Scotty Boy!

Scott Sampler grew up in Los Angeles, earned a philosophy degree from UC Berkeley, and worked in the film industry before shifting to winemaking. He launched The Central Coast Group Project (CCGP) in 2012, based in Buellton, California, with the aim of making wines in the style of the classic Italian producers he admired — long macerations, minimal intervention, no chemical additions beyond minimal sulfur at bottling.

CCGP sources exclusively from small, family-owned vineyards farmed without chemical spraying, at minimum, with many sites farmed organically or biodynamically. All fruit is hand harvested. Sampler's approach draws on techniques from old-school Barolo: extended macerations that often run hundreds of days, native yeast fermentations, and long aging at the winery before release. His wines are distributed by Amy Atwood Selections in Los Angeles and have been placed in restaurants including Bell's in Los Alamos, Otoko in Austin, and Blue Hill at Stone Barnes in New York.

L'Arge d'Oor is Sampler's fine wine label within the CCGP umbrella, focused on single-vineyard, long-maceration wines built for aging. It sits alongside the more approachable Scotty-Boy! label, which is designed as vin de soif — wines meant to be drunk fresh, often chilled. The L'Arge d'Oor Sangiovese represents the more serious, time-intensive side of Sampler's production, with the 2018 vintage spending 171 days on skins and 24 months on the gross lees before bottling.