Grower-Produced Moon Mountain Wines of Distinction with an Authentic Sense of Place
Winery: One of the few exclusively estate, grower-producers in Sonoma Valley, located in steeply sloping mountainous Moon Mountain District terrain near the famed Monte Rosso and Hanzell vineyards in the renowned Mayacamas Range. Born and raised in Sonoma Valley, Ty took over the 108-acre family property, started planting 40 acres of steeply sloping parcels in 1998, and made his first vintage in 2000. Initially selling most fruit to other wineries, he now keeps nearly all the fruit grown for estate wines, just under 6,000 cases per year. Stylistically, the wines are ripe, polished mountain-grown wines and are excellent values for the consistent quality produced.
Mountain Vineyards: Entirely in the Moon Mountain AVA, which is the western-sloping, Sonoma County side of the Mayacamas range, with eastern slopes being the Napa Valley AVA of Mount Veeder. The mountainous rocky, shallow and infertile volcanic topsoils (some just inches deep), combine with abundant cool evening breezes and warmer daytime climate to make for a longer growing season, and produce low yields from small berries and clusters with thick skins. Originally planted during Prohibition, the 1920s wines were a favorite drink for local sheriff marshals. 40 planted-acres are cultivated across steep hillsides (most with 25-30% grade), each block with unique terroir. Sustainably farmed.
Winemaking: Ty says “I just want the fruit and the terroir to show through.” He uses a minimalistic approach, “doing the right stuff at the right time;” hand-harvested cool at late night/early morning, hand sorted both in vineyard and winery, destemmed, fermented and pressed to barrel just before dry, racked 3 times before blending and spring bottling. Winery Notes: “The 2021 harvest is reported to be one of the best vintages in recent harvests. The ongoing draught presented some challenges – limited rainfall and warm growing conditions resulted in a speedy harvest with lighter yields. The conditions brought smaller berries with exceptional- quality and concentrated flavors.”