Serpentine in the Cabernet. Horseshoes in the Zinfandel.
When the Cabernet Sauvignon blocks were put in, Jim and the crew started hauling out piles of a distinctive blue/green rock known as Serpentine, along with Chert and other quartz. Looking up the definition of Chert, Jim found: “Chert is a common surface rock that is often a headache to farmers and gardeners as they try to work the soil.” After hundreds of tons, it was easy to see why. Serpentine, also called Serpentinite, forms from the alteration of oceanic mantle rocks. It happens that northern California's Coast Ranges are full of just that kind of material, carried by plate motions against the North American plate and pushed onto the continent, where the delicate rock type is preserved. It is also California’s state rock.

The Brignoli family was part of the Asti Swiss Colony wine collective and had planted a classic Italian field-blend of grapes on the property in 1908. Planted just seven feet apart, the vine rows were worked with horses and mules, evidenced by numerous horseshoes kicked up during seasonal chores. Primarily vigorous pre-Prohibition Zinfandel vines, there are also Alicante Bouchet, Petite Sirah, and Carignane red grapes, along with just a few vines of whites, Muscato Canelli, Palomino and Golden Chasslis. The concept of white grapes scattered in amongst the red has been debated for a while now. Were they for eating or did they add something to the red wine? The answer is most definitely one of wine chemistry, and there are examples in both French and Italian winemaking of whites blended into red for color stabilization. The field-blend planting just handled this in the simplest form, when the grapes were harvested. Jim has enjoyed studying the history of the vineyard and identifying the grapes, some archaic and one still a mystery. It even stumped the famous wine master Andre Tschelicheff, who visited Jim with a group from Simi Winery. Simi purchased the grapes for a few seasons early on.

Sustainable Farming –
We want to be stewards of the land in everyway. Sustainable viticulture practices are used to nourish the soil and produce balanced vines. Wild grasses and flowers are planted to provide flowering plants from March through July, feeding the insects that are pollen eaters and their predators including spiders, thrips, lady bugs, pirate bugs, aphids and predatory mites. When the under story of grasses and flowers are finally dry and are mowed, the predators move unto the upper story of the vines and attack and eat the parasites of the vines. A balance of nature occurs so that we do not have to use insecticides in our vineyards and have not for 20 years.

We encourage threatened songbirds, the Western Bluebird and Tree Swallow to live in our vineyards by providing bird houses for nesting. The swallows eat flying insects, mosquitoes and the like, keeping the humans happy. The bluebirds fly amongst the vines eating cutworms, grasshoppers and leaf hoppers, keeping the grapes healthy.

Compost is added by hand to the soil to provide additional minerals, organic material and beneficial bacteria. The bacteria and other microorganisms break down the naturally occurring minerals in the soil and make them available to the vines. Green manure in the form of clover is grown in the rows. In the spring, we chop and mow the old pruned canes along with the grass to provide a cover of nutritious mulch for the vines, grasses and wild flowers.