old world wine

From our hometown in Northern California, we makes wines with an emphasis on the maritime growing regions of California wine country. Crafted with a bit of wild California winemaking spirit and a homage to Old-World practices, Sea Bird Wines can be summed up as the ideal adventure into the exploration of New World Wines.

As a boutique micro winery, we source fruit from prime vineyards and make small production wines dedicated to a classic but approachable style that you can pop for any occasion. It’s part of what we believe makes wine great: if you drink a bottle and are still enjoying it to the last drop with friends, then it’s a great wine!

But even though we are New World winemakers, we never forget our roots. That’s why our winemaking style still has its Wild West spirit, but is also true to its Old World history. Our cooler climate fruit sources (thanks to that maritime influence) lends more to the lighter-body expression of our Burgundian varieties like our Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. It also allows for brighter acidity that makes our Sonoma Coast Chardonnay from Robert’s Road Vineyard such a crowd-pleaser.

Newer wine regions in California like the Santa Rita Hills AVA have only been planted within the last 20 years. But the combination of calcium in the soil, cooling influence from the Pacific fog and moderate growing season has proven to be an ideal growing climate for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Stay tuned for our new releases, where we’ll be able to show you just what we’re talking about!

The climates of New World wine regions are often warmer, which tends to result in riper, higher alcohol and more fruit-forward expressions. But as we experience climate change across the globe, this distinction may evolve to lean less on climate and really be more defined by technique. In fact, National Geographic reports some of the  most significant climate changes in Burgundy where Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are growing increasingly warmer.

One of the great privileges we have as American winemakers is the ability to take all we know from our predecessors in the industry, and apply it to our work in the cellar to produce and exceptional wine, year after year with little restrictions. European wines are crafted with greatness, but as we move forward in the industry to embrace technology and science, the ability to progress beyond tradition to continue evolving is what makes our freedom as New World winemakers so delicious.