Recent tweets from @RhysVineyards:
“Shale of Mount Pajaro area (Miocene and Oligocene)—Medium- to thick- bedded, laminated, olive-gray to brownish-black semisiliceous shale…”
“…mudstone, and less abundant medium-bedded, very pale orange sandstone, tuffaceous sandstone,limestone, and conglomerate.”
Out of interest, would a vineyard there qualify for Santa Cruz Mountain AVA? Would I be wrong to assume Pinot again?
Sounds exciting!
Brady,
It is still not completely finalized so I can’t disclose much more right now. Though I can point out that the Mount Pajaro shale geology is also found north of Mount Pajaro (even inside the Santa Cruz Mountain AVA) and in some very cool microclimates.
Kevin,
Can you share if it is an existing vineyard?
Russ,
It is not an existing vineyard so this is a very long range project. We all really love vineyard design and prefer the blank sheet. It will be a lot of fun to design the spacing, choose rootstocks/scions and layout the blocks to best fit the soil profile, slopes and aspect.
This site would also add a 7th distinct geology to our six existing vineyards, so I expect a fully unique flavor profile to add to our lineup. In particular the black shale (and possible limestone) covered in shallow clay gets my motor running.
Very interesting… none of the existing Rhys vineyards are on limestone, right?
Keith,
There is some limestone at Skyline. We found it when we were digging the cave and broke the equipment trying to excavate it.
Very intersting, Kevin, and thanks for sharing.
Can you guess at plantable acres of the project? Still, sparkling, or maybe both?
Lew,
Probably about 20 acres. The current thought is to stick to Pinot and Chardonnay with similar acreage for each (which is more Chard than we have planted elsewhere). There are no current plans for sparkling though we have discussed it.
Enjoying the widespread interest in California bubbles but find myself wondering why? Labour of Love?
Glenn,
That’s why Sparkling has never moved past the discussion stage for us. If we ever did make some, it would certainly be a “labor of love” or motivated entirely by curiosity.
At Horseshoe and Alpine, I think it would be a near criminal use of good (still wine) Chardonnay.
With Bearwallow’s new plantings and the addition of this new site, we do plan to increase our Chardonnay production over time.
I assumed you’d not go Blanc de Blanc but instead use 100% PN, or perhaps mix Pinot and Chard. I just think for the consumer there are already ample sparkling choices so why use Chardonnay that is hard to come by aleady, like yours!
Jeff, please don’t let Kevin name this one “Oligocene Vineyard”. 
That hurts Tyler. Everybody likes “Bearwallow” don’t they??! (Jeff, I am not asking you)
I kid, I kid.
Interested in hearing more as things develop.
Looks like this is in the Monterey AVA. Is that right?
No, it’s in the SC Mtn AVA, but we will have an '11 Alesia Monterey County Chard…
Hey Kevin,
Is your 2011 Pinot from Mendocino going to get a SVD designation or just the AVA? If AVA will it be under “Mendocino” or “Mendocino Ridge?”
Thanks,
Charles
Charles,
In '11 we made a Pinot (and Chard and Syrah) from Alder Springs in the far northern reaches of Mendocino County. This rocky soiled, high elevation vineyard had a very cool year so the situation was perfect for us to give it a try.
It’s too early to definitively say if the (Alesia) PInot will be vineyard designated but I think it is likely. One thing is clear, that site has immense character. Very intense (at low alc) with pronounced earthy complexity. It will be really interesting to see how the wine looks when finished. In other words, we are convinced the wine will be really interesting but need more time before assessing its overall breadth of appeal.
You know, Tyler, all you can do is fight the good fight. You should hear some of the terrible suggestions that have already come up!
Hey, as long as we’re voting, I love “Oligocene.”
It was the geologic references on the website that first attracted me to Rhys.