"This full - bodied wine is muscular and powerful, yet will gently unveil concentrated flavors with age. Opening aromas of spicy dried cranberries and cherries are spruced with hints of uplifting mandarin rind. Earthy hints of redwood needles, cedar and bitter cacao combat the intense dried fruits to formulate an ultimate balance of fruit and earth. Youthful and bold, yet mysteriously approachable now, the sheer amounts of tannin and acid have crafted a wine to be laid down in a serious cellar for 8+ years." –Colin McNany, Assistant Winemaker
This eighth release of LA VITA (“the life” in Italian) is produced from a unique blend of 60% Dolcetto, 24% Refosco and 16% Nebbiolo. This hand–crafted wine was aged for two and one-half years in oak barrels and then aged for an additional two years in the bottle prior to release. The 2004 harvest yielded just 4,350 bottles. With 50% of the vintage pre-sold, a limited number of bottles remain for sale. The 2004 vintage LA VITA honors Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), the great Italian composer from Venice. His masterpiece, The Four Seasons, is considered one of the finest pieces of classical music. In recognizing Vivaldi, LA VITA Series explores a new medium of music within the theme, “wine in art.” Vivaldi is one of the few composers who put words to his music, and Autumn of the Four Seasons celebrates the joy of the grape harvest.
Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons", (Autumn)
The 2004 LA VITA honors Antonio Vivaldi, the great Italian composer from Venice. This video features Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" (Autumn). The score shown on the 2004 LA VITA front label is from this piece. The narrator is reading the corresponding sonnet text intended as a descriptive basis for his Four Seasons"
What Makes Our LA VITA Wine Series So Unique?
“LA VITA wine is our finest effort in winemaking, from growing the grapes, to producing
the wine to designing the unique package." –John Bargetto
The Vineyard
Nestled atop a knoll in the Santa Cruz Mountains, overlooking the Monterey Bay, sits Regan Vineyards. Within the fifty-acre Regan site is a three-acre section dedicated to northern Italian red varietals: Dolcetto, Nebbiolo, and Refosco. These varieties have never before been grown in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The cool micro-climate at Regan vineyards affords a long growing season, thereby allowing for full flavored, rich wines.
A hilly site with thin, rocky soil within Regan was chosen for these Italian reds with the goal of restraining the natural vigor of the varieties. With a combination of shoot and cluster removal, 75% of the crop is thinned, thereby yielding wines with deep color and depth of flavor. All three reds produce large, majestic clusters.
The Wines
LA
VITA ("the life" in Italian) is a unique blend of Dolcetto, Nebbiolo and Refosco, all Santa Cruz Mountains
estate grown northern Italian red varietals. This wine is a complex wine of elegance
and structure.
The wines were fermented in small wood bins, hand-punched during fermentation and pressed with a small basket press. The wines were aged separately in 60-gallon oak barrels for two and a half years. Towards the end of cellar aging, the wines were blended to create a unique wine consisting of the three Italian Varietals.
The Package
LA VITA meets the world in a brand new package
that showcases wine in art. For thousands of years wine has been an
integral part of life in western civilization economically, religiously
and perhaps most importantly, aesthetically. Part of the wonderful
legacy of wine is that down through the ages, wine has been proudly
portrayed in art, from the Egyptians to the present day. With the
dawn of this new millennium, LA VITA SERIES, each year will showcase
one masterpiece in which wine has been portrayed.
Below is a gallery of past and present LA VITA labels.Click on any image too see artist and title information.
Each year a release party is held to unveil the new label design. Part of the proceeds from the sale of LA VITA goes to a non–profit organization in Santa Cruz County. We are pleased to be able to, in a formal way, give back some of the proceeds to the Santa Cruz community, which has been so supportive to BARGETTO WINERY and the Bargetto family through the years.”
