17 Aug Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Celebrating Frank Ostini and Gray Hartley of Hitching Post Wines at La Paulée Dinner at Sta. Rita Hills Wine & Fire Weekend 2024

Long tables were set up forming a large rectangle. Numerous wine glasses sat at each seat. We took our seats and the wine started flowing. From that point on, wine glasses were never empty as we celebrated Frank Ostini and Gray Hartley of Hitching Post Wines, the Vintner of the Year, at the La Paulée Dinner at Sta. Rita Hills Wine & Fire Weekend 2024, the Please The Palate pick of the week.

La Paulée is a centuries-old tradition. In Burgundy, France, every domaine has a kind of paulée as a celebration to mark the end of harvest. I attended my first LaPaulée in 2004 as part of the World of Pinot Noir. I had never attended a La Paulée before and did not know what to expect. But it was one of the first and more memorable events I have attended as I had never seen so many incredible Pinot Noir wines being poured. And one of the memories I have of the event is talking with Frank Ostini.

Twenty years later, the La Paulée honored Frank Ostini and Gray Hartley of Hitching Post Wines as Vintner of the Year. The two have been making wine together for forty years. Their first commercial vintage was in 1984 but they had first met in the late 1970s. Frank was working at his family restaurant Hitching Post in Casmalia. Gray was a former Alaskan salmon fisherman. Gray was sitting at the bar at Hitching Post and noticed someone who looked like they were going to skip out on their bill. He ran out and got the license plate and gave it to Frank. The two became friends and Frank reached out a while later and asked Gray if he wanted to make wine. They started making wine in the garage in 1979 and made their first commercial vintage in 1984, releasing it in 1985.

To celebrate this 40-year partnership and their acceptance of the Vintner of the Year award, it was a veritable who’s who in the Sta. Rita Hills. Original Sta. Rita Hills producers Richard Sanford, Bryan Babcock, Rick Longoria, Doug Margerum, Norm Yost, and Greg Brewer were all pouring their wines, as well as Karen Steinwachs of Seagrape Wine Company, Dusty Nabor of Dusty Nabor Wines, Lisa and Michael from Sweetzer Cellars, Ofer Shepher from Spear Vineyard, Kevin Law from Cotiere, and many, many more!

There were so many wines poured throughout the night that it is hard to recall every wine I had the pleasure to sip and there were many.

Norm Yost poured Goat Bubbles Blanc de Noir.

Bryan Babcock poured a sparking wine which he disgorged onsite.

Rick Longoria poured a 1978 Sanford & Benedict Pinot Noir, a true treat to taste!

Greg Brewer walked around pouring Brewer Clifton Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from jeroboam bottles (four times the size of a regular 750 bottle).

Hitching Post offered a selection of Pinot Noirs ranging from vineyard sources and vintages. Weston Hartley, Gray’s son, is now making the Hitching Post wines.

An amazing evening celebrating the Sta. Rita Hills, wine, and two of the nicest people in the wine industry, Frank Ostini and Gray Hartley!