The Hilt is a 40-acre vineyard located in the southwest corner of the marine-influenced Santa Rita Hills AVA, in the Radiant, Bentolo
This wine fully expresses the individuality of the three vineyards, Auvergne, Puerta del Mar, and Puerta del Mar. This is a sister winery of Honata, and is brewed by Matt Deas, a young and talented winemaker with a promising future. Matt is a specialist in making wines with a "transparent" feeling, and is able to express the terroir of the vineyard directly in the wine. The Hilt is a word used in the English idiom "to the hilt", which means "to complete something", "to accomplish", "to be completely", etc. With this as our motto, we make the highest quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir using only grapes provided by nature, without any compromise in order to make high quality wines. The owner is Stan Kroenke, the owner of the well-known California cult wine Screaming Eagle. He also owns the NBA's Denver Nuggets and the NFL's St. Louis Rams (now the Los Angeles Rams), and is the largest shareholder of Arsenal in the soccer Premier League. This wine is lively, fragrant, and sophisticated. Fresh pineapple and lemon curd sprinkled with powdered sugar. Supple and elegant. Exotic, yet salty like oysters. Suitable for long-term aging, it has tension, but also soft and fresh fruitiness. Loquat, green apple, chamomile tea, ginger, lime peel, and agave. It is perfect, with the energy of the cool Pacific breeze. This wine is a reflection of the land and the attitude towards winemaking, a wine that is cool and firm, yet warm, generous, and above all, joyful. The Hilt is a premium winery that produces Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from its own vineyards on the coast of Santa Barbara County. Owned by Stan Kroenke, owner of Screaming Eagle, a synonymous name for California cult wine, The Hilt is known as a sister winery of Screaming Eagle. The wine is made by Matt Deas, a young and talented winemaker with a promising future. Matt is an expert in making wines with a "transparent" feel, and is able to express the terroir of the vineyard directly in the wine. He specializes in brewing science, and is known as a soil nerd. The Hilt's Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are wines that can only be made by a soil nerd like him. The grapes used in The Hilt's wines are grown in a very harsh natural environment. The Santa Rita Hills AVA, which stretches from east to west, is complex and divided into four areas: north-facing, south-facing, near the Pacific Ocean, and inland. The vineyards used by The Hilt are closer to the Pacific Ocean and are north-facing plots that are influenced by sea breezes. Although it is known to be a very difficult area to grow, it is said that the best grapes grow there. The area where The Hilt is based is known as Rancho Salsipuedes, and is located 20km inland from the Pacific Ocean. This is an undulating plateau with no obstacles blocking the cold winds that blow in from the sea, with a variety of altitudes, aspects, soils, and microclimates. This diversity of vineyards gives The Hilt's wines their unique character and complexity. Rancho Salsipuedes has three vineyards of its own: Radian, Bentrock, and Puerta del Mar. The Hilt produces three blended wines from these vineyards with different styles. The main lineup is The Vanguard, which uses a lot of new barrels to give it a fruity flavor and structure, The Old Guard, which uses mainly old barrels to feature the delicacy and aromas of the Old World, and an estate wine that is a blend of the two extreme wines with nuances that are just in the middle. In 2019, the long-awaited winery was completed on the Puerta del Mar site.