Dragonette Cellars Happy Canyon Sauvignon Blanc 2024

Crushed pineapple, lemon zest, chalky minerality, and honeysuckle notes all emerge from this medium-bodied, vibrant, balanced Sauvignon Blanc that would be a terrific introduction to the style and quality of this estate. A product of all four Happy Canyon Sauvignon Blanc vineyards (Grassini Family, Grimm’s Bluff, Vogelzang and Two Wolves), this wine shows the true excellence of the appellation -- beautiful ripeness and dramatic fruit flavors held aloft by fabulous acidity and minerality and only a hint of the herbaceousness for which Sauvignon Blanc is (in)famous. 

As always, top notch, per acre farming is the key here, as the winemakers prune and shoot thin for drastically lower yields than in the case of the conventional SB farming protocols. Concentration is dramatically more intense with this style of farming. Fermentation was carried out in neutral French oak and stainless steel barrels, and malolactic fermentation was blocked. The wine ages for a total of seven months on the lees before it is blended, cold stabilized with a light fining (plant and soil-based fining agents) and gently cross-flow filtered before bottling.

Brothers John and Steve Dragonette and close friend Brandon Sparks-Gillis founded Dragonette Cellars in 2005 after having worked together at a renowned wine shop in Los Angeles. Their shared passion for great wine brought them to wild, windy and remote northern Santa Barbara County, where they spent the next several years seeking out extraordinary, cool-climate vineyards and dedicating themselves to careful, patient, minimalist winemaking.

As vignerons, they have committed themselves, above all else, to the mindful farming of precise blocks in exceptional vineyards for low yields and high quality and to the shepherding of these grapes into wines of purity, complexity and balance. Given the remarkable climatic and soil diversity in Santa Barbara County, Dragonette Cellars produces small lots of Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah of interest and distinction.