Three exceptional examples of cabernet from decades old vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Leading into the 2017 vintage we had an opportunity to take over the winemaking of a historic Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the P & M Staiger vineyard above Boulder Creek, planted in 1973. This brought to mind the fact that in our almost five decades of making Cabernet Sauvignon from this region, there are vineyards planted in the 1970s that have what we believe to be the equivalent of Grand Cru status.
P & M Staiger Vineyard is certainly one of them, as is Bates Ranch at the very southern end of the AVA, a source we worked with from 1978 through 1994. We reached out to the Bates family, and told them we wanted to do a project celebrating these Grand Cru Cabernet vineyards. They were willing to sell us some of the grapes from the few remaining original rows planted in 1972.
We made very limited quantities of these wines and have gone to great effort to showcase the unique character of these historic sites. We even had special barrels coopered just for us that are unique to this project. We are excited to share these special wines from these historic vineyards in our region.
2017 Bates Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon
Bates Ranch was originally planted in 1972 and is at the very southern end of the historic Santa Cruz Mountains AVA. We made wine from these vines from 1978 to 1994, and now again, with this new release from 2017. Much of the vineyard has been replanted but it was important to us for this project to work with the original vines that we made wine from in the 1970's. There are only 8 rows left and this wine comes from those original vines.
2017 Bates Ranch Cabernet Franc
This Bates Ranch Cabernet Franc is a very limited item from some very sought after grapes as there is very little of it planted there. In 2017, at the last minute, we were offered some of these grapes that had been committed but became available to us. We don't get to make it again until the 2021 vintage. It's a very complex and layered wine with intriguing dusky blueberry fruit elements. From vines planted in 1972.
2017 Staiger Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
Planted on a steep hillside above Boulder Creek by Paul and Marjorie Staiger in 1973. They hand tended this vineyard and made incredible wine from it on their P & M Staiger label for decades. They have retired from wine making and we are incredibly honored to be the winery they selected to continue the decades long legacy of making incredible wine from these historic vines.
