Our Life in Wine

2025 was a long, cool growing season. One that’s already standing out as a leap forward.

From start to finish, the vintage unfolded slowly and deliberately. Mother Nature gave the vines time to develop without pressure or extremes. Much like low-and-slow cooking with good BBQ, patience paid off, allowing flavor, structure, and balance to build naturally over the course of the season.

Years like this tend to reveal the site most clearly, which aligns with our goal of making wines that express where they come from. With the vines gaining maturity year after year, everything is beginning to coalesce, and 2025 is shaping up to be a vintage to remember.

A Cool, Steady Start

The season began with lighter winter rainfall than the previous two years, but was paired with cool but moderated temperatures. These conditions supported an even bud break across the vineyard and steady early growth. Canopies developed cleanly, and flowering progressed smoothly by late May without interruption.

From the outset, the pace of the season felt measured and truly idyllic. That early steadiness set the tone for everything that followed.

An Unusually Cool Summer

Summer 2025 remained uncharacteristically cool, even by our standards. While our site benefits from daily winds and strong diurnal shifts, this year pushed that cooler-climate identity further than usual. Temperatures throughout the summer consistently ran about ten degrees below normal, with very few days reaching 100°F.

Mornings were often overcast or misty, with sunshine breaking through later in the day. Afternoons were warm but rarely hot, and nights cooled down reliably. This extended, gentle rhythm slowed sugar accumulation, preserved natural acidity, and allowed flavors to develop gradually rather than all at once.

A Slower Path Through Veraison

Veraison arrived later than average, keeping the season closely aligned with the cooler timing of 2023. Compared to warmer years, berry development progressed at a slower, more deliberate pace, with smaller berry sizes and lower yields across much of the vineyard.

This slower progression gave our vineyard team the opportunity to respond to the vineyard, and focus on its overall health and balance, with decisions guided by what was happening in each block.

Harvest Decisions Shaped by Unusual Rain

One of the defining challenges of the 2025 vintage was the presence of rain during harvest, something that is highly unusual for our region. In Santa Ynez Valley, harvest typically takes place under dry conditions, with rain not arriving until late in the year toward December. Having any rain at all during harvest immediately raises the stakes around timing.

Rain forces careful decision-making. You don’t want to pick too early before flavors are where you want them, but you also can’t pick immediately after a rain. The fruit needs time to dry and to regain concentration after being diluted by moisture. At the same time, waiting too long after a rain can introduce mildew risk in certain varieties. In a year like 2025, the challenge becomes picking around those rain events rather than reacting to them.

We contended with multiple rain systems during harvest, where in most years there are none. Our vineyard team stayed close to the vineyard, tasting frequently, and adjusting pick dates variety by variety. So we were able to protect fruit quality and preserve balance. These decisions were not rushed, but they were deliberate, and they played a meaningful role in shaping the final character of the vintage.

Vineyard Maturity Comes Into Focus

2025 also marks an important stage in the life of our vineyard. With each passing season, the vines are gaining maturity, and that maturity is beginning to show in meaningful ways.

Root systems are deeper, vine balance continues to improve, and the fruit characteristics are expressing greater nuance and natural structure. While Lyons Vineyard has always been defined by freshness, lift, and acidity thanks to our windswept, high-diurnal site, the 2025 vintage is showing more backbone and depth layered onto that familiar balance.

What We’re Seeing So Far

As the wines continue their evolution in the cellar, we’re encouraged (and pleasantly surprised!) by what we’re tasting. The combination of a consistently cool growing season and increasing vine maturity is translating into wines with clarity, structure, and energy, even at this early stage.  

While the wines are still in progress and time will ultimately shape their final expression, the foundation laid in the vineyard during 2025 gives us strong confidence in what’s ahead.

Looking Ahead

Based on the growing season and what we’ve observed so far, we believe the 2025 vintage has the potential to rival, and possibly surpass, the highly regarded 2023 vintage at Lyons Vineyard. It is a season defined by patience, precision, and progress, and one that reflects exactly why we believe in taking the long view, both in farming and in winemaking. This feels like a defining moment for our vineyard and a clear step forward for our young winery.

We look forward to sharing these wines with you when the time comes.