I’m new here. It’s a little early into our ‘first date’, but I can already tell that I like you Berserkers. You’re not that into ‘middle of the road’ anything, and you’re down to try new things, like starting your own wine shipping company, or the Tide Pod challenge.
I am extremely honored to participate in Berserker Day 15. HUGE thanks to Todd and the Berserker community for inviting SAMsARA into your wild wine world. I really appreciate all the support already received from the Berserkers and am really excited to dive a little deeper with y’all, meet some new folks and make some new friends.
Real quick – there is no ‘Sam’ or ‘Sara’, and the little ‘s’ in our name doesn’t mean anything, it just looks snazzy when it’s printed on a wine list 
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For Buddhists and Hindus, the name ‘SAMsARA’ relates to the never-ending cycle of life (something I see in the vineyards each year as we move through the growing season). To me, the name ‘SAMsARA’ connects me to our vineyards and the annual growing cycle, and inspires me to make ‘vineyard driven wines’ that tell the story of the soil, climate, and vintage.
Making the SAMsARA wines for the last seven vintages (since 2017) has been a true privilege. I always dug the SAMsARA style of wines made by founder Chad Melville. Complex, savory, spicy reds with big mouthfeel and texture. I’m super grateful for the opportunity to continue and evolve this style and really ‘put my money where my mouth is’, making the kind of wines I like to drink.
I know it’s a busy day with a lot of cool stuff to get to, so I’ll do my best to lay it all out for you as quickly as possible.
SAMsARA BD15 OFFERS!
We have several SAMsARA offers, including LIBRARY OFFERS. Each Library Offer is limited to 15 packs. Additional Library Offers will drop throughout the day, so please check back in with us.
It’s critical to communicate that STA. RITA HILLS HAD NO FIRES AND ZERO SMOKE ISSUES WITH THE 2020 VINTAGE. Santa Barbara County, specifically Sta. Rita Hills, was thankfully spared from the smoke that affected most of the west coast.
FLAT RATE SHIPPING
We’re offering special BD15 $20 flat rate shipping for all orders (continental US).
Unfortunately, we cannot ship to: Delaware, Mississippi, South Dakota, Utah.
LIBRARY ‘MELVILLE FEVER’ 3-PACK (retail $262, BD15 price $195)
LIMITED - 15 3-PACKS AVAILABLE
2011 Syrah, Melville (retail $89)
2013 Pinot Noir, Melville (retail $94)
2015 Syrah, Melville (retail $79)
LIBRARY ‘STA. RITA SYRAH VERTIACAL 3-PACK (retail $272, BD15 price $200)
LIMITED - 15 3-PACKS AVAILABLE
2012 Syrah, Zotovich Vineyard (retail $94)
2013 Syrah, Melville Vineyard (retail $89)
2014 Syrah, Turner Vineyard (retail $89)
LIBRARY ‘’MAGNUM’ 2-PACK (retail $280, BD15 price $225)
LIMITED - 15 2-PACKS AVAILABLE
2019 Chardonnay, Bentrock Vineyard (retail $140)
2019 Pinot Noir, Kessler-Haak Vineyard (retail $140)
‘STA RITA HILLS SAMPLER’ 3-PACK (retail $187, BD15 price $150)
2021 Chardonnay, Bentrock Vineyard (retail $64)
- Fresh, rich, mineral driven; 12.4% abv
2021 Pinot Noir, Rancho La Vina Vineyard (retail $64)
- Rich, textural, savory, complex; 13.2% abv
2020 Syrah, Zotovich Vineyard (retail $59)
- Cracked pepper, charcuterie board aromatics, cool climate syrah; 13.5% abv
‘PRIMO PINOT’ 3-PACK (retail $222, BD15 price $175)
2020 Pinot Noir, Radian Vineyard (retail $74)
- Dark fruit, big flavor concentration, balanced; 13.5% abv
2020 Pinot Noir, Bentrock Vineyard (retail $74)
- Strawberries, black cherries, supple tannins; 12.9% abv
2020 Pinot Noir, La Encantada Vineyard (retail $74)
- Blackberry pie, winter spices, firm focused finish; 12.5% abv
'CHARD-PINOT-RHONE’ 6-PACK (retail $339, BD15 price $270)
2021 Chardonnay, Cuvee d’Inspiration Vineyard (retail $49)
- Zotovich, Gnese, Kessler-Haak blend. Racy, clean, citrus; 12.9% abv
2021 Chardonnay, Bentrock Vineyard (retail $64)
- Fresh, bright, mineral driven; 12.4% abv
2021 Pinot Noir, Cuvee d’Inspiration (retail $54)
- Radian, Bentrock, La Encantada. Juicy red fruit, balanced, complex; 13.5% abv
2021 Pinot Noir, Rancho La Vina Vineyard (retail $64)
- Rich, textural, savory, complex; 13.2% abv
2020 Syrah/Grenache, Cuvee d’Inspiration (retail $49)
- 57% Syrah/43% Grenache. Sta. Rita +Ballard Canyon. Medium bodied, big texture; 13.5% abv
2020 Syrah, Zotovich Vineyard (retail $59)
- Cracked pepper, charcuterie board aromatics, cool climate syrah; 13.5% abv
LIBRARY ‘STA. RITA PINOT HORIZONTAL’ 3-PACK (retail $282, BD15 price $210)
LIMITED - 15 3-PACKS
2014 Pinot Noir, Las Hermanas Vineyard (retail $94)
- Pure red fruit, lush and juicy; 14.0% abv
2014 Pinot Noir, Rancho La Vina Vineyard (retail $94)
- Complete, savory, balanced, rich; 14.0% abv
2014 Pinot Noir, Turner Vineyard (retail $94)
- Vibrant, bright, complex; 13.8% abv
Don’t like how they’re packaged up? Want to mix it up a little and do Chard or Pinot only? Please message or email me! We can extend the same pricing offered below into customizable orders.
Have any questions about the wines? Hit me up! I am here for YOU! Except Monday nights when I play poker.
SAMSARA 2.0
Many of you are familiar with the brand (founded in 2002!), but I’ll go through some quick history to get everyone caught up.
The organic nature of the SAMsARA 2.0 story is pretty special. Here it is in a nutshell: Chad Melville founded the brand in 2002. Fast forward to 2016 and the future for SAMsARA was uncertain due to Chad’s new full time roll at Melville after the exit of then Melville winemaker Greg Brewer. Chad wasn’t actively selling the brand, but also wasn’t planning on producing any future vintages.
Longtime SAMsARA wine club members Joan and Dave Szkutak were on their annual Santa Barbara wine trip and caught wind of the uncertain fate of one of their favorite California wineries. Joan and Dave were far from looking for a winery to buy, but it just felt right as they love SAMsARA wine and also knew I was looking for a new project.
Timing is everything! I was indeed looking for a new project after 12 great vintages at Jaffurs Wine Cellars. I learned some invaluable lessons under Craig Jaffurs, and the core of my winemaking philosophy is built around what he taught me: trust your instincts, site > everything else, resist reactive winemaking. There are some big elements of my winemaking philosophy not included in that, we’ll talk more about wine style momentarily.
Joan and Dave love SAMsARA wines because they aren’t middle of the road. They’re distinctive. They tell the story of Sta. Rita Hills. And SAMsARA’s chapter in the Sta. Rita Hills story wasn’t finished!
Joan and Dave purchased the winery in the summer of 2017. That first ‘2.0’ vintage was a little bit of a scramble, with grape contracts secured in the final stages of the growing season and the wines being produced at a shared facility.
In 2018 we found a great location in Goleta (5 minutes north of Santa Barbara) and converted an existing warehouse into our winery and tasting room. We’ve produced all our wine at our new Goleta winery since 2018, have a tasting room on-site, and we continue to operate a second tasting room in Los Olivos.
VISION FOR WINES AND WINE STYLE
Buzzwords like ‘not middle of the road’, and ‘distinctive’ sound pretty cool, sometimes it’s just fluff. I’m proud to say they actually do mean something to us.
I want our wines to be complex, with powerful aromatics and flavors. But a more elegant expression of complexity and power, with finesse. I like wines that go down easy and leave you wanting more. Give me acid, texture, salinity, spice, wild herbs and botanicals.
Without great vineyards, none of this can be achieved. SAMsARA has continued with some of the longtime partners from the early days like ‘Zotovich’ and ‘Rancho La Vina’, sites that I feel are currently performing better than ever. We’ve also added some superstars to the roster, and have been working with Radian, Bentrock, La Encantada (among others) for the last 6 vintages.
ACID – Hope you like it. We pick early, and there’s lots of it in these wines. Acidity is a gift we get from Sta. Rita Hills. It keeps our reds fresh and our Chardonnay focused, and I love it.
TEXTURE – Necessary for bright, high acid wines.
Chardonnay is barrel fermented in neutral French oak with 100% of the gross lees, lees stirring during fermentation, topping with lees to build texture and encourage ML, goal of complete malolactic fermentation (sometimes they almost get there but not 100%). ‘Longer’ 14-16 month barrel aging builds depth and mouthfeel.
Pinot / Grenache / Syrah are fermented with a big percentage of whole cluster. Aprox 50% for Pinot, generally higher % for Rhones. I’ve never met a stem I don’t like. Among the many things they do, stems bring that extra layer of fat on the mid-palate. That kinda smooth, lacquery mouthfeel that adds a little weight and sticking power.
BALANCE – We pick kinda early. It’s more common than not for SAMsARA to be the first to pick out of blocks we share with other wineries. This is done for: freshness, acidity, moderate alcohol levels, lower harvest pH levels for reds (necessary with the rise in pH from stem inclusion).
The amazing soil complexity of Sta. Rita Hills is a compelling element of the wines grown here. For that minerality to shine through and not be obscured by ripeness, oak, or manipulation, we need balance.
AU NATURAL- Native yeast, native ML, mostly neutral French oak (we use 20-30% new 500L French oak puncheons on Pinot Noir, neutral on everything else). Wines are aged on lees and never racked until bottling. Chardonnay is made sans souf (without SO2) until the wine is racked to tank before bottling. Wines are unmanipulated (have I ever made a water or acid add? Sure. But in 7 years we’ve had more vintages than not with zero adds made to anything).
2024 SAMsARA STATE OF THE UNION
Chardonnay vineyard partners: Radian, Bentrock, Francesca, Zotovich, Spear
Pinot Noir vineyard partners: Radian, Bentrock, Rancho La Vina, La Encantada, Our Lady of Guadalupe
Syrah + Grenache vineyard partners: John Sebastiano Vineyard, Zotovich, Spear, Larner
In 2023 we brought in a little over 50 tons of grapes and will produce about 3,000 cases of wine.
Another big thank you to the Wine Berserkers and especially the ‘newbie’ committee who tasted through our wines and helped me navigate our first Berserker Day!
Open invitation for any Berserkers to come and visit the winery! Please reach out to me directly on any future visits so we can meet and taste together. In the event I’m not around it’s OK – I’ll teach you the secret handshake via zoom and our capable tasting room team, or Assistant Winemaker Neal, will make sure you get to taste some extra juice while you’re here.
Please don’t drink anything boring, and thank you so much for the opportunity to share our wines with you!
Cheers!
-Matt Brady
Winemaker
