Taste Test

A masterclass in how differently the same varietal can speak based on who is farming it and in what soil.

By Lily Dougherty

On Saturday, August 15th, Fess Parker Winery opened its barrel room for a rare side-by-side tasting featuring three of Santa Barbara County’s most respected producers: Fess Parker, Bien Nacido, and Melville. The format was simple but ambitious with four flights and three producers walking guests through one grape at a time. The result was a masterclass in how differently the same varietal can speak based on who is farming it, where, and in what soil. 

Winemakers Blair Fox (Fess Parker), Anthony Avila (Bien Nacido), and Chad Melville led the tasting, with Fess Parker Winery Owner Eli Parker and President Tim Snider moderating a conversation that moved fluidly between winemaking philosophy and Q&A with the room. Guests worked through Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Syrah flights containing a “Wild Card” pour, all paired with individual, beautiful grazing boxes from Slate Catering.

The Lineup for the afternoon:

Chardonnay Flight

• Bien Nacido Estate, Santa Maria Valley, 2023 ($45)

• Fess Parker, Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, 2024 ($50)

• Melville, Estate, Sta. Rita Hills, 2025 ($46)

Pinot Noir Flight

• Bien Nacido Estate, Santa Maria Valley, 2023 ($75)

• Fess Parker, "Ashley's," Sta. Rita Hills, 2023 ($68)

• Melville, Estate "Block M," Sta. Rita Hills, 2023 ($78)

Grenache Flight

• Bien Nacido Estate, Santa Maria Valley, 2024 ($60)

• Fess Parker, Home Ranch Cuvée, Rodney's Vineyard, 2023 ($56)

• Melville, Estate "Caden's Block," Sta. Rita Hills, 2023 ($62)

• Blair Fox Cellars, Fox Family Vineyard, 2022 ($65)

Syrah Flight

• Bien Nacido Estate, Santa Maria Valley, 2023 ($60)

• Fess Parker, Rodney's Vineyard, 2023 ($56)

• Melville, Estate "Donna's Block," Sta. Rita Hills, 2023 ($62)

If there was one single thread running through the whole afternoon, it was that all three winemakers categorized themselves as farmers first. Each spoke about wanting the wine to taste like the vineyard, which in practice, means doing the farming themselves and not outsourcing it instead. Bien Nacido’s Chardonnay is planted on shale-heavy, acidic soil, which shined through with notes of green apple, honey, and peach as a direct result of that dirt. Melville, which farms 100% estate fruit, resulted in a crisper, more citrus-forward green apple pour. Chad Melville noted that his wine refutes the “ABC” (anything but Chardonnay) mentality as his wines make a strong case for the grape.

Tasting three Chardonnays from three different vineyards side by side made the “sense of place” idea incredibly tangible rather than abstract. Although they all contained the same varietal, same vintage lineup, they all had wildly different personalities.

The Pinot Noir flight from all three winemakers came from a 2023 vintage. They all agreed it is shaping up to be one of the best in recent memory. The highlight of this flight was whole-cluster fermentation, where clusters go into the fermentation process intact rather than destemmed. This is uncommon in technique but is what gives the wine umami, tea, and peppercorn notes. Bien Nacido's Pinot came in around 80% whole cluster, giving it real savory depth, while Fess Parker’s—sourced from the winery’s original plantings—used a lighter 20% touch, landing in a different, more fruit-forward register. 

Bien Nacido’s Pinot Noir is interesting because it is planted across four or five distinct soil types on one vineyard, which winemaker Anthony Avila described as effectively tasting like several different vineyards in one. Melville’s Pinot was described as graceful but assertive where it was soft at the front and then firmer underneath.

The Grenache flight was where Blair Fox Cellars joined the lineup as a guest pour alongside Fess Parker, Bien Nacido, and Melville. Blair Fox’s own bottling is, in his words, almost legally Grenache. It is around 73% Grenache blended with enough of another variety that it brushes right up against the varietal labeling line (U.S. rules generally require 75% of the named grape). Co-fermentation and co-pigmentation came up here too, a technique that adds aromatic lift and stabilizes color in red wines made from thinner-skinned grapes like Grenache.

The Syrah flight closed out the tasting. Melville’s version was singled out as especially good, with an acid-driven finish.

Beyond the technical talk, the theme of the afternoon was continuity: these are multi-generational, family-rooted operations where the winemaking decisions are inseparable from the farming decisions. And water came up more than once which is a reminder that in Santa Barbara County, as in most of California wine country, water availability isn’t a background factor. It’s a variable every one of these vineyards is actively managing, vintage to vintage.

The afternoon was collaborative, educational and awe inspiring, and an interesting reminder of how three neighboring producers can farm the same grape variety and arrive at three completely different, yet equally honest, expressions of where they’re from.