December, 2018

Toccata - A Little Bit of Dust from the Dirtman

This year’s large vintage is exceptionally high in quality. The weather was kind to us throughout the entire harvest period. We started late and we finished late.

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October, 2018

Toccata - A Little Bit of Dust from the Dirtman

Harvest is in full swing. We have picked about 1/3 of the crop and we are running late calendar-wise. 

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Experienced Hands Craft Memorable Wines

James Nokes
September 29th, 2018
Daily Chronicle

A winery with a history that is centuries old and a viticulturist who’s a local legend are separated by an ocean and joined by fine wine.

This week, wines from vastly different parts of the world, from wineries whose experience runs deep are classic bottlings.

Lucas & Lewellen's Quality Control

Quality Grapes Yield Quality Wines

Dennis Schaefer
Sept 6th, 2018
Santa Barbara News-Press

Louis Lucas is one of the folks who pioneered grape growing in Santa Barbara County, beginning with his partnership in the historic Tepusquet Vineyard. Back in those early days, planting a vineyard was seen as a risky business. There weren't very many wineries in the county and it wasn't yet clear if the bigger North Coast wineries would be willing to purchase grapes from such a supposedly warm area in Southern California.

Revealing the Hidden Asset of Santa Barbara County

Uncorked

James Nokes
09/10/2018
The Daily Chronicle

Forced to lay on his back, Louis Lucas had enough.

For 40 years, the veteran Santa Barbara viticulturist had been the man behind the wines. His extensive knowledge of the area dates back to a time when the area had 60 acres of vineyards. Today there are more than 200 wineries, six AVAs and more than 21,000 acres of vines.

August, 2018

Toccata - A Little Bit of Dust from the Dirtman

The grape crop is behind in our area and all over the state, around 15-25 days behind schedule. A very cool spring can be blamed. Our recent weather has been on the warmer side but not enough to catch up. Our Italian grapes are progressing well. 

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Dirtman Louis Lucas - a photo

July, 2018

From the Ground Up
Today we are experiencing the first truly hot day of the year. At Valley View, it peaked at 106°F for a few minutes To me, the vines are a little behind schedule although, with warmer weather, we might catch up. Right now, we are expecting harvest to be late August to the first of September.
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The Valley View Vineyard scene

May, 2018

From the Ground Up
In our last newsletter, we were worrying about the freezing temperatures. Fortunately, the buds were not open and we came out of that in good shape. Since that time, we have had bud break. We had a couple nights of freezing temperatures. We had a few vines get nipped on the Goodchild Ranch and four acres of one of our Italian varieties took a pretty good hit. As we always say, in farming we live with the weather and it is a tremendous influence on what happens in the vineyards.
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A vineyard photo

June, 2018

Toccata - A Little Bit of Dust from the Dirtman

The grapes are in full bloom. The flowers have opened, and from the flowers will emerge the berries. This is a critical time in the vineyard.

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A photo of Royce and Louis

March, 2018

From the Ground Up
After a warm winter, March has come in with more than three weeks of freezing night time temperatures. We can be thankful that none of our buds have pushed. Otherwise, we would have some serious problems.
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Louis Lucas walking in the vineyard

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