La Rochelle does not own any of its own vineyards so it has the opportunity to source out the best possible fruit and to create relationships with people who are as passionate about growing great grapes as we are about making great wine.
2009 is going to be a very important and exciting year for us as we bring on new fruit from the Gran Moraine Vineyard in Willamette Valley, grapes from Londer Vineyard's estate vineyard in Anderson Valley (we now have 2 sources there), and fruit from Donum Estate vineyard in Carneros (another new appellation).
On this trip, we had the great fortune to talk and taste with Anne Moller-Racke from Donum Estate
. Her winemaking and grape growing philosophy matches ours nicely, and we are lucky to be one of the very few to get grapes from her vineyard.We also met with the Ross Cobb, the wi
nemaker of Keller Estate, the owner of La Cruz Vineyard. Ross also owns his own eponymous brand, making great Pinot from Sonoma Coast fruit. The pictures show the Petaluma River off to the west from the Coro block of La Cruz Vineyard and our block of clone 115 Pinot beginning veraison.Our appointment with Al Steele, the vineyard manager for Dutton, served the duel purpose of locking in the details of the Dutton-Campbell Pinot Noir for 2009 as well as looking at the Morelli Lane Vineyard, one of the new sites for the Merrillie brand (more on this later). It also included lunch at the Underwood in Graton (our Sonoma Coast restaurant of choice!).
La Rochelle began life in Livermore with the mission to make world-class wines. We also wanted to work with world-class people...it's nice to see that this part of the equation is working too.
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