The name "Cork Dancer" was coined by winemaker Gray Hartley, who has been a salmon fisherman in Alaska for 25 years, in reference to the way salmon jump over nets with cork floats attached to them. Gray now makes wine with Frank Ostini. They hope that when you open this wine, it will dance for you just as the leaping salmon entertained the fishermen. This wine is a blend of wines from the Santa Rita Hills, which have a cool marine influence, and the Santa Maria vineyards.
Winemaker Gray Hartley, a former fisherman, and Hitching Post restaurant owner and chef Frank Ostini make "soulful, handcrafted Pinot" that goes well with food every year in the cool climate of Santa Barbara. Restaurant owner and chef Frank Ostini and his best friend Gray Hartley, a former Alaskan fisherman, started a winery called "Hartley Ostini Hitching Post Wines." Their first vintage was made at home in 1979. They made their first Pinot Noir in 1981, and their first wine under the Hitching Post name in 1984. Their highest-grade wine, "Highliner," is an honor given to outstanding fishermen in the Alaska Salmon Fisheries Association fleet, and was given to Gray Hartley after his 28 years of achievements as a fisherman. They gave the same honor to Hitching Post Pinot Noir, the best of the Pinot Noir fleet. The movie Sideways, released in the United States in 2004, won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and became such a hot topic that a remake with a Japanese cast was later released. The movie is about the protagonist Miles, who loves Pinot Noir and hates Merlot, going on a tour of wineries in Santa Barbara with his friends, and the setting is the restaurant in Hitching Post II. Miles' famous line in the movie, "I am NOT drinking any fxxking Merlot!", became a hot topic, and it became a social phenomenon that ordinary consumers who were influenced by the movie stopped buying Merlot at wine shops and restaurants. This movie caused an unprecedented Pinot Noir boom in the United States, and Pinot Noir from not only the Santa Barbara region but all of California attracted attention from all over the world, leading to repeated shortages. Hitching Post Winery's winemaking is done by the three co-owners Frank and Gray, along with Gray's son, and even though the winery has become popular, they still produce traditional handcrafted wines. The name "Cork Dancer" was coined by Gray Hartley, a winemaker who spent 25 years in Alaska salmon fishing, as a reference to salmon jumping over a net with a cork float attached to it. Gray now makes wine with Frank Ostini. They hope that when you open this wine, it will dance for you, just as the salmon jumping up entertained the fishermen. The number "xx.1" on the label means - "x" stands for 20xx vintage, and ".1" is the first of several bottlings. Frank and Gray's goal is to create a balanced and elegant wine that expresses many flavors.