Our family hillside vineyard in Dry Creek Valley was originally planted in the early 1900's. Today, our ten acre vineyard is divided into six small blocks of Syrah and five small blocks of Viognier. The vineyard blocks scale hillsides with slopes ranging from 20% to 45%. Long sunny temperate days with morning fog and cooling evening breezes provide perfect natural elements for growing Syrah and Viognier. Two of the Syrah blocks were planted in 1990, two planted in 1998, one in 1999 with the last block planted in 2001. The Viognier blocks were planted in 2001, a second block in 2006 and two blocks planted in 2009, and the most recent block in 2020. Each block is distinct in soil composition, vine spacing, trellis system, exposure, topography and fruit. The Syrah is cordon pruned while the Viognier is spur pruned.

Our estate has two distinct geological hills. The red hill is three to four million year old Sonoma volcanics with deep red clay, while the brown hill is one hundred twenty million year old granite bedrock. We have the Chapoutier clone of Syrah grafted on St. George rootstock on both hills with similar trellis systems and sun exposure. The wines from the two hills are different in aroma and flavor. We age the wine from the two hills separately then blend them together just prior to bottling .