ampelos vineyard is at the eastern end of the Sta Rita Hills appellation - a cool-climate area that is perfect for growing Pinot Noir and Syrah. Our vineyard is one of the few vineyards that gets the cool breeze from the Santa Rita Hills as well as the Santa Rosa Hills. We are very involved with the development and evolution of the vineyard, working closely with Jeff Newton of Coastal Vineyard Care.

We started planting our vineyard in 2001 with 15 acres, and harvested our first fruit in 2005. We planted new sections of the vineyard in 2004. As well as Pinot Noir and Syrah, we have small amounts of Grenache and Viognier.

We believe the best wines come from the most meticulously farmed vineyard. Given this belief we continue to raise the bar on our farming practices. In 2006 we decided to implement 100% biodynamic farming practices with rich cover crops, our own compost, elimination of herbicides and in general good, environmentally conscientious farming. See our philosophy section in the vineyard section to learn more about bio-dynamics. We also believe in experimenting with different farming techniques to understand their effect. Some of these include:

  • The effects of leaf pulling and sun exposure on the grapes
  • Branch locking to ensure every shoot is locked in place on the wire to improve the consistency of sun exposure and thereby photosynthesis
  • Inter-planting of pinot gris in the pinot noir to assist in co-pigmentation
  • Correlating our spraying program with weather reports UC Davis is collecting
  • Comparing cane versus cordon training for Pinot Noir
  • Clonal diversification and flavor development

Being both the grape grower and the winemaker allows us to control these experiments from the vineyard through the winery and if you visit our winery you will observe how we keep some of the key experiments separated in the barrels.

Watch a short video where Peter explains our farming philosophy

We are very pleased that some of our fellow vintners have expressed interest in creating vineyard designated wines from our vineyard, these include Brewer - Clifton, Jaffurs Cellars and Samsara.