Summer Vineyard Tour – La Rochelle

Last week Tom Stutz, La Rochelle winemaker, and I ventured up north to Sonoma County to find out for ourselves how the season was progressing.

Our first stop was the furthest north and the newest: Saralee’s Vineyard, home of our sole Pinot Meunier fruit. The Pinot Meunier project started out as a way for us to add something a little different to our lineup of Reserve Room wines, and we have been very pleasantly surprised to see how well the wines have also done in restaurants and with the press. Our first two vintages came from the Four Sisters Vineyard in the Sonoma Coast appellation. In 2011, the fruit was no longer available so we were able to source from Saralee’s, a gorgeous Russian River Valley (RRV) appellated vineyard. As you can see from the photo to the left, veraison has begun in this block. The grapes start to darken and soften…6-8 weeks after the start of veraison, the fruit should be ready to harvest.

The next leg of the trip took us to the Green Valley sub-appellation of RRV and

Freestone Hill Vyd.

the Dutton-Morelli Lane Vineyard from which we get a couple of tons of amazing Chardonnay. Entering this vineyard, situated 765 feet above sea level, and which has a house on the northern end, is like going to a speakeasy. You have to go through an old barn outbuilding jammed full of weathered picking boxes, bolting doors back in place as you go. We  emerged from this dark warren into the absolute perfect sunlight of a July vineyard day. The Hyde Selection of an old Wente clone of Chardonnay had not begun to get that waxy opacity that signals the start of the ripening race. It shouldn’t be long though.

Dutton-Morelli Chardonnay

A few miles from Morelli Lane is the Freestone Hill Vineyard, one of our Grand Cru Collection Pinot Noir sites. We get Dijon 115 Pinot from a 1.5 acre block at the toe of the hill where this vineyard is planted. Tom likes this location as it is the warmest part of a cold-weather site. Yields here looked to be relatively significantly greater than last year.

El Coro – La Cruz Vyd.

After a quick lunch at my favorite place in Sonoma County – The Underwood Bar & Bistro – it was on to the Sonoma Coast appellation, Petaluma, the La Cruz Vineyard. This site is the estate vineyard of Keller Estate Winery and has been a fruit source for us since the 2007 vintage. We had gotten a number of different clones in the past but are now getting only Dijon 828. This site is spectacularly situated above the Petaluma River on the east side. Planted on very light, well-draining soil, the Pinot from here has been wonderful. This block of the vineyard, owned by the Keller family who made their fortune supplying the interior material for Ford cars in Mexico, is called the El Coro block; it is named for this statuary chorus pictured to the right.

Pinot at Donum Estate

Our final stop was in Carneros at the southern tip of Sonoma at Donum Estate Vineyard. Another Grand Cru Collection site, this 200-acre vineyard is managed by Anne Moller-Racke, President of the Donum Estate brand. We are the only other winery to whom she sells fruit. Originally part of the Buena Vista plantings, we have been getting fruit from this glorious vineyard since 2009. Our first offering from the site is now available to purchase on-line.

Overall, the season is progressing beautifully (knock on wood). The weather has been moderate with very few heat spikes, the yields look to be about average to slightly above average (and significantly bigger than last year), and all of our vineyard partners are, again, showing their passion and skill for grape growing.

We’ll give an update when we get back to the sites in about a month.