8/7/2023 0 Comments Mutiny wine room![]() Ravenswood continues to bottle wines from old plantings, though no tasting opportunities are available now. Ravenswood Winery, one of the most passionate, modern- day producers of wines from ancient vines, had its Sonoma visitor center closed in May 2019 by property owner Constellation Brands. It maintains a registry of heritage California vineyards, all of which were planted no later than 1960, in an effort to ensure senior vines are appreciated and preserved.Īt a time when farmers might be tempted to replace them, the society campaigns for the preservation of old vineyards in similar fashion to historic homes and buildings being saved for posterity. To that end, the Historic Vineyard Society was founded in 2009 by David Gates of Ridge Vineyards, Mike Officer of Carlisle Vineyards, Tegan Passalacqua of Turley Wine Cellars, Morgan Twain-Peterson (Joel Peterson's son) of Bedrock Wine Co. Winemakers come and go, yet the vineyards remain.' But while they are here, they represent a bit of permanence in an all-too-transitory world. They are not immortal and eventually will need replacement. As a vineyard ages, the yield diminishes and the vines themselves become more fragile. 'Like all agriculture, there must be a profit or, at least, expenses must be met. Vintages are remembered as much as (by) what occurred that year with the relatives as with the weather, harvest date and crop size. 'These vines are not as much a commodity as a family member. 'Walking these vineyards, one can't deny the sense of history and continuity,' Mackey said. Mackey, Ravenswood Winery founder Joel Peterson (he started the brand with Reed Foster in 1976) and other Sonoma growers and winemakers are driven by a deep appreciation for the intensity of wines - mostly reds - produced from ancient vines, and a desire to keep venerable vines in the ground as long as possible. Francis in 1971 and retired from there in 2011. Tom Mackey, a dean of old-vine winemaking in Sonoma Valley, was the founding winemaker at St. Zinfandel, petite sirah, carignane, Alicante Bouschet and other grapes planted in California vineyards in the late 1880s, and which survived Prohibition, remain viable today, though in decreasing acreage as more profitable grape varieties are taking over. There is no formal definition of an 'old' vine, though many winemakers say 50 years is the minimum age. Many tasting rooms in the Valley of the Moon offer at least one bottling made from elderly grapevines, although these five are rather gaga over vinous geriatric gems. Ancient vines are rooted throughout California, with an excellent concentration of them in Sonoma Valley. ![]() And if it is, you can warm the palate, heart and soul with red wines produced from vineyards 50 years and older, whose grapes are transformed into wines that are exotically rich and spicy and also offer a hint of history with each sip.
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