Sonoma County's Old Vineyards

How about a glass of history?

An old vineyard would probably be considered something planted in the 1960s or earlier. Sometimes the descriptor ancient vineyards is used for pre-Prohibition vines. Note that there is no legal definition for what can be called an old or ancient vineyard. Here are a few of the oldies that I'm familiar with in Sonoma County.

 Alegria, Russian River Valley

The vineyard was first planted in the 1880s, or maybe earlier. It's owned by ACORN Winery. The vineyard is just south of Healdsburg along the US101 highway. It's 40 acres with 26 acres of zinfandel.

Alegria Vineyard map from acornwinery.com
click on image to enlarge

Madrone / Bedrock, Sonoma Valley

Historically known as the Madrone Vineyard along Highway 12 near the old Valley of the Moon Winery (now Abbott's Passage Winery) with 150 acres of zinfandel and some long-forgotten grape varieties. The Bedrock Winery owners bought and renamed the vineyard in 2005. The vineyard was first planted in the 1850s, then replanted after the 1880s phylloxera outbreak that wiped out many vineyards. 

Bedrock Vineyard
image from biale.com

Jackass Hill, Russian River Valley

A remote vineyard near Forestville first planted in the 1880s on a steep hillside without terracing; something that would be illegal to do today. The vineyard has been farmed by the Martinelli family since the beginning. The vineyard is planted to zinfandel and muscat. The family owns the Martinelli Winery. They are not related to the Martinelli family that makes the apple cider, btw.

The steepest part of Jackass Hill Vineyard
image from martinelliwinery.com

 

Lytton Springs estate, Dry Creek Valley

Vines dating to the early years of the 20th century sit next to the Lytton Springs/Ridge tasting room and production facility, a few miles north of Healdsburg. Zinfandel, petite sirah, carignan, plus a bit of grenache and mourvedre are planted.

Lytton Springs Vineyard
image from ridgewine.com

Monte Rosso, Moon Mountain

The vineyard sits at an average elevation of over 1,000 ft in hills north of the town of Sonoma. Monte Rosso means red mountain, named for the iron-rich volcanic soils. First planted in the 1880s and purchased by Louis Martini in the 1930s. Gallo now owns Louis Martini Winery in Napa plus the vineyard. It's about 250 acres of primarily zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon, semillon, and riesling. Much of the fruit is sold to other wineries including Arrowood, Bedrock, Biale, Sbragia, Turley, plus quite a few others. Wine from here is a real treasure.

Note the red soil of Monte Rosso Vineyard
image from biale.com

 

Montecillo, Moon Mountain

The 50 acre vineyard sits at 1700 feet in the hills east of the town of Kenwood. It's not as old as others on this list, as it was planted in the 1960s. It's mountain Cabernet that was used in Kenwood Vineyard's Artist Series cabernet wines for many years. One of Kenwood's earliest vineyard designated wines was a Montecillo Vyd zinfandel. When Mike Lee and his partners sold Kenwood Vineyards in the 1990s he bought the vineyard. It produces what I'd call old school structured wines with noticeable tannins. St. Francis, Carlisle, and a few other small wineries get fruit from Montecillo. The vineyard was recently purchased by Stewart Cellars of Napa Valley.

Montecillo Vineyard
image from carlislewinery.com

Old Hill Ranch, Sonoma Valley 

This vineyard near Glen Ellen in the heart of Sonoma Valley goes all the way back to 1852 and may be the oldest continuously farmed vineyard in the state. There is supposed to be 30 varieties growing on this 12 acre vineyard. The different grapes are all growing together to make field blend wines, as is the case with many of the old vineyards. Old Hill Ranch has been owned by the same family since 1981 when the mother of the current generation became curious about a sign along Highway 12 saying "vineyard for sale by owner."

Looking over Old Hill Ranch Vyd, circa 1887
image from buckzin.com

Pagani Ranch, Sonoma Valley

Sitting along Highway 12 near the town of Kenwood was first planted at the end of the 19th century. Bedrock, Baile, Ridge, Seghesio and others get grapes from here. Mostly zinfandel and petite sirah are planted in this 30 acre vineyard. The old vine zinfandels I've had from here can be described as not for the faint of heart.

Pagani Ranch
image from historicvineyardsociety.org

Papera Ranch, Russian River Valley

Sitting near the corner of Olivet and Piner Roads west of Santa Rosa where a number of small, old zinfandel vineyards have been pulled out and replaced with pinot noir in recent years. Luckily, this 14 acre vineyard was saved. It was planted in 1934, right after Prohibition was repealed, to mostly zinfandel along with many other grapes such as carignan and petite sirah. It produces red fruit flavors as you usually get from the Russian River area. Bedrock, Carlisle and Williams Selyem are among those getting grapes from here.

Papera Ranch
image from paperaranch.com

Old Vines are Special

There are a lot of things working against vineyards lasting so long. In the late 19th century phylloxera went through and wiped out lots of the new California vines. This is why most of the ancient vineyards you'll find are from the mid-1880s or later. In 1920 Prohibition shut down most alcohol production, leading to lots of vineyards no longer being maintained or were pulled out. Another round of phylloxera came through in the 1980s. 

Older vines don't produce as much fruit and often become economically untenable. Popular grape varieties changed over time as people's tastes change. Sonoma County once had lots of French colombard; Napa lots of petite sirah. These vineyards were pulled out to plant something else. Older vines have different root stock (all grape vines are grafted), the vines are usually head pruned, something not done anymore.

Where can you taste old vine wines? In a store, look for Old Vines or Ancient Vines on the label.

How many old vineyards are left? Not sure, but here's a list of ones registered with the Historic Vineyard Society.

You can visit Sonoma County wineries that have several old vine wines. A few of these are Acorn, Bedrock, Carlisle, Cline, Delaoch, Kunde, Limerick Lane, Martinelli, Pedroncelli, Ridge, Seghesio, Teldeschi, Trentadue, and Wellington. The wines from older vines tend to be mostly zinfandel with a smattering of petite sirah and carignan.