• THE VINES ~ DUTTON RANCH
• THE VINES ~ SONOMA
• THE VINES ~ TOCAI

We feel privileged to be one of a diverse group of wineries that has secured fruit from the Dutton family vines. For two generations the Dutton’s have grown apples, and now grapes, in the Green Valley sub-appellation of the Russian River Valley. Wines from this region are famous for their softness, warmth and earthiness. We purchase fruit from several Dutton properties:

Thomas Road

Located West of Highway 116 and a mile or so North of Graton, this vineyard enjoys a Eastern exposure, Goldridge loam soils and a great reputation for producing intense, chewy and expressive wines. It forms the core of our Dutton bottling. Planted to clone 115 on 101-14 rootstock.

Winkler/Ross Road

Located just North of Graton, on Ross Road, next to the Manzana apple processing plant this former apple nursery also benefits from the typical Goldridge loam soils, is lower in elevation than Thomas road and ripens later. Wines from this block typically show an aromatic celery seed, or raspberry tea like aroma coupled with supple berry fruit. It too, is planted to clone 115 on 101-14 rootstock.

Morelli Lane

Located on the Westernmost ridge of the Green Valley appellation, this vineyard overlooks Occidental to the west and, thanks to its elevation, presents a great view East across the Santa Rosa Plain to the Mayacamas Mountains and Mt. St. Helena. The Dutton’s planted this high bench, also of Goldridge loam, to several clones and selections of pinot noir. We buy fruit from both the Swan and Beringer selection blocks. Typically this fruit gives us bright dark cherry fruit flavors; the Swan selection adds a tobacco, cedar component.

Cleary

The coolest of our vineyard sites, planted to clone 667 on 101-14, again in the ubiquitous Goldridge loam soil, this valley floor vineyard typically ripens last of all the Dutton blocks. Small berries and concentrated flavors of raspberry and mint, coupled with dark color make this an important component of our Dutton Ranch bottling.

We buy fruit from several vineyards outside the Green Valley appellation. Much as I enjoy the Dutton wines, I feel that other Sonoma county sites have much to offer, and as this fruit is more economical to purchase, I can afford to produce a lower priced, yet complex and interesting wine by combining lots from several of these vineyards. Some portions of the Dutton fruit also work well in this blend.

Farina Vineyard

Located in Bennett Valley on the mid-North facing slopes of Sonoma Mountain the Farina family’s vineyard benefits from both a degree of ‘mountain’ austerity and the cool breezes that flow through the Bennett Valley gap every afternoon. This exposure and climatic effect coupled with the age of these vines—at 15 years the oldest vineyard we currently buy from—produce a wine of excellent intensity, good tannin, great color, bright acidity and wonderful berry flavors. Barely 1.5 acres in size and difficult to access due to a bog between it and the closest road, the wine from this vineyard gives backbone, color and acidity to our Sonoma wine.

Lepetich Vineyard

Joe Lepetich retired from electrical engineering in Silicon Valley to purchase orchard property and later vineyard land in Sonoma County. His vineyard located just across from the Bennett Valley fire station in the heart of Bennett Valley gave us the bulk of our 2004 Sonoma County Wine. A young vineyard, but well maintained, appropriately cropped and fully ripened, this fruit contributed both color and baked cherry pie fruit flavor to our 2004 Sonoma County Pinot Noir.

Crane

Anyone who’s lived in Sonoma County has, most likely, heard of the Crane Melon, developed and perfected over 5 generations by the Crane family. The Crane family grows these aromatic, delicious melons in the rich, slightly soggy soil just South and East of Santa Rosa. Jennifer Crane likes pinot noir and in 2002 convinced her father to help plant a small 3 acre vineyard near the family homestead at the intersection of Crane Canyon and Petaluma Hill roads. I tasted her homemade wine made from the first few bunches of fruit harvested in 2004 and shortly thereafter contracted the fruit for the next three years. Jennifer’s wine smelled and tasted like concentrated raspberry essence. As this vineyard matures and increases in production I hope to produce a single vineyard wine that showcases its unique characters. In the meantime the raspberry fruit adds a great component to our 2005 Sonoma County wine.

Benedetti

New to us in 2006 this vineyard is located just South and West of downtown Sebastapol, (is that an oxymoron?), on a South facing hillside of the first ridge West of town. The vineyard faces the Bloomfield gap which conveys the ocean fogs east toward Santa Rosa and Petaluma. Both the uniformity of the vineyard and its location promise good things, and if borne out by the wine offer the potential for a small bottling of a vineyard designated wine, in addition to contributing to our 2006 Sonoma County wine.

Pagani Vineyard

Known also for fine old vine zinfandel and Alicante Bouschet, the Sonoma Valley Pagani Vineyard traces its heritage back to Felice Pagani, an immigrant from Italy in the late 1800’s. He planted about 2 acres of ‘sauvignon vert’ in the early 1920’s. It’s these vines that continue to give us fruit today. Located on the floor of the Sonoma Valley just south of the town of Kenwood with shallow alluvial soils, the vineyard stays cool through the hotter summer days as the sun drops below the hills to the west. Often the last white grapes harvested in the Kenwood area the fruit benefits from a long ripening period that allows for great flavor development. A small amount of chasselas doré and semillon vines add uniqueness to the cuvee.

Fox Hill Vineyard

A true devotee of Italian viticulture Lowell Stone began planting his Mendocino benchland vineyard to Italian varietals during the 1990’s and currently grows over a dozen different selections, of which tocai friulano comprise about 4 acres. The warmer days and well drained soils of his vineyard produce earlier ripening fruit than the Pagani vineyard with more anis-like aromatics and more mineral in the finish of the resulting wines.