Philosophy
vineyard philosophy
"a great vineyard starts with a good piece of ground and nothing can compensate for a lack of good soil. i get a good sense whether the site can produce premium grapes when i walk into a vineyard. you can tell a lot about the soil by its color and what’s lying on the surface.
my own vineyard is on the valley floor and made up of gravelly and loamy soils, perfect for cabernet. it’s dry-farmed but hand-watered with a bucket if there’s a significant weather event affecting the health of the vines or quality of the grapes. dry-farming creates tiny berries, And they’re intensely flavored and sweet in a way i don’t taste in grapes from irrigated vineyards. as with all my client vineyards, my own vineyard is hand-farmed And the grapes gently handled so i can give celia the best fruit possible.
clone 7 has always produced great cabernet and it’s one of my favorites. i used clone 7 budwood from grace family to plant my vineyard. each vine was carefully field-budded which is labor-intensive but worth the effort to get the flavors i preferred most.”