Winemaking & Grape Growing
Appellation
Santa Barbara County
Santa Barbara County is home to some of the most distinctive viticultural growing conditions in the world, with three individually identified viticultural areas: Santa Ynez Valley, Sta. Rita Hills and Santa Maria Valley. While most mountain chains in North and South America run north/south, Santa Barbara County has two ranges running east/west.
Soils and geology
Monterey Shale
The Santa Ynez Valley has been under the ocean several times in the past 150,000 years. Sunstone’s vineyards are deeply rooted in a subsoil of near-vertical Monterey shale, the result of these thousands of years of marine deposits and geological uplift. Closer to the surface, the Santa Ynez River has exposed and imported many younger soil types, such as sand, gravel, and loam.
Farming
Sustainability
Sunstone is committed to growing wine grapes without the use of herbicides, pesticides or synthetic fungicides. None of that is a certification. Sunstone’s estate-grown wines are the product of a vineyard in harmony with the Earth’s cycles throughout the year.
The fundamental philosophy for producing high-quality wines at Sunstone is to preserve the inherent quality of the grapes at every step in the grape growing and winemaking process. This holistic approach also creates a healthy environment in which to work and live.
The region
The Santa Ynez Valley
In 1983 the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms recognized the Santa Ynez Valley as a unique viticultural area. More than 4,000 acres of vineyards are planted in this region at elevations ranging from 200 feet near the Santa Ynez River to 1,500 feet in the foothills of the San Rafael Mountains.
The soils vary from gravelly loams and clay loams to shaly and silty clay loams. All soils have excellent drainage. The Santa Ynez Valley AVA — and in particular the middle and eastern portions of the AVA — is well-known for the production of high quality Rhone and Bordeaux varietal wine grapes.
The climate
Fog and Cool Air
Sunstone’s estate vineyards are situated in a moderate to warm Region II mesoclimate, in an area of the Santa Ynez Valley that typically sees a 30 to 40 degree Fahrenheit diurnal temperature fluctuation during the summer. As a result of the mild winters here, the growing season typically starts earlier than most and we harvest later due to cool, breezy evenings and foggy mornings.
experiences