AVA - Santa Barbara
White Hawk vineyard is located 2 miles north of Los Alamos on Cat Canyon Road in
Santa Barbara County.
Owned by the Henley family, White Hawk is situated at 900 feet elevation exactly
21 miles from the Pacific Ocean. In 1998 Jeff Newton planted the upper blocks of
White Hawk to Syrah. While still a student at UC Davis, Tim met Jeff for the first
time in 1986 at The Gainey Vineyard. Over the years Tim has studied the list of
Santa Barbara County vineyards developed and managed by Jeff. For example, Jeff
planted own-rooted Syrah at David Thompson's vineyard located roughly 3 miles southeast
of White Hawk. Consequently, the White Hawk terroir was so popular with local winemakers
that the Henley family had contracted the entire vineyard way before the first crop
of Syrah was ever harvested.
The vineyard itself is a series of ancient sand dunes containing slopes of 15 to
45%. Ten-foot vine rows are the norm at White Hawk in order to minimize the hazards
associated with driving tractors along steep, sandy contours. Soils here are identified
as "Arnold sand" which contains excessively-drained sands that developed over soft
sandstone.