About The Vineyard…

Sourced from Ed and Camille Penhoet’s Carmel Valley property, the River Ranch vines were planted in 1982.  Of particular interest, the cuttings were originally sourced from a prestigious vineyard in Burgundy in the ‘70s and subsequently brought in to California.  This is the Mother block for the more recent planting at the Toyon Farm, which forms our designate from that vineyard.  It is a sandy soiled site with geology tracing to the meanderings of the Carmel River as well as its proximity to the Pacific Ocean.

About The Vintage...

The 2021 growing season was a welcome success after a more varied and challenging 2020.  The vines came on with aplomb, demonstrating the rich fruit concentration we expect – even if the crop was meager.  The ongoing drought in California served to further accentuate the character and concentration of the fruit.  While warmer conditions have prevailed in other areas, the coastal areas of California continue to benefit from the maritime influence and moderating influence that it brings.  In Carmel Valley, especially, the cooling effect of the Pacific Ocean is literally funneled into the narrow valley.

About the Wine...

In typical fashion at Ancien, the grapes are gravity fed to one-ton open top tanks where the punch-downs were done by hand.  Coupled with the warm fermentation, the generous extraction emphasizes the texture and racy spice inherent in the terroir of this vineyard.  Aging for 11 months in barrel with a single racking carried this wine gently to the bottle.  97 cases produced.

 Tasting Notes...

Spice, tea, and plum and blackberry aromas dance atop currants and boysenberry pie.  The opulence continues with secondary notes of chocolate and black tea that lead to satisfying elegant finish revealing jasmine.  The finish is mouthwatering and long with presenting umami, soy, and Asian spice.  Planted to the same special cuttings as our block at the Toyon Farm in Carneros, they are a joy tasting side by side, illustrating the profound influence of terroir.

About The Vineyard...

Dick Shea planted his first vines in the late 80’s, just a few short years after Ken Bernards moved from his birthplace in the Willamette Valley to Napa to work his first harvest.  The vineyards have grown, along with Shea’s reputation for quality, and today his vines produce a disproportionately large percentage of the most renowned Willamette Pinot Noirs - often described as an Oregon "Grand Cru".  Sedimentary soils, sitting on well-drained hillsides, along with careful, sustainable farming practices, consistently yield quality, well-ripened fruit in a viticultural area known for wide vintage variation.  Both wine makers and wine connoisseurs look to Shea for Pinot Noirs with density, structure, and intense, spicy fruit.

About The Vintage...

The 2021 vintage was another warm one in Oregon.  Record heat hit early in the season when the vines were apparently still adaptable – and almost seemed to condition them for the drier season to come.  Our 2021 Shea comes from an older block of Pommard clone Pinot Noir in the Back Block that Dick offered to us as the Swan clone planted for us was not yet producing.  What a great transitional year for us!  The wine possesses great old vine depth, we will move to youthful lushness beginning in 2022!

About The Wine...

Our Shea, like all our Pinot Noirs, is fermented traditionally in one ton, open top containers using hand punch downs to achieve optimal extraction.  A very warm fermentation enhanced the wines texture, seeing peaks in the mid-90 F range.  Gravity provided movement from reception through pressing with inert gas used from then on.  It was aged in François Frères and Remond cooperage for twelve months and racked once in the springtime.  158 cases produced.

Tasting Notes...

Juicy and textured in the palate.  Classic Shea notes of dried flowers, boysenberry, with subtle earthiness.  Hints of cinnamon, cardamom and anise follow below and echo on the palate.  As the wine opens, the broad berry fruit  is generous and complex, expressing notes of tea, and potpourri.  The 2021 vintage is a more forward version from Shea, but still possesses its characteristic tannic structure – boding well for its future development.  Enjoy now or years down the road!

About the Vineyard…

Jouissance is sourced from the single vineyard established and farmed by Mark Lingenfelder at his home estate.  Mark’s decades of experience as a vineyard manager and consulting viticulturalist have provided him the depth of experience to reach the pinnacle at his own property.  Having worked with storied wineries over the years, we are grateful our paths have crossed enabling us to work with him for our Russian River designate.  He tends the vines himself while relying on neighbor Lee Martinelli to provide additional help at the peak times.  We work with a mix of Pommard and Dijon 667 vines from his oldest and youngest blocks – aged wisdom combines with youthful vigor!

 About The Vintage...

The 2021 growing season was a welcome success after a more varied and challenging 2020.  The vines came on with aplomb, demonstrating the rich fruit concentration we expect – even if the crop was meager.  The ongoing drought in California served to further accentuate the character and concentration of the fruit.  While warmer conditions have prevailed in other areas, the coastal areas of California continue to benefit from the maritime influence and moderating influence that it brings.

About the Wine...

We fermented in our one ton, open-top tanks after filling by gravity.  A warm fermentation with a combination of native and isolated Burgundian yeasts produced excellent and focused flavor extraction, complemented with traditional punch-downs by hand. The wine was aged entirely in Francois Freres cooperage, 40% new, and racked once, gently, prior to bottling.  Grapes, must, and wines were moved using gravity through to the barrel and using inert gas through racking and bottling.   151 cases produced.

Tasting Notes...

Bright fruit notes dominate the aromas with bright cherry, plum, and boysenberry underlaid by allspice and clove.  On the palate the wine is liquid velvet, it’s silkiness segueing into a burst of fruit and spice that rides high on the palate while gradually opening to deeper berry, tea, and baking spices.  It is a refreshing and lively Pinot Noir in its youth that will continue to fill out in depth and complexity over the next 2-5 years.

About The Vineyard…

The Red Dog Vineyard sits atop Sonoma Mountain on the cool, western side.  In 2000 Tom and Debbie Engel planted this vineyard - with the replant happening in 2015.   We used cuttings from our Mink Vineyard - a proprietary heirloom selection of Swan Pinot Noir.  The vineyard is situated on the eastern face of a ridge, and the top is just under 1000 feet elevation.  At this height, Pacific currents moving inland through the Petaluma Gap cool the vineyard almost continually.  The soils are some of the most ancient soils in Sonoma County and have been leached of nutrients by wind and rain for eons. It is a truly spectacular vista point but a challenging place to grow grapes.

About The Vintage...

The 2021 growing season was a welcome success after a more varied and challenging 2020.  The vines came on with aplomb, demonstrating the rich fruit concentration we expect – even if the crop was meager.  The low vigor, austere site that is Red Dog further enhances the intensity of this unique fruit.  We expect the 2021 vintage to reward now and years down the road for those you cellar some.

About The Wine...

The grapes were destemmed into our 1-ton, open top fermenters and cold soaked for 4 days.  We punched down by hand 4 times per day tapering down as the fermentation progressed.  A warm fermentation, peaking about 94°, with additional maceration and skin contact ensured a generous extraction from these stubborn grapes.  The wine was aged entirely in French barrels from the Tonnellerie Remond cooperage, and a majority of those barrels were new.  The wine was racked once prior to bottling.  Until bottling, all wine movements were made by pushing with inert gas.  45 cases produced.

Tasting Notes...

Lively nose, but deeper and denser than we expect from Red Dog in vintages past.    The nose is dominated with boysenberry, raspberry, rose hips, and subtle tangerine notes followed by deeper aromas of tea, cedar, and hints of forest floor.  Spice notes of lavender, hibiscus and sage, the fruit expands in the glass and fills the palate with fresh pomegranate, cherry, and mandarin.  It opens slowly in the glass providing evidence of great things to come.  This is a very lively wine that surprises the palate from beginning to end.  Drink at release or 5 - 7 years plus.

About The Vineyard…

Toyon Farm is located on a southwest-facing slope on the eastern (Napa) side of the Carneros.  The topsoil is dark rich clay, averaging just around 24 inches in depth.  These soils promote a dark, brooding fruit, emphasizing texture and tannin.  The Toyon designate is now entirely from a block of Pinot noir planted on the north slope of the vineyard.   The cuttings are originally from a famous vineyard in Burgundy, via Ed Penhoet’s River Ranch vineyard planted in the ‘70s.  As the original source of the Pisoni vineyard – it also referred to as “Pisoni Clone” or River Ranch selection.

About The Vintage...

A wet Spring started off the vines with ample moisture resulting in nice growth.  A long mild summer ended with cooler conditions down the important stretch run, with some nicely timed heat spikes before.  The vintage yielded slightly below average quantity with excellent mouth filling tannins and generous richness of fruit.  An exceptional vintage.

About The Wine…

We separated the entire lot into 1 ton, open-top fermenters, employing traditional punch-downs by hand in order to achieve optimal extraction.  About 5% of the fruit was fermented as whole clusters.  The wine was aged in an array of French cooperage, nearly half new, and gently racked once prior to bottling.  Grapes, must, and wines were moved using gravity through to the barrel and with a gentle push of inert gas through racking and bottling.  76 cases produced. 

Tasting Notes...

Our single vineyard designation from Carneros showcases the power and deep complexity of Toyon Farm terroir.  This vintage is quite approachable in its youth with a rich and textural mouthfeel.  The bouquet is filled with notes of dark berries and earthy notes.  Mouth-coating tannins and flavors of coffee, black cherry, and blackberry dominate the brooding palate.  It finishes round with chewy chocolaty tannins that accentuate a luxuriously long finish that offers promise for greater things to come.  It drinks deliciously now, and if you can resist a little - years in the cellar will reveal ever-softening velvety layers to explore and enjoy.

About The Vineyard…

The Mink Vineyard is located next door to the winery, in the Coombsville Viticultural Area of Napa Valley.  Open to the same morning fogs and afternoon breezes that cool Carneros to the west, Coombsville is consistently one of the coolest pockets in Napa.  Mink sits inside a small “bowl”, allowing cooler air to settle during the evenings, and making Mink’s mesoclimate a couple degrees cooler, even, than the surrounding hills.  But the real secret to Mink’s explosive flavors, smooth, mouth-coating minerality, comes from the soil. Underneath is a layer of compressed volcanic ash, called tufa. The tufa drains the topsoil, storing moisture in its porous structure. The vines are able, with some work, to grow roots into the tufa layer, accessing moisture during the long, dry growing season.

About The Vintage…

The 2020 growing season saw California’s drought ramp up in intensity.  A very long dry season with moderate temperatures most of the way kept the vines from undo stress.  It will also be known for the tragic wild fires that engulfed much of California and Oregon in multiple phases.  As the fire activity was centered to the north, the Fiddlestix Vineyard was unaffected.  The crop was moderate, and the concentration exceptional in 2020.

About The Wine…

The grapes were destemmed into small, one-ton, open-top fermenters, with traditional hand punch downs, and aged the wine in Billon cooperage, a barrel that tends to sit subtly underneath the delicate fruit, lifting aromas without crowding them.  The wines were racked once, gently, prior to bottling.   Grapes, must, and wines were moved using gravity through to the barrel and a gentle push with inert gas through racking and bottling.  262 cases produced.

Tasting Notes…

The 2020 Mink Pinot Noir exhibits its typical bright and refreshing notes of pomegranate, cherry, and fresh herbs.  It gradually opens to deeper and darker berry fruit, blueberry and plum.  In the months after release, the wine will continue to pick up depth and density, as is normally the case.  Its enchanting mouthwatering minerality invite sip after sip together with bite after bite.  A lively wine at release but it will continue to improve over the next

About The Vineyard…

The Fiddlestix Vineyard is located in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA, which straddle the Santa Ynez River as it makes its way to the Pacific Ocean.  As an East-West oriented valley, opening its mouth to the cool Pacific breezes, the consistent and cooling marine influence is significant.  The remarkably consistent weather, characterized by lower highs and higher lows than our North Coast vineyards, conspires with silica-laden, marine sedimentary soils to make wines of power and exceptional structure.  We were able to select our rows prior to our first vintage in 2003, entering our 20^th vintage with these same vines!

About The Vintage...

The 2020 growing season saw California’s drought ramp up in intensity.  A very long dry season with moderate temperatures most of the way kept the vines from undo stress.  It will also be known for the tragic wild fires that engulfed much of California and Oregon in multiple phases.  As the fire activity was centered to the north, the Fiddlestix Vineyard was unaffected.  The crop was moderate, and the concentration exceptional in 2020.

About The Wine...

The grapes were 100% destemmed into an open top fermenter and cold soaked for4 days.  We utilized hand punchdowns extracting just what we wanted from the fruit.  The juice was fermented with a combination of RC212 and BRL yeasts selected from Burgundy and Barolo, with peak temperatures of  between 92 - 94°F in our 1 ton fermentations.  The wine was aged for 12 months in an blend of Francois Frères and Remond cooperage - we prefer to source from the small French forest of Bertrange, as we find it pairs beautifully with the Fiddlestix fruit.

Tasting Notes...

  Structure, texture, exotic spice are hallmarks of the Fiddlestix Vineyard.  As mature vines, the wines are a little more refined than in their early vintages.  Dark berry fruit, cardamom, and fresh herbs greet the nose and echo through the palate.   Layers of Indian spice, pepper, and allspice lend the oft recognized signature of this vineyard.  Velvety and softly chewy tannins emphasize structure, and will continue to develop over time.  Enjoy over the next 2 to 10 years.

About The Vineyard…

Our Chardonnay owes it style, depth, and structure to intensely flavored, low yielding, heirloom clones grown at the Toyon Farm on the Napa side of Carneros.  We hand-selected the cuttings ourselves, from older vineyards in the Carneros area.  These cuttings are reputed to have origins tracing to Paul Masson who imported them from Burgundy in the early 1940’s, from Louis Latour's renowned Corton Charlemagne vineyard.  These selections are often referred to as “Old Wente” denoting the sourced mother block in the 1960s.

About The Vintage...

The 2019 growing season provided the third year in a row of generous and well timed winter moisture.  The result was very nice growth with well balanced vines free of excess stress.  This is what we are always after, a happy vine dedicated to its fruit results in the most flavorful wine in general.  The vintage was cool and steady with adequate warmth in the season to produce ripe flavored fruit with bright acidity and exceptional structure.  We consider the 2019 vintage to be an exceptional one with all the makings of wines to be enjoyed at release as well as over the long term.  It there was any downside, the crop was on the lower side of yield.

About The Wine...

We aspire to guide our Chardonnay toward a layered, complex, and expressive style that develops gracefully in the bottle and shows enticing minerality, vivacious fruit, length and structure.  For us, the watchword is balance.  We pressed the grapes as whole clusters, settled and fermented entirely in French oak from four different coopers, chosen for their unique synergies and complementing the lush fruit on the palate.  One third of the barrels were new.  We use a variety of yeasts, including native strains, with fermentation proceeding evenly and slowly -  averaging a cool 55°F. The wine was aged on its yeast lees, which were stirred weekly through the spring.  535 cases produced.

Tasting Notes...

Rich flavors of  ripe apple and honeydew melon greet delicate perfume notes of freesia and citrus blossom.  Brighter notes of lime and Meyer lemon match the refreshing acidity of this wine, balanced by a creamy palate and leading to a finish that continues to lengthen as the wine opens up.  The lingering finish is framed by mouthwatering minerality as the complex fruit reverberates on the palate.

About the vineyard...

Starting in 1999, we began an experiment with the Sangiacomo family and Pinot Gris. Based on that initial success, we embarked on a larger scale project, and the Sangiacomo’s planted 2 acres of Pinot Gris exclusively for Ancien, using clones that we imported from Alsace. The rich, clay soils and eastern aspect of the site, coupled with the farming expertise of the Sangiacomo’s, produces ideal fruit for the richer flavored, fuller bodied, well structured Alsatian style that we are striving to produce. The vineyard has matured nicely, yielding consistently ripe fruit with bracing acidity. We are the sole winery that is sourcing Pinot Gris from this special plot, our “vineyard-within-the-vineyard.”

About the vintage...

The 2019 growing season provided the third year in a row of generous and well timed winter moisture.  The result was very nice growth with well balanced vines free of excess stress.  This is what we are always after, a happy vine dedicated to its fruit results in the most flavorful wine in general.  We saw few heat spikes but adequate warmth in the season to produce ripe flavored fruit.  We consider the 2019 vintage to be an exceptional one with all the makings of wines to be enjoyed at release as well as over the long term.  It there was any downside, the crop was on the lower side of yield.

About the wine...

We pressed aggressively for maximum extraction of the exotic spices and to gain additional structure. We then separated press fractions in order to insure the proper development of structure and lushness while in barrel. We fermented the must entirely in neutral French oak barrels at a cool 50 °F, capturing and retaining rich fruit flavors while also developing a lush, expansive palate. In addition, we stirred lees to enhance texture and develop additional layers.  371 cases produced.

Tasting notes...

Delightful aromatics are enhanced by a refreshingly mineral mouthfeel and lingering finish.  A mélange of Asian pear and summer nectarine greet the nose, followed by subtler notes of fragrant white flowers, fresh Granny Smith apples, and tangerine zest.  On the palate, citrus-kissed stone fruit complements star fruit and green apple leading to a lingering finish of peach and grapefruit.  Pair this with grilled meats, seafood, pastas with olive oil or cream sauces, Asian cuisine...the combination of its rich mid-palate, smooth tannins, and acidic structure make this wine unusually versatile at the table.

A Historic Vineyard…

In 1966, Pat and Duncan Haynes planted their vineyard to Martini Pinot Noir and Wente Chardonnay.  In the 47 years that have passed since then, there have been many significant changes in the science and technology of viticulture.  However, not every supposed advance results in an improvement quality.  These old school, widely spaced, cane pruned vines have found a most perfect balance point as tended by Fernando Delgado since 1970.  He prunes each vine individually, according to its strength and potential, choosing which canes to keep and how many canes and shoots that each vine will grow.  There is no technological substitute for this level of knowledge and experience coupled with pure love for the vine and its fruit.

About The Vintage...

We enjoyed consistent weather in 2018, with plenty of rain at the beginning of the year leading into a later start to the growing season, endowing us with an even and plentiful fruit set.  This generally dry and cooler vintage free of heat spikes allowed for the grapes to enjoy extensive hang time on the vine, gradually developing excellent flavor and acidity without a single hint of overripeness.  Not only was the vintage superb in quality, it gave us an abundance of plump grapes.  Juicy and complex, the wines of this vintage are delicious to enjoy in their youth while their acidity and structure promise greatness for long-term cellaring.

About The Wine...

Inspired by the classic and most revered Chardonnay vineyard in the world, Le Montrachet, we utilize the same classic techniques.  It is fermented in tight-grained French Oak cask after a gentle squeeze as whole clusters.  The wine is not moved through the fermentation and aging period, only pushed by inert gas in gentle fashion into the bottling tank.  In vintages where the wine achieves good clarity through natural settling, the wine is not filtered – otherwise it undergoes a light polish to help reveal is core of fruit.  88 cases produced.

Tasting Notes...

The effusive nose welcomes with layers of lemon meringue, ripe apple, citrus zest, honey and grape blossom.  The palate is vibrant and fresh, and the richly textured mouth-feel is expansive.   Baked apple tart and stone fruit emerge as this opulent wine reaches the depths of your palate, with further notes brioche.  The finish is a focused amalgamation of minerality and ripe fruit.  Give this cellar worthy Chardonnay time to open up and it will reveal increasingly lush and creamy layers as it evolves over minutes in the glass and the years in the bottle.