Lucas & Lewellen is a family owned winery with estate vineyards in several areas within Santa Barbara County, California. Taking advantage of an unusual transverse mountain range, running east to west, the grapes thrive in the cool ocean air that funnels into the valleys. Vineyards are located in the Santa Ynez, Los Alamos and Santa Maria valleys. The family makes a wide variety of wines, with different varietals favoring the different sites. You can see much more about Luca & Lewellen and their range of wines on the website at https://www.llwine.com/.
We have two wines in from Lucas & Lewellen’s broad selection. Here they are:
Wine: 2017 Lucas & Lewellen Cabernet Franc
Winery Location: Grapes from Santa Ynez Valley, California
Tasted By: Neil & Cheri Date: August 2020
Tasting Notes: this wine is a dark ruby in color. It is made from 100% Cabernet Franc grapes. The nose is rich and complex, with chocolate, herbs, dark plum fruit and a touch of movie house buttered popcorn at opening. This was a bit unexpected but really cool. On the palate the wine is full bodied, with black plum fruit and a balanced profile. Mild but persistent tannins frame a long finish. We left this overnight and came back the next day, it was similar but even more integrated, smooth and rich. This is a quality wine.
Price Point – $31.99 Suggested Retail Price
Would We Buy It? – we would. As we say above, the wine is just delicious and very well made. It has a rich, complex profile you expect in a wine above $30. We think this is still a vey good value at this price and it goes on our Value List.
And now the Pinot Noir:
Wine: 2017 Lucas & Lewellen Goodchild Vineyard High 9 Pinot Noir
Winery Location: Grapes from Santa Maria Valley, California
Tasted By: Neil & Cheri Date: October 2020
Tasting Notes: the wine is a medium purple red color. The nose brings cherry, earth, tobacco and some leathery notes. This is complex. On the palate it is medium bodied, with restrained fruit and surprisingly present tannins. Nice acid keeps the wine well balanced, and it finishes long.
Price Point – Suggested Retail Price of $34.99
Would We Buy It? – Maybe. Based on our impressions we think the wine is pretty fairly priced. There are a lot of other Pinot Noirs to consider up to this price range, but this is a good example.
If you take a look at the Lucas & Lewellen website you can see that they have a broad range of wines. We’re looking forward to trying more after our experience with these. The Pinot is very good, and the Cab Franc is pretty exceptional.
A votre santé!
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