Our vineyard soils are predominately Lockwood Shaley Loam with the upgrade areas being predominately Santa Lucia formation soils, the latter being shallow with rock outcroppings.  The Lockwood Shaley Loam has 18-30 inches of developed topsoil on the surface, and below lie additional layers interspersed with cobbles and shale which are the leftovers of an ocean bottom deposit.  Lockwood Shaley Loam has minimal organic matter, which promotes root formation as the vines hunt for the nutrients they need. The soil has good moisture retention due to the calcium in the shale, yet good drainage due to the cobbles and shale. This allows increased control of vigor by irrigation management.  The upgrade Santa Lucia soils, with rock outcroppings help “direct” abundant water to the Lockwood soils and the vines despite the generally low volume of rainfall.

Many rootstocks are suitable for our soils type.  However, soils sampling and water quality analysis led the labs to recommend 1103P.  This recommendation was augmented by lots of advice from other growers in the area.  1103P is a vigorous rootstock, drought tolerant yet able to withstand “wet feet” when the soil becomes saturated, as it does, from time to time.  It is well suited to a combination of controlling fruit quantity and quality with a combination of canopy management and deficit irrigation practices.

While we cannot control the weather, knowing what it is doing “real time” makes a big difference in vineyard management and grape quality.  With a small vineyard, we can be much more precise.  We have a small weather station on our site with data logging for tracking real time temperature, humidity, wind speed, solar radiation, humidity, soil moisture and temperature, leaf temperature, evapo-transpiration data, and other variables that help us know how to best work within the constraints nature dictates.

When fully mature, we expect to produce up to 1500 cases per year from current plantings while maintaining production of our other single vineyard wines.

We did not get our vineyard started without some help…aside from extensive reading and research, viticulture classes at UC Davis, a lot of dumb questions and a lot of good luck; we have had help from many of the premier growers/vineyard managers in the appellation and Monterey County including Steve McIntyre of Monterey Pacific, Jason Smith of Paraiso, and, more than anyone else, Robbie Madsen and Dennis Kuchta.  Robbie and Dennis are two of the principals in Arroyo Seco Canyon Vineyard located just off Arroyo Seco Road and less than a mile across the river above our site.  Robbie, Dennis and their extended families have an established 60 acre vineyard.  Robbie has prepared thousands of acres throughout Central and Northern California for planting.  He is a walking text book full of common sense coupled with a deep intuitive understanding of the land.

Robbie and Dennis have hand held us through the front end of establishing and maintaining our vineyard and have been a treasure trove of information and hands on help.

While a “headache for many growers with mature vineyards, the early and substantial rains of 2009/10 could not have been more of a blessing for our young vineyard.  Beginning with heavy October storms that caused shale flows nearly reaching the planting area, and several winter storms that resulted in a long wet winter with rainfall exceed twice normal, our plantings had abundant available water to promote root growth during dormancy.  The results began to be evident in the spring but the real evidence came this summer as the growth in our young vines exploded.  Even though we two budded the plants early on, the trunks have thickened and become woody and the vines are growing with a vengeance.  New growth is deep red primary growth with an explosion of green growth up and into the young cordons that surprised not only us, but far more seasoned growers in the area.  We think this bodes well for the health and vigor of our vineyard and will help us manage the yields to insure Keith can work his magic in the winery with fruit from consistently strong, vibrant vines responsive to the delicate adjustments made by the vineyard manager in consultation with the winemaker in the field

Our sourced grapes we use in some of our offerings come from larger, well established vineyards whose farming practices are exemplary in the industry and whose fruit is second to none.  In our vineyard, we have the added advantage of dealing with very small blocks, very consistent soils, and the ability to give hands on attention to conditions throughout our “estate”.  For that reason, our customers should expect even more quality and consistency in our wines year after year.