History
CalPERS, the California public employees' pension fund, planted the vineyard in 2007 as an investment property on land that had been part of the historic ranch holdings here. It now belongs to Stan Kroenke through The Hilt and Jonata, with Matt Dees making the wines, and the property carries The Hilt's 50,000-square-foot gravity-fed winery. Adam Tolmach's Ojai Vineyard has bottled a Puerta del Mar designate since around 2011, independently of the estate.
The Site
Six level acres at the intersection of Highway 1 and Santa Rosa Road near Lompoc. The site sits outside the official Sta. Rita Hills line, so the wines carry the broader Santa Barbara County appellation despite being surrounded by that AVA's country. Ruben Solorzano farms it.
Vines and Blocks
Evenly split between Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, both on Dijon clones, on flat ground rather than the slopes that characterise the estate's other sites.
The Wines
The Hilt bottles a Puerta del Mar Pinot Noir, and The Ojai Vineyard makes both a Pinot Noir and a Chardonnay from the site.