History
When Sanford put these vines in, he no longer owned Sanford and Benedict; that property was in the hands of the Atkin family and he was managing it for them. La Rinconada was his own new planting on separate ground, and it went in during 1997 with some blocks following in 1999. Both ranches now belong to the Terlato family, who bought Sanford and Benedict in 2007, and the combined holding runs to nearly 1,200 acres with something over 260 of them under vine. The estate is certified under California Sustainable Winegrowing.
The Site
About twenty acres of vines, roughly eleven of Pinot Noir and nine of Chardonnay, lying west of Sanford and Benedict and lower, closer to the Santa Ynez River, at around 235 feet with a northwest exposure. That is some 165 feet below its neighbour, and the drop matters: this is warmer, gentler ground than the bench above it. Soil descriptions vary by block and by who is describing them, running from Bayshore silty clay loam to Mocho loam over shale, with sandy loam on the lower ground and clay loam mixed with diatomaceous earth and shale on the hillside.
Vines and Blocks
Pinot Noir and Chardonnay only, across a reported twelve clones. The Pinot Noir is named in producers' notes as clone 4 and Mount Eden material in varying proportion; Tyler's Chardonnay block is entirely clone 15. Block R2, a parcel of about an acre and a quarter, appears in one producer's tech sheet, but no vineyard-wide block naming is published and a block count of twenty that circulates may in fact describe the combined estate rather than this vineyard alone.
The Wines
Sanford bottles the estate wine. Beyond it the designate is taken by Racines, Chanin, Testarossa, which has bought here since 2012, and Tyler, whose La Rinconada Chardonnay is among the vineyard's best known wines. Against Sanford and Benedict next door, the wines are rounder and more immediately generous, which is what the lower, warmer siting would predict.