It’s hard to talk about the 2020 vintage in Santa Barbara County without feeling some version of survivors’ guilt. The skies darkened from the Willamette Valley down through Napa, the sun obscured by so much wildfire smoke. But the skies over Bien Nacido and White Hawk Vineyards, far from fire and protected, this time, by the transverse mountain ranges funneling in clear ocean air, remained brightly, and almost glitteringly blue.

We shared some of our syrah with friends in Napa who wouldn’t have had fruit to work with otherwise and, as such, there’s proportionally less of the 2020 to share with all of you this year. This too a reflection of the vintage, less here/more there, light and seriousness, all of us coming together to share the best of what the West can be.