine entirely on its skins. Cuvée Dorée (translated roughly as “gilded blend”) is a beautiful golden-hued wine full of rose water and orange peel aromatics. We always call Roussanne our “white wine for red wine drinkers” because it has great mouth feel and tannin structure and is ageable, but adding skin fermentation into the mix brings it to another textural level. Once again, we were awestruck by the uniqueness of this wine. The bronzed skins of the Roussanne were full of spice that we don’t often associate with white wines; the waxy notes we typically find as “honeycomb” in the finished wines became more distinguished as orange oil and coconut. We bottled a very small amount of this unique wine which, as with the Reserve Viognier, will be allocated strictly to our club members.

Even though we bottled mostly white wines in July, we also bottled our winemakers’ favorite estate red: Grenache! Grenache is the Pinot Noir of the Rhône family. Typically a lighter wine, it is still amazingly full of flavors and aromatics and pairs with everything from fish to red meat. Our Estate Grenache is full of raspberry jam, violets, nutmeg, hints of cocoa, and so much more. Often pre-judged by its lighter hue, people are shocked with how much flavor it has, and the structure and tannin that allow the wine to linger on your palate. This 2015 Grenache promises to be one of our best vintage so far.

This year also brings the first ever Cabernet Sauvignon bottled by Rideau Vineyard! While not in the Rhône family, Adrienne grew up in Healdsburg and Geyserville, wandering around the Cabernet vineyards as a kid. She has a special affinity for the grape:

I remember as a kid being told that we had to stop eating all the grapes or there wouldn’t be enough left to make wine. While my love is Rhône wines, there will always be a special place in my heart for Cabernet Sauvignon as it brings back amazing memories of my childhood. My brother and I would spend hours and hours (which we are now told was about 10 minutes at a time) playing in the vineyard, and smelling the Cabernet fermentations fill the cellar.

We sourced our fruit from Happy Canyon Vineyard and bottled it under our new Adobe Series label as a vineyard-designate wine. Look out for its release, as the small amount we bottled won’t last long based on the response we’ve received from early tastings.

In addition to these exciting new wines, we also bottled our iconic Château Duplantier, easily one of the most popular red wines here at Rideau Vineyard. It came off the line just in time, as we’re nearly sold out of the 2014 bottling, so look for it to debut in the coming two months. This 2015 vintage has all the hallmark characteristics that we all love in the Château, showing classic Rhône elements bolstered by the sturdy Petite Sirah grape, but this year seems even more concentrated and rich than previous vintages.

We won’t be able to describe in the depth all the other wines from our July bottling, but you’ll be hearing about them as they roll out over the coming months. Okay. One more. We can’t resist mentioning Enchêvetré (meaning “entangled”), our new Rhône white blend of four varietals, all beautifully integrated, both bright and luscious on the palate with great acid and structure.

We’re obviously excited about these wines and we’ll take any opportunity we can find to talk about them! We’ll be doing so in the coming months through our website and blog, but in our tasting room as well… there’s no better moment to talk about a wine than when it’s fresh on your palate.

“Where you tend a rose my lad, a thistle cannot grow.”

– The Secret Garden

If you’re familiar with Rideau Vineyard, you’re familiar with the quality and attention to detail that we put into our premiere, small-lot wines, as well as the the warm and inviting experience of our tasting room and estate. What you may be unfamiliar with, however, is the new look and feel of the brand itself: our logo, our labels, our tasting room, and our new website.

What we hear time and time again is that the full experience of Rideau wines is best had at the tasting room. The vast majority of our guests and Cellar Club members visiting us in the Santa Ynez Valley make Rideau a destination in and of itself: whiling away an afternoon under the canopy of flowers on our patio, enjoying a glass of our Rhône-style wines while catching up with a friend, playing frisbee on our lawn with your family (of both the human and canine variety!), or enjoying the sounds of guests playing the piano on our patio.

Our primary goal with our rebrand was to represent these magical, intangible experiences across all aspects of our wine: tasting room, website, and of course, the wines themselves. Our Estate, Locally Grown, and Reserve wines all received a label refresh inspired by the beautiful flowers that envelop our patio as well as the iconic wrought iron balconies of New Orleans, our founder Iris Rideau’s historic hometown. At the center of each label is the new Rideau logo, encircled by a unique design for each wine, reflecting its distinct personality. Whether you’re enjoying our wine with us at the tasting room or at home with a special dinner, these labels are intended to bring to mind the incomparable experience of enjoying the wine at our estate.

Our Adobe Series is an exploration into non-Rhône varietals and winemaking practices—a Rideau tradition. These small production, limited release wines are crafted to be distinct, remarkable, and lively, just like the characters from the storied past of the historic El Alamo Pintado Adobe, now the home of our estate’s tasting room. Each wine in our whimsical Adobe Series represents a real character who at one time either owned or otherwise influenced the Adobe and the bountiful land surrounding it.

We certainly feel the magic that exists on our estate, and we are often told that the most incredible part of the Rideau experience is that it inspires a sense of being in your very own secret garden, something enchanted and unexpected, unseen from the main road and exempt from the normality of day to day life. The new look and feel of Rideau Vineyard is inspired by that feeling and intended to help you conjure it wherever you may be.

from left to right: Reza, Vicky, Norma, Antoinette (front), Aida, Irma, Jenny, Sam, Adele (front), Seth, Isabelle, Josephine (front), Martin, Arthur (front), Cindy, Shay, Debra, Sylvia, Gretchen, Adrienne, Steve, Ramiro, Lio

If you’ve visited us, you’ve probably met some of our team here at Rideau, but we’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to everyone!

Martin and Isabelle, Owners

Martin and Isabelle Gauthier moved from Montreal to Santa Barbara and realized their long-time dream of working on a vineyard and winery. They are often accompanied by their two young children: Adele, who is already good at detecting wine aromatics (don’t worry, just the aromatics!), and Arthur, who is excellent at driving the forklift (on Adrienne’s lap). In addition, their two dogs have each found their niche on the property: Antoinette is always busy chasing animals in the vineyard while Josephine enjoys resting under the shade of our oak trees.

Winemaking and Vineyard Team

Our winemaking team is as talented as they are passionate about their work. Winemaker Adrienne St. John, who was raised on a vineyard in Northern California, has a zeal for fitness and outdoors activities, but her true home is the icy realm of the winery where she crafts our acclaimed wines in full winter garb during the middle of summer. She is aided by Gretchen, our assistant winemaker, who brings loads of experience, having traveled and worked at vineyards all over the world. The winemaking team is completed by Lio, Cellar Master, who’s adept at everything and loves the Raiders almost as much as he loves Rideau (or is it vice-versa?). Ruben is our Vineyard Manager, and has been working in viticulture for almost three decades. The insight he brings to growing our vines is immense.

Operations Team

Mostly working away behind the scenes, they are nevertheless the gears that keep everything moving. Jenny is our HR Manager and Accountant and is vital to making sure we all get paid on time and stay happy. Sylvia is our long-time Cellar Club manager, and Paula is the Assistant Club Manager. If you haven’t heard from them, it means you’re picking up your shipments on time! Cindy does amazing work heading up shipping and receiving, which is a huge job for any fully direct-to-consumer winery. Ramiro is our Groundskeeper and resident jack-of-all trades; he can do everything from cooking up incredible tacos to perfectly manicuring our iconic rose gardens and sprawling green lawns. We’d be lost without him!

Sales and Floor Team

The sales team is managed by Steve, who’s been with the company for 9 years. He can often be seen weirdly laying down in the vineyard with a camera trying to get the perfect shot for an e-mail blast. Seth is the tasting room manager; his experience working in the winery for years prior to moving into the tasting room serves as a great asset. Irma heads up our Events and Groups, so you’ll be working with her when you choose to get married at Rideau (hint hint). If you get a pizza or beautifully prepared charcuterie platter, it’s made by Sam, who heads up our kitchen, or Vicky, who also works tirelessly to keep the tasting room spotless.

You’re probably most familiar with our excellent sales staff: Aida, Debra, Niki, and Reza are all truly dedicated to the company and are the faces and voices who welcome you when you visit. Norma and Shay have been giving in-depth and informative tours to visitors for years.

We can’t thank enough our entire staff for all the hard work they put in. Our company is truly a team effort, and we’re all here to make sure you get the best quality wine and have the best experience possible at our property. We’ll see you the next time you’re in!

If you’ve visited our property lately, you may have noticed that the hillside leading to our upper vineyard is blanketed by brand new plantings, now fully emerging from their protective housings. In March, we realized a long-time goal to add an additional one-acre block to our existing 13 acres of planted vines. This goal arose from a desire to round out our esteemed estate Rhône program with something we felt it was always lacking: an estate GSM blend. With such a small amount of planted Grenache and Mourvèdre, we were never able to dedicate enough of these varietals to a blend without compromising the single varietal bottling production. Now, this acre of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre will serve to enrich our Rhône program and provide us with what will eventually be a marquee reserve wine for our brand.

Under the guidance of vineyard manager Ruben Solorzano, owner Martin and Isabelle’s children Adele and Arthur put the first vines into the ground along with the whole Rideau team. Unlike many California plantings, these vines are own-rooted, which means they were not grafted onto American rootstock but rather planted straight into the ground. (Click here to watch a description of how the vines are planted). With own-rooting, there is potentially more variability from year-to-year, but the fruit flavors will not be influenced by the rootstock. Solorzano brought his decades of experience to this project, suggesting a tightly-trellised planting pattern that would yield just enough highly-concentrated fruit to create this yearly blend. Tight spacing stresses the vines, producing smaller clusters with smaller berries. This results in a higher skin-to-pulp ratio and higher intensity wines.

We’ve long worked with excellent vineyards in the region to produce GSM blends, but we’re very excited to finally feature the unique richness of our own terroir for this traditional, desired blend. You’ll have to tide yourself over on our other excellent wines for a while, though—the first vintage of our estate GSM will likely be 2019. In the meantime, feel free to come visit and peek at the new planting. For a closer look, join our wine club and get a special tour of the vineyard where you’ll learn all about what makes this particular planting and our whole site so special.