Hartley Ostini
Hitching Post Wines
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Hartley Ostini
Hitching Post Wines |
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Hartley Ostini Hitching Post wines are available by the taste, glass or bottle at the Hitching Post II restaurant where they are sold to take home. They can be found at several retail outlets and, of course, from our website order form. When the winery is sold out of these wines, some may still be available elsewhere, we are leaving the descriptions here to assist you with your choice. Winery prices are listed on this site's order form.
With this, our top-of-the-line bottling, we blend our best barrels
from our best vineyards. Our goal is to achieve balance and complexity
in a graceful and elegant, yet compelling and complete expression of
Pinot Noir from our region.
2003
was a warm vintage that on average set a very small crop of one
ton/acre. We let this small crop hang extra long, so as to obtain
optimum levels of ripe fruit flavors. We were able to pick each clone
from each vineyard at full maturity (25+ degrees brix) between
September 7th. and Sept 24th.
Our grapes were picked in perfect condition during the coolness of
early mornings. We destemmed into 1.5 ton open top fermenters, and
allowed a cold maceration over a 3 day period. We then innoculated with
Assmenshausen yeast. We did many manual punchdowns of the grape skin
cap during the early stages of the ferments, to achieve maximum
extraction of color and flavor. After an 18 day fermentation, we
pressed off the juice and went straight to barrel with lees. In barrel
the wines completed malolactic and rested until racking just before
bottling (unfiltered) in Feb. 2005. 
For this Highliner, we chose a cuvee that was barrel aged in 65% new
Francios Frere French oak barrels, sourcing 90% of the fruit from the
Santa Rita Hills. This blend combines clones 777, 667, 115, 2A & 4.
As we increase our vineyard sources and expand the clonal selection
from each site, we have so much to work with in the blending process.
With this full palette we have a tremendous opportunity to test our
skills at crafting what we think is our best wine. To arrive at this,
our favorite cuvee, we tried no less than 8 test blends.
This bottling shows the best of a well structured, graceful yet
flavorful vintage. Full body, intense dark fruits, white pepper spice
and earthiness, all tightly wound in a seamless package that is sure to
give more and more as it opens with age.
The name "Highliner" comes from partner Gray Hartley's 25 years of
commercial fishing of Alaskan salmon. It was there that he worked along
side the best fishermen in the fleet, and they were called
"Highliners." It seems only fitting for us to call the best wine of our
lineup - "HIGHLINER."
900+ Cases Produced
Vineyard Sources:
Santa Rita Hills - 45% Rio Vista, 15% Fiddlestix, 15%
Sanford & Benedict, 15% Cargasacchi
Santa Maria Valley: -10% Bien
Nacido
Our
entry level bottling emphasizes
youthful forward fruit from Bien Nacido, Gold Coast and Julia's
Vineyards, all from the Santa Maria Valley. Zippy berry fruit, a touch
of flowers and a hint of spice.
Dark fruits, good structured blend of Sanford & Benedict, Fiddlestix and Clos Pepe Vineyards.
Young and rich with cherries and spice.
Sweet cherry fruit and natural earthiness, bold and forward.
From the vineyard that put Santa Barbara County on the Pinot Noir
World map in 1976. This one is silky and seductive from 30 year old
vines that always ages well.
Oozing with raspberry, young with tannins and acidic structure, from one of the coolest sites of this cool AVA.
A mix of clones 115 and 667, rich and full bodied, tightly wound and barely showing its deep dark fruit and earthiness, promising a very complex future.
A blend of the best that Santa Barbara can offer: a very cool vineyard, the Bien Nacido Hillside Block Z, a medium warm site, Purisima Mountain, and a very warm vineyard, Paradise near Cachuma Lake. Bold and in-your face.
Mid-valley in Ballard Canyon, well planted and meticulously farmed by Tom & Steve Beckmen, who are successfully shooting for the highest quality.
A Cabernet Franc dominated blend that with 2002 will include Cabernet Franc from Alisos Vineyard near Los Alamos, Merlot from Westerly Vineyard in Happy Canyon (warmer eastern Santa Ynez) and Syrah from Paradise near the very warm Cachuma Lake.
Some very nice raings from Robert M. Parker Jr.'s THE WINE ADVOCATE:
Hitching Post 2002 Pinot Noir Santa Barbara. [A] sexy, seductive effort possessing a medium ruby color, sweet currants, plums, and raspberries, a round, elegant texture, and a long supple finish. Enjoy it over the next 3-4 years. - 88 points
Hitching Post 2002 ST. RITA'S EARTH exhibits sweet currant, plums, and strawberries, along with notions of barbeque spice and sassafras. Medium-bodied, attractive, and lush, it begs to be consumed over the next 2-3 years. - 88 points
Hitching Post 2002 Cargasacchi Vineyard - Sweet cherries and currants along with more animal/meaty notes, austere tannin and structure are present. With some spicy, herbal undertones, it will benefit from another year of bottle age, and drink well for 4-5 years. - 87 points
Hitching Post 2002 Fiddlestix Vineyard [A]a wonderful aromatic display of strawberry jam, cherries, spice box, dried herbs, and background notes of loamy soil and oak. Medium to full-bodied and elegant as well as authoritatively rich, this beauty can be drunk now and over the next 5-7 years. - 90 points
Hitching Post 2002 Highliner - Gorgeous aromas of raspberries, currants, cherries, oak and earth are followed by a fleshy, dark ruby-colored, broad, expansively flavored Pinot Noir that manages to be both substantial and delicate....it will provide immense pleasure over the next 5-6 years. - 90 points
Hitching Post 2002 Julia's Vineyard - Aromas of smoke, cherries, currants, flowers, spice box and earth are accompanied by a full-bodied, juicy, succulent, layered, multi-dimensional wine with a sexy, heady finish. Enjoy it over the next 5-7 years. - 91 points
Hitching Post 2002 Bien Nacido Vineyard - [A]n attractive , ripe, well-made medium to full-bodied offering displaying Pinot's more animal/muscular side. Give it another 12 months of bottle age, and drink it over the following 5-7 years. - 88 points
Hitching Post 2002 Syrah Santa Barbara is a mouthfilling, substancial, fleshy, juicy Syrah with terrific fruit as well asloads of cassis, licorice, underbrush, and leathery characteristics presented in a slightly monolithic, but satisfying manner. Drink it over the next 3-4 years. 88 points
Hitching Post Syrah 2001 Bien Nacido Vineyard. [R]eveals a cooler climate character than its two siblings, along with more Crozes-Hermitage-like herbaceousness, and a bevy of red as well as black fruits. It almost feels like the fruit is being compressed, but it has good weight, purity, and ripeness. Drink this elegant Syrah over the next 7-8 years. - 88+ points
Hitching Post Syrah 2002 Purisima Mountain. Reminiscent of a top-flight Cote Rotie, it is no wimpish wine at 14.9% alcohol, but I loved its raspberry, cassis, floral and tapenade notes, medium to full body, fine ripeness, and supple tannins. Enjoy this seductive Syrah over the next 6-7 years. 89+ points