Chelsea Williams, tasting room manager at Lafond Winery, checks ripening Zinfandel grapes from a 29 year-old vine in Lafond's first vineyard, above the Santa Ynez River.

Above, Pierre Lafond stokes first harvest 2001 grapes into the crusher as winemaker Bruce McGuire checks the juice flow. McGuire has been with Lafond since 1981, nurturing Lafond Vineyards to peak maturity while producing premium wines.

Below, A vintage news photo of young Pierre Lafond at the crusher in the harvest of 1965 in Santa Barbara.

The Santa Rosa Hills (in background, above) mark the southern boundary of the Santa Rita Hills American Viticultural Area. Lafond Winery has 95 acres of grapes, (shown) planted within the new appelation area. The area provides an ideal climate with morning fog and sea breezes, noted for growing fine winegrapes.

Above, from left, winemaker Bruce McGuire, David Lafond and Pierre Lafond take a taste of grapes from 2001's first harvest.

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Inside the
Santa Ynez Valley

David Lafond gazes at a distant row of trees, his green eyes thoughtful as he recalls the families who once farmed his Santa Rosa Road ranch. Long before his father bought the property and planted the vineyards, beans and squash filled the fields, row crops ruled the low hills. As General Manager of Lafond Winery, an elegant, yet countrified facility that opened last April, David speaks with pride about tradition, agriculture, and the future of his family's new winery.

"We want to produce the best wine possible from this area, get the best fruit out of our vineyard, no matter what the farming costs," David enthuses. "We're experimenting with crop loads, canopy management, and different kinds of trellising. Right now we're actually dropping fruit to improve flavor intensity."

The drive for excellence runs deep in David's family history, and distinguishes the string of enterprises associated with the Lafond name. Since the late 1950s, when David's grandfather, an Olympic equestrian who emigrated from Quebec, opened a liquor store and delicatessen on the Santa Barbara mesa, the family has created an empire of upscale shops, and contributed mightily to Santa Barbara County's urbane image

Pierre Lafond, David's father, earned a degree in architecture, then joined the staff at the deli, eventually taking charge of the business, and running it with style for nearly four decades. Over the years, he and his wife, Wendy Foster, have opened, and continue to oversee, four gourmet food shops, three clothing boutiques, and a home accessories store.

In 1962, Pierre launched Santa Barbara Winery, the county's first post-Prohibition winery, and fueled production with purchased grapes. Ten years later, when a large northern winery bought up all his fruit, Pierre set a local precedent by planting his own 65-acre vineyard, one of the first in the county, in the hills west of Buellton.

David remembers spending many a summer day of his childhood roaming the rows of that sun-struck vineyard, helping with chores, and chasing away hungry birds. Sometimes he would escape the toil to splash in a curve of the Santa Ynez River, or share a picnic in the shade with his family.

In his teens, David hired on at his dad's winery as a cellar helper, handling everything from crush duties to wine racking, barrel washing to bottling. When asked about his wages, he laughs, "Pierre paid me, but not much. I think he was trying to keep me out of trouble."

David graduated from Santa Barbara High School, and followed his father's creative lead as he set out to "learn how things are put together and how they stay together." He found work with an Italian stonemason, and for five years he mixed mortar and hauled hod, while absorbing discipline and the finer points of creating beautiful things from stone.

He immersed himself in construction, learning about framing, concrete, whatever caught his fancy, and confesses to mastering a few skills by the seat of his pants.

"I've worked in just about all the trades…To get a job doing whatever interested me, I'd buy the tools, then learn how to do it," he recalls. "I really enjoy building, because it's very creative. I have some of the love from Pierre …if that kind of thing can be passed on."

David put his accumulated knowledge to the test when he became a general contractor. For 12 years he organized crews, and supervised the construction of houses, horse barns, and business spaces, including two of the Pierre Lafond delis.

Married in 1996, David and his wife Theresa have two boys, Mason, who is seven months old, and Hayden, a toddling three-year-old. The family lives in Santa Barbara, but David doesn't mind the daily commute to the Santa Ynez Valley because there are always barrels and equipment to be shuttled back and forth, and he loves driving what he calls "one of the most beautiful highways in the world."

In his youth, David spent a lot of time in Santa Barbara's Mountain Drive community, a rollicking neighborhood that became synonymous with bohemian lifestyles and backyard winemaking. He finds pleasant parallels between his memories of that time, and what he sees here in the Valley, and doesn't dismiss the possibility of a future move to the area.

"I grew up on Mountain Drive and I always admired the community feeling there," he remembers. "It's similar to what you see in the Santa Ynez Valley. The people really stick together, and it gives you a more grounded feeling."

Five years ago, the Lafonds planted 30 acres of Syrah and Pinot Noir on a Santa Ynez Riverside bench below their first vineyard, earmarking the fruit for a new vineyard designate program. Spaced on a tight, six-by-four foot planting scheme, the vines will have to compete for water and nutrients, a tussle that enhances the sensory nuances imparted by the cool climate, and builds fruit with intense varietal characteristics, such as spice and pepper, cola and black cherry.

In a bid to boost the family's presence in the Santa Ynez Valley, and to accommodate their burgeoning red wine program, the Lafonds decided to build a winery near their vineyards, on a picturesque site between the river and the road. Pierre, who keeps his architect's license current, designed a clean, functional production facility and airy tasting room, then hired his son to direct its construction.

David enthusiastically tackled the project, ordering lumber and supplies locally, and hiring talented Valley artisans, "who made it easy" to build the beautiful complex. Once the job was done, he doffed his contractor's hat, and jumped in as general manager of the winery and vineyard operations.

David happily realized that running a winery is "not as different from contracting as you would think. General contracting is organization, making sure people know sequencing. A lot of [managing the winery] is just practical application." He combines leadership skills learned in the trades with a large dollop of common sense to keep things on track, and credits a capable staff with much of his success.

Longtime winemaker Bruce McGuire, vineyard consultant Jeff Newton, and vineyard manager Andrew Joughin collaborate with David to create mouth-watering wines worthy of the Lafond name. They fiddle with esoterica like vine density, shoot positioning, and the culling of shot (unripe) grapes to maximize the flavor and aromatics of each varietal, then shepherd the fruit through the winemaking process without losing the distinct characteristics of the grapes.

The team has confected winning methods, for the first Syrah from the Lafond Vineyard fills a waiting glass with swirls of raspberry, hints of white pepper and spice, and delivers a lip-licking finish. The Pinot Noir sings with concentrated layers of black cherry and spicy fruit, while the 1998 Lafond Chardonnay caught the critics' attention, and won a two-star thumbs-up from the Los Angeles Times' Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine.

Repeating his commitment to quality wines, David reveals a warm hint of the gracious Lafond hospitality, "We're not trying to create an events center here, our main attraction is our wines, [but] we sure like it when people can come out and enjoy it."

Proprietors for decades, the Lafonds market edible delicacies, wearable art, and a rainbow of wines from our vineyard-clad heartland. With the grand opening of Lafond Winery, they bring elegance and good taste right to the farm, where visitors can relax, sample the wares, and catch a glimpse of the bright future of Santa Barbara County wines.