Our little French family fell in love with Mendocino and its wines, and our story is a bit of a fairy tale. Here, we found again our Mediterranean climate, and a superb Rhone varietal in the historical black grape of Mendocino. On the edge of a plateau above Lake Mendocino, we discovered our piece of paradise in our Petite Sirah vineyard.
We do not try to make a specific type of wine. Rather, we follow the French tradition of bringing out the most distinctive qualities in a wine, expressed through the match of varietal and terroir. Each year, we help the wine reveals its personality as an expression of the year's climate, the terroir and the varietal.
Using traditional techniques, we minimize interventions during winemaking. We make wine without using any sulfites or other preservatives. In 2015, we made four wines: a Petite Sirah rosé, a young ruby-style Port, and a young Rhone-style red, and an aged full-flavored red that will be released in 2017. Our wines are vibrant and shows a rare combination of distinctive fruit aromas and spices.
Our small acreage gives us the opportunity to have a constant presence in the vineyard, and to observe carefully the unfolding of the year growing cycle to obtain the highest quality fruit.
The soil is the living substrate that finds its final expression in the wine. We found inspiration from Masanobu Fukuoka, natural agriculture and the biodynamic philosophy and practices. We converted the vineyard to no-till and we are on a path to dry-farm.
The vineyard is on the edge of a plateau surrounded by mountains above Mendocino Lake. The rich red color of the clay soil, a Redvine sandy clay loam, is the signature of the vineyard. A gentle breeze is cooling the vineyard on the hottest days. In honor of the people who lived on that land, we choose to name it Powicana, the Pomo word for Red Clay Ridge.
We farm using natural techniques in harmony with nature, with the forests and streams surrounding the farm. We aim at producing the purest and highest quality grapes while building up fertile soils and increasing biodiversity on the farm.
In this vineyard, we are growing a single varietal of Petite Sirah grapes (Clone 3) on 110 rootstock, planted in 2002.
The vineyard is biodynamically farmed since 2013, and received the CCOF organic certification in 2015.