To put our vineyard in perspective, the earliest human history goes back to the Wappo Indians.  The evidence from bits of obsidian, an easily chipped volcanic rock used to make arrowheads and found in our vineyard, is that most likely the Indians used the area for a campsite, especially under the shade of the huge, 200 year old, Valley Oaks that border our vineyard to the northwest.  In the middle 1800’s, the early pioneers to California, fresh from the gold fields, came to the Valley to become farmers, growing grapes, walnuts, prunes, wheat and grazing cattle and sheep. Work Vineyard was first planted about 1976, on the site of one of the old orchards.

     We purchased the vineyard in 1987 after returning from an extended European tour exploring the major wine producing regions of France, Spain, Portugal and Germany.  This trip had encouraged us to seek out our own vineyard and become intimately more involved in the Napa Valley wine industry.  We were most fortunate to find this Sauvignon Blanc vineyard, which is our favorite white varietal.  During our first harvest, we made a small quantity of wine, and after bottling, took it to several wineries to show them the quality of the grapes and the characteristics of the terroir.  We became one of Caymus Winery’s growers for their prize winning Sauvignon Blanc.   A few years later, we sold the grapes to Cakebread Cellars and our grapes were included in that winery’s prestigious Sauvignon Blanc.  

     Phylloxera was discovered in the vineyard in the early 1990’s, as it was in many Napa Valley vineyards.  When it became evident that it was time to replant the vineyard, we decided to continue with the same variety instead of changing to a more popular one.  We also saw that Sauvignon Blanc was becoming a scarce varietal, and felt we wanted to remain committed to our microclimate that was so well suited to Sauvignon Blanc.     We chose two different resistant rootstocks.   Half the vineyard is planted on 5-C and the other half is planted on 1103-Paulson.  All vines are grafted with the 01-Wente Clone.   The vines are on a two wire – four-cordon trellis system.  The canopy is divided onto two additional catch wires to allow for sunlight and good air circulation of the fruit zone.