Turley Wine Cellars was founded in Napa Valley by former emergency room physician Larry Turley in 1993. Under the direction of winemaker Tegan Passalacqua, Turley now makes 50 different wines from over 50 vineyards across California, primarily Zinfandel and Petite Syrah, with many vines dating back to the late 1800s. By farming organically and focusing on old vine vineyards of these varieties, Turley aims to both create and preserve California’s unique winemaking culture.
Turley Wine Cellars makes thirty-four wines, the vast majority of which are single vineyard designate Zinfandels and Petite Syrahs. By focusing on old vine vineyards in particular, Turley aims to both create and preserve California’s unique winemaking culture. All of our vineyards are either certified organic by California Certified Organic Farmers or somewhere in the process, and we use all natural yeasts in the fermentations.
Ueberroth is one of the oldest of our Zinfandel vineyards. Located just a few miles northwest of Pesenti, you can smell the Pacific Ocean air from the top of the vineyard hill. These ungrafted, head-trained vines are planted on very steep limestone slopes. The high pH of the soil makes for a very high-acid wine, elevating the ripe fruit flavors from this historic certified organic vineyard.
Being that the vineyard lies a mere 8 miles from the coast, the Willow Creek District of the Paso Robles AVA experiences a Mediterranean-style climate with warm days and cold nights. In fact, Paso Robles has some of the most extreme temperature swings of any grape-growing region. The result: simply exciting wines.
For a vineyard planted in 1922, changing the orientation of a block to capture the most sun exposure was revolutionary for its time period. This creates various ripening rates for the grapes and numerous pick days during harvest. Thanks to Frank Pesenti's innovation, the resulting wines are a true benchmark for a perfectly balanced Zinfandel from Paso Robles.
Paso winemaker, Karl Wicka, produces four wines from the Pesenti Vineyard: Zinfandel, Petite Syrah, Tecolote (Grenache/Carignane), and Grenache Blanc (White Coat). With the calcaerous limestone and the occasional carignane vine interplanted with Zinfandel, the Pesenti Zin takes on a unique brightness leading to a "sweet-tart-esque" character. Like we said, exciting wines. The Petite Syrah vines were planted from cuttings hailing from the Hayne Vineyard in St. Helena. The wine it produces maintains the structural integrity of a well-built Petite Syrah all the while bringing in approachable vibrancy to the glass, even in its youth. The Tecolote (meaning Owl in Spanish) is comprised of old vine Grenache and Carignane and totals only 5 barrels. Finally, the Grenache Blanc is Paso's contribution to the adored White Coat.
Old Vines is composed of a variety of old sites from California that are either too small to be made into a vineyard designate wine or are “new” to the Turley family (and way of farming). Vines are anywhere from 41 to 129 years old, and a true representation of California old vine Zinfandel, hailing from vineyards in Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Lodi, Contra Costa, Amador and Paso Robles.
We began the Turley “Old Vine” cuvée twenty years ago, in 2000, and it remains one of the most important wines we make today. The story of this wine is the story of Turley Wine Cellars itself.
After two decades as an emergency room physician, Larry Turley developed a passion for restoration, rejuvenation, and yes, resuscitation. Where others might see decay, decrepitude and neglect, Larry looked beyond, finding instead health, history, and potential. This passion has translated directly into his strong affinity towards old vine vineyards across California, sites that were often neglected in favor of their younger, more vigorous and less troublesome brethren. Some had been abandoned altogether, ripped out for developments or replaced with more lucrative crops. Turley, alongside longtime Vineyard Manager (and now Director of Winemaking) Tegan Passalacqua, is devoted to saving these old vineyards, reinvigorating them through organic farming practices and preserving them in the ground for generations to come.
In addition to their cultural significance, old vines produce a naturally more complex, balanced, and sustainable wine. Young vines tend to be vigorous and high yielding for a short period of time (16-20 years) before most wineries rip them up and replant, to keep yields at a maximum; think of the brief but intense career of an NFL player. Young modern vineyards are also almost always irrigated, which keeps the yields high and the root systems shallow, but can (in our opinion) dilute the quality and integrity of the final wine.
An old vine, on the other hand, naturally regulates its yields, focusing all of the vine’s energy into a more finite—and ultimately more concentrated—final wine. Furthermore, these vines are dry-farmed, meaning they survive only on the natural rainfall patterns and water tables of their respective micro-climates. Finally, they are more deeply rooted in the soils, reaching down over 40 feet into the earth in some cases. For these reasons, we believe the final wines produced by truly old vines are the truest representations of their respective terroirs.
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