Vineyards

Dennis Fife’s wine career began in the Napa Valley in 1973. His ability to work for over 35 years with great cabernet sauvignon producers such as Beaulieu Vineyards, Inglenook Napa Valley, Stags’ Leap, and Harlan defined his winemaking vision, goals, and sensibilities. It also gave him a strong background in where the best vineyard sites are and what makes them great.

Mendocino is home to several of our most important Rhône style wines and zinfandels. The unique flavors produced by the terroir of these great vineyards remind us of wines of the old world—bold wines with great complexity and unique personality.

Our job is simply to translate the flavors of our vineyard into wine. This is usually accomplished by doing less to the grapes and wine rather than more. We acknowledge that we are lucky to have our great vineyard sites. Every harvest we feel like kids who have just unwrapped new boxes of brightly colored crayons. Another vintage has yielded a new group of grape flavors to play with. With grapes like these, we practice winemaking of vigilant stewardship, allowing flavors to develop under our watchful eyes with no need of razzle-dazzle.