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  • Time

    08:07 AM
  • Wine average?

    93 Tb
  • Popularity ranking?

    256

History

Vanessa Wong, Nick Peay and Andy Peay share a passion. That is a good thing since we are in business together as well as in relation. We each discovered wine at different times in our lives, but it led to the same desire. To make wine that engages all of our senses and expresses the characteristics of a piece of land. Yeah, okay, that is not a very unique desire. We felt to attain this height for our palates in our Country, however, we needed to seek cooler climates with longer growing seasons and different terrain to grow Pinot noir and Syrah than currently under vine. We needed truly coastal frontier land.

 

Armed with tanks full of coffee and gas, a Polaroid, and U.S. Geological maps in hand, we drove the back roads and coastal hills of the West Coast of the United States in 1995 looking for that special plot of land. “Hey, Nick, is that moss hanging off that split rail fence. Hmm.” “Is that bracken fern? Maybe too much water, Andy.” “Excuse me, old timer, do you have any records of temperatures in this area?” “Can you see that parcel from the lowest branch? Take a photo.” “Whaddya think, 10% slope on that hillside?” “What soils do you find on this ridge?” “Um, Nick, that is trespassing.” We drove all around the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara, up and around the Mendocino Ridges, down along the Sonoma Coast, even traveling as far as eastern Washington.

 

Well, one morning I — Andy — woke up in a thick fog on a black sand beach in Humboldt County (Humboldt County?!) I grabbed my bivvy sack and stuffed my gear into my truck and headed south on Highway 1 with plans to revisit some logging roads on the Mendocino and Sonoma Coast that caught our attention on our last trip. En route, I stopped in the town of Mendocino to pick up real estate listings to see if anything appealing had gone on the market. I was feeling a little lazy and it sure beat climbing trees for better sight lines for photos and scaling old logging roads rutted from years of heavy winter rains. There was one property listed down the coast an hour or so. “A scenic viewpoint with vineyard potential!” I groaned. Anyone who has looked for land recently in “wine country” recognizes that this means you could plant a vine there and it may live. Well, there is no guarantee that it would live. But it could, potentially, and for that you pay double the price. I decided I should check it out anyway and drove an hour south of the town of Mendocino to meet an agent in the coastal town of Gualala, a hamlet that serves as the northern border of the Sonoma Coast. From there we took Highway 1 along the Pacific Ocean into Sonoma County for a few miles and at a place named Sea Ranch headed east and climbed the coast ridge along the Wheatfield Fork of the Gualala River. As we mounted the ridge, the sign posts we used for identifying the correct climate and soil types were abundant. I got excited.

 

After meandering through tall stands of redwood trees we pulled into a clearing on a south facing ridge. We were perched on a knoll on the second ridge four miles from the Pacific Ocean. Bronzed fields sloped and dropped into the steep gorges forming a pronounced camelback shape to the land. A stand of fir capped the southern part of the knoll, hiding the bell shaped field gently sloping south east, south and southwest. To the south, far in the distance, I could see vineyards renowned for Pinot noir and Chardonnay. But no one had grown grapes this far northwest in Sonoma County. It was too cold. And god-forsakenly remote! Right here, this was frontier land. It was breath taking.

 

I barreled out of the truck and headed down the nose of the knoll to snap photos and take stock of whether this parcel really had “vineyard potential.” On my heels the agent carried on about the view and the house on the property, “You just have to see the house on the property!” In my most serious, no bones voice, I told her, “Thank you but I’m interested in grape growing, not residential real estate. Views and old houses be damned.”

I excitedly walked all over the parcel envisioning rows of vines. A gentle breeze was persistently luffing my t-shirt. The slopes were gentle, the exposure ideal, and the local flora encouraging. I snapped a handful of photos, thanked the agent for her time, and went on my way. “Cool breezes. Sloping hillsides. It looks promising! Let’s see what Nick thinks.”

 

Well, Nick liked what he saw in the photos. He visited the parcel. Took soil samples. Studied the geographic history. Poured over daily temperature records an old timer living on the property had recorded for the past 15 years in a spiral binder. Nick gave the green light and our adventure was underway.

It has been 17 years since that day. There have been countless stories that have carried us to this stage: stormy nights battling and cursing el Niño, daring the boy, just daring him to strike us dead while shoveling auxiliary drainage ditches; countless days spent coddling every vine praying it would be sunny/set well/grow/withstand the wind; endless afternoons clipping the 51 acre bonsai garden for optimal sun exposure on the fruit; and, most importantly, a singular tale of a boy and girl who loved wine, and each other, and wanted to make a life together pursuing these interests.

 

We feel lucky to pursue our passion together as a family and to share with you our dedication to the ideals of superior wine growing and wine making. This is what we do and we hope you enjoy the results. We look forward to sharing many future vintages with you.

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Vineyards

Peay Vineyards is located in the far northwestern corner of Sonoma County approximately 4 miles from the Pacific Ocean near Sea Ranch. The vineyard is situated along the coast, but not on the very first ridge. We have a partially obstructed avenue formed by the Wheatfield Fork of the Gualala River that allows for some fog and copious cool air penetration. The vineyard sits on a hilltop that is not way up in the air, but just at the top of the fog level, low enough to be very cool, but high enough not to be too cool and wet to grow grapes. We think it is the perfect combination of climatological factors.

 

California has a diverse range of microclimates. Our hilltop vineyard also expresses many subtle variations depending on whether it faces south, southeast or west; sits high on the hilltop in the afternoon breeze with full sun; or rests lower on the slope with greater fog influence and less sunlight. But make no mistake, this is pretty cool climate for grape growing. We cross our fingers hoping that the fruit will ripen before rains start in late October/early November. In some years, getting it ripe has been a challenge.

But that is why we produce superior fruit. Due to the cool climate we have a long growing season with moderate temperatures ideal for maximizing the production of intense flavors and phenolic compounds that result in complex wines. And we will always have plenty of acid to provide structure. No flabby, overripe wines here.

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Winemaking

FARMING PRACTICES

We farm organically and have for the past 8 years. We are not certified, however. We are not dogmatic, black and white people, and farming on the coast means we are often thrown curve balls. If we needed to address something that threatens the vineyard – and there is no organic alternative – we would do it to save the vineyard. But we have not for 8 years.

We employ 8 year-round workers in the vineyard. They have worked for us for years and have become a highly skilled and integral part of the place. Everything is done by hand though we use tractors for spraying, hauling fruit, undervine tilling, and the like. Our workers touch each vine over 13 times per year.  Having our own “crew” is rare as it is expensive but the care and attention they give our vineyard translates into the wine you drink.

Lastly, we use bio-diesel in our tractors. This allows us to minimize our reliance on certain fossil fuels at the expense of withstanding the smell of French fries while we work. We also power our vineyard and winery via solar panel arrays. Can you taste the effects of these last practices? Probably not, but perhaps the intention behind them.

 

TRELLISING

For our location and wine growing philosophy, we use a vertical shoot-positioned trellis, supporting a head trained bilateral cane pruned system, excepting the Syrah which is on a bilateral cordon. This allows plenty of direct, dappled sunshine, kept cool by ocean breezes – part of the formula for quality – resulting in intensely flavored grapes and a complex array of subtle nuances, framed by balanced acid and tannin structuring components.

 

SPACING

Spacing is intermediate to semi-close. Our narrow width tractors are less than five feet wide. The seven and eight feet spacing between rows is just fine as we are on steep hillside slopes and need whatever room we can get. Spacing between plants – currently our shortest is three feet – is governed by a desire to create fruit and energy balance along the length of the canes. After the vines are well established we no longer till the soil between the rows. We utilize erosion-minimizing cross-slope farming, aiming to keep the hilltop out of the ravine, and on top of the hill.

 

VINES & CROP LOAD

Our clones and rootstock have been extensively evaluated and selected to produce superior fruit. The large number of clones we farm enables us to blend for enhanced complexity or to bottle separately to express a unique profile. The clones we grow produce smaller berries and clusters but we will “drop” crop to keep yields low to achieve fruit intensity. We also wing the pinot noir to ensure that all the berries we pick develop at the same rate. And despite our long growing season, due to our cool climate we need a “light” crop load to ensure we get our grapes ripe at harvest. And not to worry, Mother Nature has kept our yields very low with tonnage less than one per acre for 3 of the last 7 years and averaging around 1.5 tons/acre. But that is okay, lower yields maximize flavor and bring out the essence of our vineyard site.

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