New Releases
Sampler Pack, Spring 2021

The Helfer Vineyard is located in the Vine Hill area of the Russian River Valley. The vineyard’s densely planted vines require hand cultivation and yield more concentrated fruit than can be achieved by traditional California vine spacing. We bottle this Chardonnay without fining or filtration to preserve its finer qualities.

Our old vine Zinfandel represents the labor of three generations of the Scherrer family — many of the vines that produced this wine were planted in 1912. It was bottled without fining or filtration to capture the beauty and personality of the Scherrer Vineyard. Although enjoyable in its youth, it should age and develop gracefully for 5 to 10 years after the vintage.

From the cooler area of the Russian River Valley, this Pinot Noir exhibits the characteristic flavors of Green Valley wine grapes — bright red fruits with a soft earthiness and elegance. The wine was made from a single clone — Dijon 777 — grown on a hillside block in Goldridge/West Sebastopol loam soils, and bottled without fining of filtration.

Joan and Lew Platt planted these vines for us to work with on their property overlooking the town of Bodega. A very cool site with intelligently selected plant material that is well farmed is a Pinot Noir maker’s dream. Red, black and blue fruit character with great structure, minerality and complexity are the result.

My favorite syrahs tend to come from sites where the grapes may not be able to ripen to the same degree every vintage. Calypso Vineyard, perched in a slightly warmer, higher site inside this very cool area, is one of those. It is farmed practically single–handedly by owner Otis Holt, and is truly a labor of love.

Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is typically one of the softer, rounder manifestations of the varietal. This is the more open-structured of our two Cabernet bottlings, which reveals its accessible, yet substantial and age-worthy personality. Rich, plummy, lightly herbal, and toasty, with mild cassis character, this unfined, unfiltered wine will complement a wide variety of foods for many years.