Loring Wine Company
Santa Ynez Valley AVA
Award-winning, single-vineyard Pinot Noirs from California’s most celebrated winegrowing regions
In the wine business, the term pinotphile is affectionately used to describe someone who is dedicated (maybe fanatical) about the Pinot Noir grape, often to the exclusion of many or all other varietals. Such is the case with Brian Loring, the energetic owner of Loring Wine Company. Loring fell in love with the grape at an early age, and has made it his mission to craft the best Pinot Noirs possible in California.
“When I was a kid in high school and college,” he informed, “I had jobs in various wine stores to make extra money for school and to put gas in my car. A couple of the stores had owners that were really into Burgundies and I became fascinated with the Pinot Noir grape. By the time I reached twenty one, I guess you could say I was a hard core Pinot Noir geek”.
The Southern California native completed college with three degrees (chemistry, biology and computer science) at Cal State Fullerton and went to work as an aerospace software engineer helping the navy with launch and radar programs. He retained his interest in Pinot Noir and, in 1994, attended the Orange County Wine Society Tasting where he met Norm Beko, owner of the highly respected Central Coast Cottonwood Canyon Winery. A friendship ensued and during the 1999 harvest, Loring purchased three tons of fruit that eventually turned into Loring Wine Company’s first release of 150 cases. Loring also credits Calera Wine Company with making the first California Pinot Noir he thought rivaled his favorite Burgundies from France. In homage to Calera owner Josh Jensen, Loring named his own winery Loring Wine Company.
From the tiny initial release, Loring has grown to an impressive 8,000 case winery, a level that is dictated by the yields Brian Loring gets from the assorted vineyards that supply him with fruit. Most of the production is made up of Loring’s various vineyard designated Pinot Noirs, but in 2009, he also introduced a few ‘non-Pinot’ wines to the portfolio - a Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, and Mourvedre that have all proven to be excellent additions. Through Loring’s rather quick rise to the Pinot elite, the company has remained much of a family affair. Loring and his sister Kimberly do practically all of the actual work and are aided by their mom Helen on numerous occasions. Together, they have built Loring Wine Company into a rather impressive award-winning winery with nearly 100 wines garnering 90+ Points since the debut 1999 vintage. That’s a track record that is just plain hard to beat, and we know Loring won’t be slowing down anytime soon. We hope you enjoy his latest achievement.
Brian Loring - Owner, Winemaker
According to Brian Loring, the fruit is everything and what happens in the vineyard determines the quality of the wine. It is no surprise then that Brian sources fruit from only the best vineyard sources available, many of which are considered among the finest in California. Brian crafts all of his wines in a state-of-the-art facility in Lompoc, just west of Santa Ynez in Santa Barbara County. “I would call our new winery super efficient,” Loring has mentioned. “We have enough room so as to not have to stack our full barrels and that makes handling the wines much easier. We can also stack our finished wines in a climate controlled environment, another quality control factor.” Brian Loring’s wines continue to gain popularity and the number of awards he was received is simply remarkable.
Dear Gold Medal Wine Club Members
We’re very pleased that the Gold Medal Wine Club has selected our 2012 Rosella's Vineyard Pinot Noir as one of their wines of the month. Rosella's Vineyard is owned by Gary Franscioni, whose initial claim to fame was as co-owner of Gary's Vineyard (with his partner in crime, Gray Pisoni). While Rosella's Vineyard started off as the vineyard equivalent of Gary's Little Sister, it rapidly created a huge following of its own - even eclipsing its older brother in certain vintages.
The 2012 growing season was fantastic for Pinot Noir – not too hot, not too cold. Especially in Santa Lucia Highlands, where the vineyard is located. Yields were also good in 2012, which was a nice change from the difficult 2011 vintage. We were able to get an unusually long hang time due to the perfect weather. As a result, the berries were wonderfully ripe with great acidity – and without high sugars. The wine spent 10 months in a mix of 33% new and 67% used French Oak barrels.
Our 2012 shows all of the “classic” Rosella's Pinot characteristics, with bright and deep red fruit flavors, plush mid-palate, and great finish. While the wine will probably age well for 4 to 5 years, it’s a pleasure to drink now. The bottles are finished with screwcaps, which means that you’ll never get a “corked” bottle of wine from us.
We’ve been extremely lucky to hook up with such great vineyards. After all, the quality of the wine is wholly dependent on the quality of the fruit. That’s why we always feature a photo of the vineyard on the label.
We hope you enjoy our 2012 Rosella's Vineyard Pinot Noir!
Brian Loring
