The Wines
Dragonette Happy Canyon Sauvignon Blanc 2024
Dragonette “Rita’s Crown” Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay 2022
Dragonette Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2023
Dragonette “Seven” Santa Ynez Valley Syrah 2022
Dragonette “Stolpman Vineyard” Ballard Canyon Syrah 2022
The Judgement
There’s an actual accepted food industry term I encountered a couple of years ago called “nonfunctional slack fill.” This refers to the empty space in a package: Think of the lunch-sized bag of Doritos from your preferred deli, the one you grab to accompany your favorite sandwich, that turns out to be two-thirds air and mighty light on nachos. A small sack of oxygen bereft of contents does not a banquet make.
The wine world, it should be noted, has also often made a very comfortable living on reputation outrunning reality. But then there’s Dragonette Cellars.
Visiting the Buellton winery last month, cruising through myriad samples, my longstanding admiration for this brand and the folks behind it remains undiminished. There ain’t no slack fill here, functional or otherwise. The bottles are brimming with aromatic and palatal largesse which, as they say, “is all that and a bag of chips.” (I’m not sorry.)
We made our way to a back table in a reception area where founders John Dragonette, Brandon Sparks-Gillis, and I settled in for a multi-hour tasting and frank, funny conversation. The focal point was their absolute, narrow-minded conviction and allegiance to this thing called “quality.”
They’re obsessives, seeking tiny grapes in teensy bunches that deliver maximum personality. They buy by the acre, not the ton, and in several cases perform their own farming. The vine does what the vine does, and if production drops, so be it. Their vineyard roster is a who’s who of the most lusted-after in the county. They simply can’t and won’t be stopped.
After 21 years, this singular stubbornness has elevated John, his brother Steve Dragonette, and Brandon, into the thin air at the top of Santa Barbara’s vinous hierarchy. But they don’t act like it, which is perhaps the most irritating and endearing thing about them.
They seek out new vineyards with pathological efficiency because they understand this terrain at a molecular level. They even had rocks on our tasting table. I’ve been blabbing on for decades about diatomaceous earth, and I finally hefted a chunk of that white, omnipresent Sta. Rita Hills turf. It was the only lightweight of the day: John referred to it as a Hollywood prop rock.
I banged it against my head just to make sure, but no damage occurred, to the rock or to me.
These guys know their dirt. And farming. And winemaking. And hospitality. Experience it all at their Los Olivos tasting room. Yes, your sampling glass may be only partially filled, but no slackery will be involved.
Here are my scribbled notes on the wines:
Happy Canyon Sauvignon Blanc 2024: Grapefruit, melon, and mineral arrive in a rush, urgent and bright. Fleshy and luxurious with counterbalancing vibrance. The cooperation between richness and electricity is exactly the point. A “best of” medley drawing from Grassini, Vogelzang, and Grimm’s Bluff. Should be legally renamed “Happiest Canyon.”
Rita’s Crown Chardonnay 2022: Creaminess and tropicality in full conspiracy, with toasty accents providing barrel-ific spice influences. A gorgeous effort that finishes lengthier than a CVS receipt or a rancorous Thanksgiving with the in-laws.
Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2023: “Entry level?” I think not. Predominantly Fiddlestix Vineyard, and it shows: Tiers of dried orange peel, plum, pomegranate, dried flowers, and cocoa arrive with unhurried confidence. Cohesive, luxe, and frankly, a little indecent.
Radian Vineyard Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2022: Power and grace in unlikely equilibrium: A heavyweight that moves like a middleweight. Fruit-centric and deeply sensual, with a risqué undercurrent that made my bifocals fog up. Am unambiguously in love.
“Seven” Syrah Santa Ynez Valley 2022: A deliberate marriage of cooler and warmer climate fruit from Sta. Rita Hills and Ballard Canyon, and the union is a happy one. Floral, deep, succulent, and ostentatiously forward.
Stolpman Vineyard Syrah 2022: Vocal and sumptuous, red and black fruits in full throat, accented by a citrus tinge and a density on the palate that’s engrossing. Spicy, heady, unrepentant. Nirvana, but louder.
Dragonette Cellars is hosting a spring dinner at the Buellton winery on April 11 (click here for details and tickets) and a summer vineyard walk at Fiddlestix Vineyard on July 11 (details to come). See dragonettecellars.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment.