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Cole Ranch Riesling

Cole Ranch

Our Cole Ranch Riesling comes from some of the oldest Riesling vines in the country, planted in 1973 by John Cole in the wilds of Mendocino County. The vines are head-trained and dry-farmed in a narrow valley in the coastal range of mountains that separates Boonville and Ukiah. The valley benefits from the cooling maritime influence of nearby Anderson Valley, preserving vibrant acidity in the grapes, and yet has a large diurnal and seasonal range of temperatures like inland Mendocino County, which develops exotic and ripe fruit flavors. This was our very first Riesling vineyard, thanks to a scrawled-out note on a piece of lunch sack tied to the vineyard gate, and still the love of our life.

Wiley Vineyard, Anderson Valley

Wiley Vineyard

Wiley Vineyard was one of the first vineyards planted in Anderson Valley following the repeal of Prohibition, with a block of Riesling planted on its own roots in 1976 in the deep end of the valley. The vines are perched on a gently south-facing ridgeline, encircled by soaring redwood and Douglas fir trees. This is a cold, maritime vineyard exposed to the moderating influence of the nearby Pacific Ocean, yielding a wine that sings of this numinous place: pure and crystalline, pixelated in its intensity, subtly resinous and brackish, with brilliant citrus and beguiling floral perfume.

Kick Ranch

Kick Ranch

Kick Ranch is in the cool Fountaingrove District AVA in the Mayacamas Mountains north of Santa Rosa. The block of Sauvignon Blanc is planted on the rockiest soils at Kick Ranch, at the very top of the vineyard as it climbs the ridge. The rocky soils keep the vine’s vigor in check; careful canopy management creating a range of sun exposures gives a whole range of fruit flavors in the wine; and cold nights and generally cool days give the wine a citrusy, saline zest and floral raciness.

Evangelho

Evangelho

The vines at Evangelho are own-rooted, planted in the 1890s just a mile upstream from the confluence of California’s two great rivers – the Sacramento and the San Joaquin – in a granitic sand eroded from the Sierra Nevada. The vines are buffeted by the winds that blow through the Carquinez Strait and across the Delta. This daily wind stress alters the vines’ respiratory rates: to avoid excessive transpirational water loss, the vines close their stomata when the wines pick up around noon, halting photosynthesis. This produces grapes with wonderfully low pHs and fresh, vibrant flavors.

Shake Ridge

Shake Ridge

Shake Ridge Ranch is owned and farmed by the legendary Ann Kraemer. Each vine is farmed with loving care and analytical precision, building on Ann’s legacy and extensive experience as a consulting viticulturalist, hand in hand with her family’s dedication to agriculture, community, and plain hard work. The vineyard is set magnificently in the center of Gold Rush country, where the rich geological history of the Sierra Foothills is evident at every roadcut revealing schist, Mariposa slate, greenstone, and marble, and in the vineyard rows where chunks of quartz litter the ground. There is magic at work here.

Desire Lines winemaker Cody Rasmussen taking a photo at Griffin’s Lair Vineyard in the Petaluma Gap AVA, California.

Griffin's Lair

A windswept vineyard in the southern portion of the Petaluma River valley; cooled daily by marine influence that invades inland, unhindered by topography; the energy of the vine is held in check by wind and no-till farming practices, producing a balanced canopy and loose, open clusters with tiny, thick-skinned berries; wines are naturally dense and firm, opening slowly, with blue and black fruits in the glass as vivid as the wine’s color.

Massa Vineyard

Massa Vineyard

Massa Vineyard is a remarkable site – epic, and epically remote. The vineyard is set on the northern edge of Big Sur’s Ventana Wilderness; the road to the vineyard from the town of Carmel Valley is short, very steep, and absurdly twisty. To the south of Massa Vineyard, there’s nothing but miles and miles of BLM land and the remote mountain peaks of interior Big Sur. To the north, the vineyard’s most conspicuous neighbor is the Jamesburg Earth Station, a now defunct but massive satellite dish that once relayed worldwide footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Casa Nuestra - La Jolla del Norte Vineyard

La Jolla del Norte

La Jolla del Norte Vineyard sits on the east side of the Silverado Trail in St. Helena, with a mere seven rows of Riesling planted in 1961. The vines were planted during a different era in California wine history, when Riesling was a more common site than today – but, today these are the third-oldest Riesling vines left in the country. The vines are planted in obsidian-rich soils that glitter black in the sun and have been farmed organically since 1979.