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Our vineyards are located in the Estrella Sub-Appellation just east of Paso Robles, where the property sits high on a bluff overlooking the small but scenic Pleasant Valley. This area offers an ideal combination of soil and weather conditions suitable for growing a wide variety of world class wines. 

Deep clay and loam soils combine with steep shoulder slopes to offer unparalleled water holding conditions, where the vines can thrive in the seemingly harsh conditions of our hot summer months. This is vital for the vines since it is not unusual for the Central Coast to go 8 or more months without a single drop of rain. Perhaps our greatest asset is the extreme diurnal temperature variation. Summer temperatures regularly hit the mid 100’s from June into September but are always  alleviated by the cold nights thanks to the influence of the cold Pacific Ocean. This combination of high heat and low temperatures allows the grapes a slow and regulated environment where they can ripen very slowly all summer and into the fall. 

Our viticulture practices are highly hands on, with 100% of harvesting being done by hand as well as all pruning, fruit dropping, and canopy management. We manage the vines to be ultra-low loading, so as not to stress or over exploit any one plant.

Our Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards consist of five acres of clone “8” vines that are own rooted and planted in north – south rows on 6’ x 11’ spacing. The vines were planted in 1995 and have been trained on a bi-lateral cordon and are hand pruned, shoot positioned, shoot thinned and fruit thinned to a crop load of less than 2½ tons per acre. These vines are positioned with a vertically modified sprawl with an eastern fruit exposure.

Our 5 acres of Syrah vines are oriented in the same direction and with the same spacing as our Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards. The original vineyards were also planted in 1995 and produce deep earthy and aromatic flavors that perfectly showcase the flavors of our soils and climate. These vines are also ultra-low yielding with big flavors coming from just a few clusters off each individual plant.

The other main vineyard is approximately 8 acres of head trained Petite Sirah and Zinfandel. It was planted in 2012 on the north facing side of a steep slope that helps to protect it from the hot afternoon sun. Both our Zin and the Petite Sirah vines produce wildly spicy and rich flavors that provide an example of the big flavors that are vineyards are capable of.

We irrigate the vineyard with our domestic well water. We do this to supplement the average of 10’’ of rain we receive a year. Our intention is to provide the vines with just enough water to be “in-balance”. Excessive water can dilute the wine grape juice with large hydrated berries. Inadequate irrigation can over-stress the vines, which can lead to immature fruit and making them more susceptible to potential disease.

When the fruit is at its optimum degree of ripeness, sugar concentration and flavor, we harvest the grapes by hand in the early morning hours into small ½-ton micro bins. The fruit is brought to our crush pad behind the winery building and we begin the process of making wine out of the harvest of our grapes!