We’re not surprised that today’s Calculated Risk 2016 Santa Barbara County Chardonnay earned our award for Top Santa Barbara Wine of the Year. This wine beat out all other Santa Barbara wines to take this top spot. Our Operatives loved this wine so much that they asked us to feature it 3 times in 2018! This is our last-ever sale of this great wine.

Here’s what we had to say about this wine, the last time we featured it:

Our Operatives know and love the wines of Grand Napa - which have become one of our most popular brands over the last few years. In fact, Grand Napa was awarded our Operative’s Choice: Winery of the Year during our recent WIA awards period. Today, we’ve got the exclusive on their top secret sister label, Calculated Risk.

Today’s Calculated Risk 2016 Santa Barbara County Chardonnay is a bright, shiny, silky-smooth and food-fabulous wine that is a great party aperitif wine with appetizers, or an elegant dining wine to be enjoyed with a grilled fish, or your favorite roast chicken dinner.

The Santa Barbara AVA (American Viticultural Areas) is comprised of six federally recognized AVAs that are contained within Santa Barbara County: Santa Maria Valley and the Santa Ynez Valley which is then broken down into four sub-AVAs (from West to East): Sta. Rita Hills, Ballard Canyon, Los Olivos District, and Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara.

These valleys are a geological oddity, in that they sit transversely, allowing for cooling ocean breezes to sweep through the valleys in the evenings, providing cooling after the long hot summer days. This diurnal cycle causes the grapes to experience stress - which aids in the ripening and the quality of the finished fruit, come harvest time. The varied soils, which range from ancient beach soil to diatomaceous earth, to chert and limestone here, also play their part.

This wine earns our respect - and our hearty recommendation. We guarantee that you’ll love it!