Don Schroeder

In Santa Barbara County and the Santa Rita Hills, the early part of Schroeder’s career moved through a region defined by cool margins and maritime influence. In 2000, he began as winemaker at Worx (now Ampelos Cellars), taking on cellar work while continuing to deepen his relationship to vineyard and site. In 2003, he moved to Sea Smoke as enologist and later also served as Assistant Winemaker, building an increasingly close working knowledge of the estate’s character. By the time he was named winemaker in 2008, the progression was less a break than a continuation of that same line of work.

Since 2008, Schroeder has held the winemaker title at Sea Smoke, where the job sits at the center of a house closely tied to Pinot Noir. His long tenure has been marked by an approach that favors restraint over display, with attention to expression that comes through in layers rather than flash. Blanc de Noirs sits cleanly within that framework. On the subject, he has said, “As an estate dedicated to growing some of the world’s finest Pinot Noir, making a Blanc de Noirs in the style of the great Grower Champagnes was a natural next step in our evolution.”

The line shows the governing logic of the work: stay rooted in what the estate grows best, then extend that identity into another form without losing coherence.

Don’s signature wines include Sea Spray, Southing, Botella, and Ten. Together, they show the range of his Sea Smoke work, each wine carrying the estate’s style in a different register while staying inside the same conversation between vineyard and cellar.