The Story
Ventana Vineyard
Our 2007 Broc Cellars “Cassia” Grenache is composed of 100% Ventana Vineyard grapes. Located in one of the cooler growing regions of California, Ventana Vineyards sits at the foothills of the Santa Lucia Mountains on the West side of Salinas Valley, where the Arroyo Seco River, when it flows, makes its way to meet the Salinas River. The land here is not especially stunning or picturesque, the vineyard is planted on a dried up flood plain, the earth is sandy and dusty, flat, expansive and seemingly unremarkable. But the grapes here produce one of the most distinctive and abundant amounts of peppery spice, that I have ever tasted.
The complex combination of pink, green, black and predominantly white peppercorn spice saturates the nose and palate on the incredible Grenache that we source from this vineyard. Because of the coolness, the fruit has a chance to hang on the vine for an extended growing period, allowing it to reach physical maturity at a slower pace, evolving complexity and nuance.
Philary Vineyard
Philary Vineyards is located 1000 feet above sea level and overlooks the southern part of Napa Valley. The vineyard grows only Syrah grapes. It consists of three separate blocks, all planted with 3x3 spacing. Two blocks, each of 250 Syrah grapevines, bilateral cordon trained and one block of 40 Syrah grapevines, head trained.
The first block was planted in 1996 with Syrah Noir, with the second block was t-budded over to Syrah in 2002. The third block of 40 Syrah Noir vines was planted in March 2006. The Panting of each block was a physical challenge created by the unique nature of the property. The combination of extremely rocky soil, steep slopes, unlevel terrain and limited physical access precluded the use of any machines or equipment that would typically be used for the vineyard preparation and installation. Weeds are controlled either by using a flame thrower or by hand. The property dictated that all the blocks would have to be established by hand.
This vineyard is probably one of the least prepared and most conforming to the original nature of the existing site that fruit for commercial production of wine.
Luna Matta Vineyard
The Luna Matta Vineyard is a newly planted vineyard located in the Westside of Paso Robles. Its soil is Predominately limestone, with an abundance of quartz scattered throughout. It is farmed in a matter we call “beyond organic”, in that we do not use any copper or sulphur. The 2006 vintage was our first from this vineyard, where our yields were less than 1 ton of grapes per acre. 2007 was our first vintage for Mourvedre from this vineyard. The days are warm, but the nights are very cool allowing for good fruit maturity while maintaining good natural acidity.
