Lucas & Lewellen News

My Dinners with Richards & Other Musings

A sleepover in Solvang

Ilona Saari
September 25, 2015

Solvang, though built to mimic a quaint Danish town, complete with a museum honoring Hans Christian Anderson, looks more like a town out of my childhood Cinderella or Hansel & Gretel Golden Books.  But there's nothing fairy tale about the wineries.

An image of tasting room Employee Mark hard at work

Wine, Wash, & Wag

Wine, Wash, & Wag - a dog gone success

Mary Ann Norbom
October 22, 2015
The Santa Ynez Valley News

Wine, Wash & Wag spread out around the downtown village of Solvang. It was the brainchild of Lucas & Lewellen events manager Anjie Parker and Pam Koga, owner/operator of Pam's Pampered Pooches mobile grooming.

A picture of a dog friendly tasting room in Solvang

Wine Country This Week

Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards

The Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards tasting room offers guests a wide variety of wines to choose from. They craft an impressive array of wines from 26 grape varieties that are grown on their 400 estate acres in Santa Barbara County’s three distinct microclimates, creating a diversity of wine styles to suit every taste preference.

A portrait of winemaker Megan McGrath Gates smiling

Sparkling Wine for my Real Friends

Louis Villard
May 1, 2015
California Spiltwine

The following three were my top picks of the night.  Lucas & Lewellen Blanc de Noirs was my favorite on the night. Nectarines, apricot and brioche. Perfectly balanced. – $30 (great price) Summerland Winery Brut using Sonoma fruit was very crisp, and tasted of granny smiths and lime. $30 While Brewer-Cliftons straight Chard, from their own 3D vineyard, has more mouthfeel and a bit heavier with nutty, yeasty flavors and baked peach. You could age this one for 10 years or so. $50  

A bottle shot of Lucas & Lewellen sparkling wine

Food & Wine

Layers of the Land

Gabe Saglie
June 1, 2015
Food & Wine Magazine

In 1970, Central Valley grower Louis Lucas, also with Al Gagnon and Dale Hampton, established the 800-acre Tepusquet Vineyard. “We were the leading edge,” he admits, “and any time you go to an area that doesn’t have fruit, there’s a risk.” Within five years, however, the caliber of his chardonnay was luring big-name Northern California buyers like Beringer, ZD and Robert Mondavi.

A 1970's photo of Louis Lucas on Wines & Vines Magazine

2015 California Winegrape Harvest Report

Early, light, and exceptional quality

October 15, 2015
Wine Institute
SANTA BARBARA
Louis Lucas, Third Generation Grape Grower
Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards
Harvest started a couple of weeks earlier than ever before. Our yields in some varieties, like Pinot Noir and Pinot Grigio, are unbelievably low. Both bunch size and berry size are small. This situation is statewide, especially in the coastal regions. Everyone is questioning why. Many things enter into it,
like the fact that we had three large crops in a row, an early fall frost, a warm winter, bad weather during flowering, irregular berry set, a lack of winter rains and no deep soil moisture. Our total production will be down about 50 percent. I do expect the 2015 vintage to be a quality one. We were done harvesting a month early.
A picture of full grape bins at morning harvest

On the cover - Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards

Quality begins in the vineyards

Michael Cervin
June 1, 2015
Wine Country this Week

With Lucas & Lewellen wines, it’s all about choice, diversity and keeping it local.

On the cover of Wine Country this Week - Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards

One Wine's Revenge

Sideways Anniversary Inspires Merlot Tasting - Gabe Discusses with Louis

Gabe Saglie
August 28, 2014

It took just one line. Granted, it was delivered dramatically, and with angst. But just one infamous line is all it took.

"I am not drinking any (expletive) merlot!"

A promotional poster of the Sideways movie

The Liquid Legacy of Louis Lucas

Santa Barbara Wine Country Pioneer Is Driving Force Behind Lucas & Lewellen Winery

Matt Kettman
10/30/2013

In 1970, when Louis Lucas left his table grape-growing family in California’s hot Central Valley to try his hand at wine grapes in comparably cool Santa Barbara County, the 28-year-old Notre Dame graduate found himself staring at a blank canvas. 

Louis Lucas & Royce Lewellen

Interview with Louis Lucas, Viticulturist and co-owner of Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards

Mr. Hill's notes on an interview with Louis Lucas

Thomas R. Hill
09/13/2013
http://www.grape-nutz.com/tomhill/index.html

My sense is that the wines are more polished and restrained and balanced than many SBC wines. And I now know that there's some mighty good farming behind the wines.

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