our philosophy

The Viticultural Philosophy of Place

The motivation for choosing Point Concepción as our winery name was to reflect the philosophy of “place”, in terms of the effects of climate and region as expressed by the collective influences of land and sea on wine character and typicity. The influences created by the dominant topographical landmark Point Conception, as a primary geographic feature of the Central Coast, strongly impact the wines and defines our region.

The important characteristics of Point Conception are visible by considering that the coastline from Point Conception runs north in one direction but below, rather than running south as expected, the coast runs eastward. The coastline to San Francisco runs north and faces west. The coastline to Los Angeles runs east and faces south.

Cold Climate Viticulture

Cold Water Current

The impact of Point Conception on viticultural climate is visible from the ocean as the California current flows from the Arctic waters of the North Pacific, down to the western coast of California until it meets Point Conception.

At Point Conception the chilly waters of the California current veer offshore to the west and a fog laden, warmer eddy current flows up the coast from the south. The coastlands north of Point Conception are cool all year long because of the proximity of the cold waters of the California current. It is along this west facing coast that the the Santa Ynez and Santa Maria Valleys open wide to embrace and welcome the cool, prevailing onshore flow.

West to East Transverse Mountains

Superimposed on this cold Pacific Ocean influence from the north is a unique topographical feature of ancient, folded mountains that run from east to west, and whose valleys create “rivers” for the cold ocean air to flow inland.

North of Point Conception, the mountain ranges along the Coast run from south to north. From Point Conception southward, the terrain is bisected by west to east transverse mountain ranges that open to the coast and create maritime throats, guiding the cold marine air inland off of the Pacific Ocean. The combined effects of the cool marine influence from the California current and the topography of east-west transverse ranges create a unique growing region that is arguably the coldest in California.

Terroir

Severely folded, twisted and uplifted, the mountains of Santa Barbara County consist of sedimentary rocks that were once ancient sea floor. These parent materials, through weathering and erosion, produce extremely well drained soils, low in nutrients that are optimal for low vine vigor.