Nice list. I’d throw Sanford in as well. My perspective is a little odd - I went to grad school at UCSB in the 90’s and got into wine while there. I ended up with a mixed case or two of SB Pinots and have been drinking them slowly but not really buying more from the region. So with 20 or so years of age, the Sanfords and ABC wines held up really well - impressing a number of folks from my tasting groups - the 91 Sanford Barrel Select just killed it. The Foxens were nice young, but were shot at 15-20 years.
As you and others may know, Sanford, Richard? Sanford stopped owning and doing winemaking at Sanford approximately 10 years ago. He “is” now Alma Rosa, unless I am mistaken. Lovely property he had that I used to love visiting.
I drank a lot of Sta Maria Pinot in the 90’s and visited there repeatedly; my love affair with the grape started there. Foxen always brought a lot to the table, IMO, but I have not hand one in years. (Drifted north to Sonoma, Oregon, and above all west, to Burgundy.) The wines are, if you will, idiosyncratic and have to be enjoyed, at least by me, on those terms. I find Melville to somewhat consistently transcend the category and just tonight I had Josh Jensen’s Central Coast bottling, which, like everything he makes, keeps me coming back for more.
Of course, horses for courses, different strokes, etc., and yes, at a certain point in time, many of these wines gave me a lot of pleasure. (If they still have the big benefit, for I think arthritis, up in Santa Barbara, used to be at the Mission, definitely worth checking out, Jim Clendennin and others pouring, always a great time, and his wines of course also continue to be worth checking out.)
Seth, I used to be a big fan of Sanford until the majority ownership kicked Richard to the curb because he wanted the hold onto his conviction to be organic, biodynamic and sustainable. It was a heartless, business decision move and I responded with a personal boycott of the wine ever since. I loved the Barrel Select Chardonnay and Pinot Noir including the 91s. The 88s were my all time favs.
Foxen used to make a Sea Smoke PN better than Sea Smoke.
They lost that fruit a few years ago, 2011 abouts.
While that is debatable as both were good, IIRC the Foxen was much more expensive than the Sea Smoke.
I still have a couple of those. Very lush, comparable in quality to Sea Smoke. Hoping time will mellow the fruit a bit on these last 2 bottles.
Fantastic thread! Taking notes as my wife I I will be in the area for a day at the end of May, then a throng of 10 more adults will be joining us for the weekend. Lots of great wineries named! Wish we could visit them all!
For me, the Foxen Pinot Noir bottlings have consistently been of the highest quality for many years and have represented our area well.
With regard to Sanford, Richard should be revered as a true pioneer, however, let’s not forget that Bruno was the Winemaker there for 25 years. He was responsible for my “ah-ha/lightbulb” wine moment as a young adult. Getting to work with him years later was special.
Much agreed. Bruno d`Alphonso was a shining star and blessed to have exceptional fruit to source from. I was remiss in not including him in my praise for Sanford prior to the take over and as for you Colin, he was directly responsible for my ah-ha moment in my infancy of wine appreciation. Cheers to Bruno.
I tried the Pinot Noir flight in the tasting rooms a couple of weeks ago. I thought the pinots were representative of the warmer Sta Rta Hills vineyards and there was lots of earth characteristic of some other wines I had on my trip (Hilliard Bruce comes to mind). I do think my palette is starting to shift and I am starting to enjoy Sta Rita hills Pinot less, with the exception of wines coming out of the Rita’s crown, Mt Carmel and Sea Smoke vineyards. For reference, I am really enjoying pinots from Sonoma now, such as Willams-Selyem, Sojourn, and Peay. I really want to like Foxen because of the vibe and the consistent history but will probably not add the wines to my regular cellar purchases.
Be careful to paint too broad a stroke over the wines from the region. I do believe that there are plenty of examples of more restrained pinots coming out of that area. And not just from The Vineyards you mentioned. Try some of the Kaessler Hawk limits, for instance . . .
Oh I just meant certain vineyards not the whole AVA. I actually visited Kessler Hawk and liked it a lot! I bought 3 bottles 
I also enjoyed Sandhi, Loring and Rusack quite a bit.
I totally agree Larry. In fact, Sea Smoke has been traditionally a big Pinot Noir picked super ripe with resulting high alcohols and requiring water back. My palate changed significantly too and I found the SS too big and bold and sold all of my purchases over all the years from inception. I much prefer the Foxen Santa Maria Valley Pinot and all SRHs from ABC, Longoria, Whitcraft and the like.
You might be right about the different styles. I think I enjoy richer Pinot at this point in my life as I rarely have time to enjoy wine with food. The 2012 Sea Smoke Southing I thought was well balanced but certainly on the bolder end of the spectrum.
As you well know Bryan, our individual preferences take priority over what anyone else says about a wine and the ole adage applies here: " Drink what you like and like what you drink".
Also, as with you, Im a fan of some of the Sonoma offerings including WS [mostly older= Burts days], Peay, Coastlands and some from Anderson Valley.
I like Anderson valley a lot. One thing I noticed is I like to drink it slightly cooler than other Pinot for some reason.
and I`m with you on that as well= just a bit of a chill.
According to the wines I have in my cellar the Foxen Sea Smoke bottling came in just under the Sea Smoke Ten price but more expensive than the Southing or Botella for the same vintages. The outlier was the 2007 Select Smoke from Foxen that was over $100.
I recently revisited Melville curious to how Greg Brewer’s departure and Chad Melville now making the wine would affect style. If the 2015 Terraces Pinot Noir is any indication, their newer PN’s will show a moderation of ripeness while still retaining the dark fruit and brawny style of their vineyard and the partial stem inclusion. Terraces typically was high 14’s low 15’s ABV, the 2015 was 13.5%. Not that ABV is everything, but that was a big indicator of a stylistic shift. I was smitten and am putting Melville back on my radar.