The Vineyards
Kendric Vineyard
Our 2006 Pinot Noir comes from an 8.5 acre vineyard in Northern Marin right on the edge of the Sonoma border. It lies about 8 miles from the Pacific Ocean, to the West of Mt. Burdell and Olompali State Park. The vineyard is on a moderate to steep East by North East facing slope. At this site, most of the weather comes from the Pacific rather than the Bay.
The aspect of the vineyard also bears upon its micro-climate. The great Pinot Noir vineyards of Burgundy generally slope eastward, and it's often said that this is advantageous because they tend to catch morning sun and thus warm up and dry out early in the day. The vineyard site will tend to be warm relative to some others early in the growing season, but by September, when the sun spends relatively more of the day in the western sky, it is the coolest. So, during the most crucial ripening period, an east facing slope will tend to be relatively cool. This is more advantageous for Pinot Noir than for other varietals which take more heat to ripen.
The soils in this vineyard are shallow loams (a good mix of sand, silt and clay) derived from shale and sandstone overlying clay loam subsoils. The topsoil on this vineyard is well drained; the vine rows run North-South to provide even exposure to both sides of the vines and to provide mid-day shading of the fruit. The vines are planted 4 feet apart within the rows and 7.5 feet between rows resulting in a density of roughly 1,450 vines per acre. In all, there are about 12,000 vines in the vineyard. The vines are vertically trained through 3 sets of wires and cordon pruned. This style is not in vogue for most coastal Pinot vineyards, mostly because cane pruned vines will tend to set more fruit. We source fruit from three clones at the Kendric Vineyard, Pommard, Dijon 667, and #115 (which are the short rows below the giant Oak tree.)
Ripken Vineyard - 'Guard Road'
The Guard Road block sits on the south west corner of the Lodi appellation; nearly 10 miles to the west of the majority of the Lodi vineyards are planted. This vineyard sits 19 feet below sea level, on a bed of ancient sea floor. Soils are sandy/silty clay loam, high in calcium and iron with excellent root penetration. An extensive 5 year climate study identified the Guard Rd. Block to be the coolest growing region in the San Joaquin valley, with temperatures breaking the 90 degree barrier only a few days each year. Evening temperatures here are 5 degrees cooler on average than Lodi; in fact the Guard Rd. Block sees nearly identical degree days in heat units to St. Helena. There are only 15 acres of Petite Sirah planted at the Guard Rd. Block. These low yielding, dry farmed vines are pruned to a bi-lateral cordon and spacing is 5 by 10 feet. The clone 3 Petite Sirah is the only know certified virus free clone.
Over achieving? Underdog? A diamond in the rough? What ever you call it, the ‘Ripken Vineyard’ Guard Rd. Petite Sirah is world class fruit. It typically flowers a week earlier than the rest of the Vineyards, then slowly ripens extending its hang time by 3 weeks, developing intensely aromatic, flavorful berries that posses a balance of refreshing acidity and supple tannins that is unusual both for this varietal and appellation. One could even call it an ‘Elegant’ Petite Sirah, which until recently many of my fellow winemakers considered an oxymoron.
Ross Ranch Sonoma Coast Vineyard - 'Sonoma Coast'
Our 2005 Pinot Noir comes from a small 8 acre ridge-top vineyard two miles west of the town of Sebastopol flanked on both sides by old apple orchards. The vineyard is at the corner of Pleasant Hill and Elphik Rd. an area which straddles the boundary of both the Russian River Valley & Sonoma Coast appellations. This South Western location enjoys warm, but not hot days, typically it is 6 to 10 degrees cooler here than in the Northern parts of the Russian River Valley. The Ross Ranch Vineyard benefits greatly from the cooling Pacific breezes blowing in from the coast 11 miles (as the crow flies) away. This slows ripening and allows for an extended hang time with out the risk off heat spikes and over ripening. The row by row harvest took place in stages between Sept. 24th and 28th. The blend of three clones, Dijon 115, 777 & Pommard 5 were grown on the well draining soil known as 'Goldridge series loam' which is remarkable for its ability to nurture top quality Pinot Noir. This Goldridge fine sandy loam is about 5 feet deep over a layer of crumbly sandstone. The aspect of the vineyard is east and south east facing, this is advantageous because it catches morning sun and thus warms up, drying out early in the day as the marine layer brought in by the Petaluma wind gap to the south recedes. The vineyard site is naturally protected from frost damage by its ridge top location, so the cool air drains down hill.
Dutton Ranch planted and farms the Ross Ranch Vineyard. The vine rows run North-South to provide even exposure on both sides of the vines and to provide mid-day shading of the fruit. The vines are planted 4 feet apart within the rows and 6 feet between rows resulting in a density of roughly 1,600 vines per acre. The vines are vertically trained and bi-lateral cordon pruned.
Sleepy Hollow Vineyard
Sleepy Hollow is certainly one of the most famous vineyards in the Monterey appellation; some would say that it’s one of the most famous Chardonnay Vineyards in California. Planted in the early 1970’s on the Santa Lucia Highlands bench west of Gonzales, the combination of Chardonnay clones, sandy-gravelly soils, north-easterly exposure and an early California split-canopy trellis system has produced award-winning wines for over two decades.
The B Block is located in the stunning Santa Lucia Highlands, 13 miles south of Monterey Bay; this hillside vineyard is planted on Arroyo Seco gravelly loam soil, which allows excellent root penetration, enabling the vines to pick up subsoil minerals that increase flavor complexity. These sparse, well-drained soils also reduce yields, creating rich, concentrated flavors in the grapes. The vineyard’s predominately East-Northeast exposure, combined with its proximity to the Pacific Ocean, contribute to a cool growing site with moderate vineyard temperatures during the day and fog chilled mornings. This results in a long growing season, allowing the grapes the luxury of more hang time to develop greater varietal character. We source our fruit from fours rows at the upper most section of the vineyard, which tends to benefit from as much as 3 weeks more hang time than the lower bench section plantings. The Chardonnay grapes from the Sleepy Hollow B Block are 33 to 36 year old Wente clone and are planted on their own roots.
Vogelzang Vineyard
This stunning vineyard planted on rock strewn rolling hills is situated in the most south-eastern corner of the Santa Ynez Valley. Locals know it as the Happy Canyon area, this distinctive location burns off the early morning fog long before the rest of the valley, providing the much desired longer days of sunshine. The growing conditions of long warm days and cool evenings makes the Vogelzang Vineyard ideally suited for warm-weather Rhone varietals. The daily marine wind picks up again around late afternoon, quickly cooling the region, keeping the bright acidity present in the berries. It is not uncommon to see a swing of 40 degrees between day and night temperatures. Thousands of years before any vines arrived in Happy Canyon, a huge section of the mountain that flanks the canyon came crashing down, digging out a swath reaching to the Pacific. The diverse rock and rubble left behind created soils contributing to low vigor and proper drainage.
The Grenache and Syrah we source from the Vogelzang are planted to high density spacing. This spacing forces competition for soil space and nutrients, keeping the growth of the vines to a minimum. The vines spend less energy on vegetative growth and more energy on the grapes. With grape yields limited, the concentrated energy guarantees intense flavors and structure of the fruit. Two guys I can’t say enough good things about are the vineyard managers Jeff Newton and Ben Merz. They walk the fine line of water deprivation, row by row precision monitoring by the ‘rock-star’ Coastal Vineyard Care team allows for the extreme stressing of the vines. This practice contributes to the intense concentration of flavors and aromatics, while the parallel shoot positioning on a vertical trellis system with lateral shoot management guarantees a uniform openness of space allowing the sunlight to dapple, not scorch, the grapes below.
We contract a half acre of hillside Syrah and just shy of an acre of Grenache Noir from the Vogelzang. Each year we taste the latest Grenache Syrah blend and work closely with Ben Merz on further fine tuning our rows to best display the true varietal characteristics of the grapes as well as the nuance of site and growing season.