The Dirt. aKa: The Vineyards
Every good winemaker knows that great wines begin in the vineyard. Being stewards of the grape requires us first to be stewards of the land. We are very proud of the vineyards we work with. Each has its own unique personality.
Sleepy Hollow Vineyard: Chardonnay
Kendric Vineyard: Pinot Noir
Roma's Vineyard: Pinot Noir
Vogelzang Vineyard: Grenache & 'Vinolocity'
Ripken Vineyard: Graciano & Petite Sirah
Sleepy Hollow Vineyard
Sleepy Hollow is certainly one of the most famous vineyards in the Monterey appellation. Planted in the early 1970’s on a split canopy trellis system in the Santa Lucia Highlands bench west of Gonzales., this hillside vineyard is located 13 miles south of Monterey Bay. Here, the Arroyo Seco gravelly loam soil 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. The Chardonnay grapes from this site are 37 to 40 year old Wente clones and are planted on their own roots. A rare and wonderful thing.
Kendric Vineyard
This 8 1/2 acre vineyard, which straddles the Marin and Sonoma County borders., lies about 8 miles from the Pacific , 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 vineyard aspect also bears upon its micro-climate. The great Pinot Noir vineyards of Burgundy generally slope eastward, this is advantageous because they tend to catch morning sun and thus warm up and dry out early in the day. This allows Pinot Noir time to develop complexity.
The soils are shallow loams (a good mix of sand, silt and clay) derived from shale and sandstone overlying clay loam subsoils. The topsoil is well drained, and 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 vertically trained through 3 sets of wires and cordon pruned. This style is not in vogue for most coastal Pinot vineyards, but it works well here. We harvest Pommard, Dijon 667, and 115 clones from this vineyard.
Vogelzang Vineyard
This stunning vineyard is planted on the rock strewn rolling hills of the Santa Ynez Valley. Known by locals as the Happy Canyon area, this region is blessed by early morning fog and afternoon marine winds, providing a respite from the long days of sunshine. This allows a desirable bright acidity to remain present in the berries and makes this site ideally suited for warm-weather Rhone varietals..
Thousands of years ago 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 grown here 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 which helps to create intense flavors, aromatics and structure in the fruit. Two guys I can’t say enough good things about are the vineyard managers Jeff Newton and Ben Merz. They are the ‘rock-star’ Coastal Vineyard Care team.
Ripken Vineyard
The Guard Road block rests on the south west corner of the Lodi appellation; nearly 10 miles to the west of where the majority of the Lodi vineyards are planted. The 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. There are 15 acres of Petite Sirah and one acre of Graciano planted here.
These low yielding, dry farmed vines are pruned to a bilateral cordon and spacing is 5 by 10 feet. The clone 3 Petite Sirah is the only known certified virus free clone. The Gaurd Rd. Block is producing world class fruit. It typically flowers a week earlier than other Vineyards, then slowly ripens extending its hang time by 3 weeks, developing intensely aromatic, flavorful berries that possess 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.
