We planted our first Pinot Noir vineyards in 1975 near the valley floor in Philo. In the nineties, we expanded our Philo vineyards up the hill. Then in 2009, we planted fifteen acres of Pinot in Boonville, about ten miles inland from Philo. On a typical summer afternoon, Boonville is about two degrees warmer than our Philo valley vineyards, with the hill sites about two degrees cooler than the valley sites. In the summer, Boonville has the coldest nighttime temperatures and the hill sites the warmest. Boonville consequently has a later budbreak yet ripens earlier; the shorter growing season produces fruit with a flavor profile of black cherry, cloves and blackberry combined with a firm tannin backbone.

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