Santa Barbara County (Santa Rita Hills)

2020

The Hilt

Estate Sparkling

Matt Dees says they get great fruit richness with low sugars, so there’s no need to add dosage—this is a zero-dosage wine. It’s incredibly bright, with oyster shell minerality. They’re using low sulfur and fine-tuning both their barrel timing and how they handle press wines, increasingly putting them through malolactic fermentation to add density, richness, and flesh. The mousse is beautifully balanced—not too assertive—with a lovely baking spice richness and an unbelievable saline-acid tension. It’s long and savory, with layers of white flowers, almonds, lime blossoms, and cherry pit. 60% Pinot Noir from Sanford & Benedict Vineyard (cl. Mt Eden), 25% Chardonnay from Sanford & Benedict Vineyard (cl. Mt Eden), and 15% Chardonnay from Bentrock Vineyard (cl. 76 and 95). Fermented in used French oak and aged for 7 months, followed by tirage for 38 months.

White

2021

Xander Soren Wines

Pinot Noir

This wine is crafted using a minimal-intervention approach, beginning with meticulous hand-sorting and destemming into whole berries, with each clone fermented separately using native yeasts and daily punchdowns. After 18 days on the skins, the wine is gently pressed and undergoes native malolactic fermentation before a single racking prior to bottling. Aged in French oak (38% new, 62% two-year) from cooperages including Cadus, Damy, Billon, François Frères, and Seguin Moreau, it is bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal SO₂ (13.5% ABV). Plenty to love about this Pinot Noir, from its medium-bodied appeal to its velvety-silky textures, bolstered by good firm, yet plump and juicy tannin. The softness is surely from the time ageing, as this is a 2021 release, hitting the market some five years after harvest. It’s really quite a pleasant and easy-drinking sipper finishing with some Graham cracker crust spice and grapefruit and blood orange zest.

Red

2021

Xander Soren Wines

Private Selection, Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, Pinot Noir

Grapes are hand-sorted and destemmed, and whole berries are native yeast fermented with daily punchdowns. After 18 days on the skins, the wine is gently pressed and undergoes native malolactic fermentation before a single racking prior to bottling. It is aged 17 months in French oak (20% new, 20% once-used, 60% two+ year) and bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal sulfur. The wine is quite savory, with a black truffle umami richness and high-toned Asian spice notes of soy and white miso. Earl Grey tea tannins are firm, yet inviting. A cascade of darker umami-laced fruit glides across the palate. The finish is medium-length and dry.

Red

2023

Aaaaa The Hilt

Estate Chardonnay

A blend of Radian and Bentrock fruit. We select the most extreme expressions from both vineyards—those with the most intensity and edge—which ultimately make their way into the Estate bottling. The result is a wine of harmony and precision, with a mix of white flowers, citrus, and orchard fruit. There’s a real purity to the fruit character, with finely delineated notes of apple, pear, nectarine, and white peach. An incredible thread of saline-acid tension runs through it all, accenting a perfectly spicy element that lifts the richness of the fruit. The wine shows marvelous mid-palate density yet finishes with an ephemeral lightness of being—melting away with grace.

White

2023

The Hilt

Bentrock Vineyard Chardonnay

Fermentation started with as many lees as possible. Matt Dees explains that they prefer to kick things off with native yeast—but if it doesn’t take, they’re not dogmatic and will inoculate. They don’t add any sulfur until June at the earliest. Around that time, they roll the barrels to mix the lees thoroughly, then rack the wine back to tank for roughly eight months before bottling. This approach allows them to limit sulfur additions later in the aging process. The wine opens with early-season orchard fruit—nectarines, apricots, white peach, pear, and yellow apple and white flowers. It has a medium-bodied, silky richness on the mid-palate and a persistent finish marked by spicy ginger, fresh sage, and a gorgeous pink Himalayan sea salt minerality. It lingers and lingers on the palate, like the perfect Maldon crystal.

White

2023

The Hilt

Bentrock Vineyard Pinot Noir

This is 75% Calera clone, though the 2024 blend will be 100%. Here, the Calera shines through with dark black cherry and rose petal—super pure, ripe, and crunchy, like a perfectly ripe farmers market cherry. Layers of brown baking spice add personality and warmth. The 2023 is one of the most approachable wines I’ve tasted from Matt Dees and his team in years—they’re truly nailing both the farming and the cellar protocols. It’s medium-bodied with impressive density and chunky tannins, and purity of fruit, bursting with complex notes of blood orange and grapefruit zest. There’s incredible fruit width and concentration, yet it remains light on its feet.

Red

2023

The Hilt

Estate Chardonnay

White

2023

The Hilt

Estate Pinot Noir

This is one of the most approachable Estate Pinot Noirs from The Hilt I’ve ever tasted—but make no mistake, it’s layered with incredible structure, electric acid tension, and a saline minerality that will carry it gracefully in the cellar for decades. The purity of red and blackberry fruit is striking—so vivid and clean, with the viscosity of beautifully mineral-rich spring water. Exotic spice notes shine throughout, with gorgeous Indian and Chinese five-spice aromas, while a hint of tangerine oil brings freshness and silkiness. Mouthwatering and wildly expressive, this wine is as seductive as it is age-worthy.

Red

2023

The Hilt

Estate Syrah

This is a north-facing site—and you simply won’t believe the aromas. This Syrah is truly special, with notes of tar and roses, high-toned candied violet pastilles, and a wild, sauvage edge. On the palate, it’s an anomaly in the best sense: intensely floral with layers of rose petals and stems, violets, and a core of blueberry and blood orange. The tannins are beautifully chalky, long, and multidimensional—mouthcoating yet refined. They resolve into an extraordinary purity of crunchy black raspberry fruit and spice. It’s stunningly complex and hauntingly expressive.

Red

2023

The Hilt

Radian Vineyard Chardonnay

This is a lean, bright, focused, and vivid Chardonnay, its energy driven by an even-keeled growing season without major heat spikes. There’s a subtle tannic quality to the wine—a gentle grip from the toughness of the grape skins, constantly buffeted by ocean breezes. A gorgeous salinity runs through this lemon-lime-bright white, with lifted floral notes and expressive black sage aromatics, accented by subtle hints of elderflower.

White

2023

The Hilt

Radian Vineyard Pinot Noir

Fragrant notes of sage, black pepper, nori, and rose petals rise from the glass, leading into a wine of superb density and remarkable fruit clarity. On the palate, it’s perfectly balanced, with the finest tannins—like moon dust laced with cocoa powder—framing a gorgeously textured red wine that sends you off daydreaming. Its ethereal presence and ephemeral textures captivate and draw you in, with bursts of grapefruit zest and blood orange acidity, all sprinkled with pink Himalayan sea salt. The finish goes on for days. I could go on about this wine—it’s perfect. It will resonate differently with each person who encounters it, but it is absolutely riveting, contemplative, and belongs in the pantheon of the world’s great wines.

Red

2024

Xander Soren Wines

Habari, Single Vineyard Chardonnay

Winemaker Shalini Sekhar produced this Chardonnay from a single vineyard block of Dijon Clone 76 using a minimal-intervention approach, beginning with gentle whole-cluster pressing. Fermented in mostly neutral French oak with carefully selected yeasts and no malolactic fermentation. Aged 10 months in French oak and stainless steel and bottled with minimal sulfur. This is one serious Chardonnay, satiny through and through, balanced by crisp apple and pear notes, a firm spine of ultra-juicy acidity, and beautifully pure and vivid citrus and orchard fruits, leaning into stone from the bouquet through the slightly salty finish. Lush and supple mid-core, with excellent fruit weight.