San Benito County Vineyards and Wine – Part 2, DeRose Winery and Eden Rift Vineyards
I’ve posted a portion of a report on April wine visits with friends Wes, Stephanie, and Larry to Popelouchum Vineyard and then to DeRose Winery and Eden Rift Vineyards, all in California’s San Benito County. My earlier post covered Popelouchum, and this one covers DeRose and Eden Rift. The full version of the report is on the Grape-Nutz.com website:
San Benito Vineyards and Wine - April 2025
I included a brief introduction to San Benito County in my earlier post – I won’t repeat it here, but check out my earlier post if you’re not familiar with this California wine region.
DeRose Winery
We drove from San Juan Bautista up into the Gabilan Mountains along Cienega Road, and arrived at our next San Benito County wine destination, DeRose Winery in Cienega Valley. I actually drove right by the winery, as the signage outside is unobtrusive, but we quickly doubled back and parked across the road from the older wood buildings. Wes, Stephanie, Larry and I walked in from the road, and we soon met winemaker Alphonse “Al” DeRose working inside. I’d been in contact with Al about our visit, and though he’d been busy preparing for bottling wine the following week, it turned out to be a good time for him to take a break from that and pour some wines for us to taste. He led us into the large barrel and tank room of the winery, where a long tasting counter is set up along one side – a wonderfully old-time tasting set-up that seems a nod to California wine heritage. The large and utilitarian winery buildings date from the early 1960s when Almaden Vineyards owned the property. Remarkably, a trace of the San Andreas Fault runs right through one of the buildings – though fortunately not the one where the tasting area is located!
Al talked with us about the winery and vineyard as we began our tasting. DeRose is particularly historic – wine production there (under various owners over the years) has been going on continuously for over 170 years, said to be the longest ongoing wine production in California. Frenchman Theophile Vaché planted the first grapevines at the property around 1851. He was selling wine from his vineyard by 1854, and Al told us that they have documentation of Négrette plantings there as far back as 1855. The property went through a number of owners in subsequent years – William Palmtag and John Dickinson produced award-winning wines there and both of them enlarged the vineyards in the later 1800s and early 1900s. The winery produced sacramental wine to keep the business going during the Prohibition years, and the Valliant family ran it for some time. In 1953 Almaden bought the land, later selling it to Heublein in the mid-1980s, and vineyard health and wine quality suffered during this period of large corporate ownership. After splitting the large property into two and selling both parts in 1988, one part became Pietra Santa Winery (now Eden Rift), while the DeRose and Cedolini families purchased the other part, which became DeRose Winery.
The DeRose family has deep California farming roots. The family, including Al’s father Pat, his grandfather Gene, and great-grandfather Francisco, grew prunes, cherries, and apricots on a 60-acre ranch in San Jose’s Willow Glen area from about 1930 to 1970. Not long after they sold that farm property, several family members, along with Dr. Tony Cedolini and friend Ernie Miller, began making wine in the basement of the DeRose family house, and they continued to do so until they launched their winery in Cienega Valley. Originally named Cienega Valley Winery, they renamed it DeRose Winery in 1993.
Pat, who had guided both the vineyard management and winemaking since the start, retired from the winery about five years ago. Al grew up at the vineyard estate, and he learned about growing the vines from his father. Al went on to earn an enology degree from Cal State University in Fresno in 2001. He’s taken the reins from Pat, and in addition to DeRose Winery, Al is the winemaker for Viña Los Chanchitos in Chile, allowing him to work harvests in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres each year. He makes his own Chilean wines under the Alchemy and Parróne labels and sells these at the DeRose tasting room as well as other wines they import from Argentina, Spain, Italy, and France.
DeRose Vineyard straddles the San Andreas Fault, and the site includes different soil types on either side. The eastern side has mostly granite and sandstone soil, with the higher portions to the west of the fault including granitic and calcareous soil. Al mentioned that there is a quarry for dolomite – a type of calcareous rock – very near the vineyard. The Cienega Valley climate is fairly warm during the growing season but winds from Monterey Bay typically start to cool it off considerably starting in the mid-afternoon. There are about 100 acres of vines, with around 40 acres dating from before 1900. Most of vines at DeRose are on hillside locations at over 1,100-foot elevation with varying slopes and orientations. The vines are dry-farmed, without irrigation, using organic methods – Al told us that the last time the vineyard had been irrigated was in 2000. The fruit typically retains good acidity due to the cool nighttime temperatures and the wind.
Al and Pat worked together in both the vineyard and winery for about 25 years before Pat’s retirement. They restored the old vineyard, which had not been well-tended in the years before they took over. A small block of the 1855 Négrette vines remains in the vineyard, while other plantings that are about 110-120 years old and are still in production include Zinfandel, Cabernet Pfeffer, more Négrette, and – surprisingly – Viognier. Al said that there are also some Alicante Bouchet and Rose of Peru vines interplanted in the older parts of the vineyard. More recent – but still 40+ year-old – plantings include Syrah and Cabernet Franc. Newer vines have largely been propagated from old-vine cuttings. Most of the fruit from their vineyard goes into the DeRose wines though they typically also sell about 5-10% to other vintners.
Along with his love of growing the vines and making wine, Pat DeRose enjoyed collecting and restoring old cars. A few of the winery’s bottlings are named for a specific automobile model and feature a photo of that car on the front label. We tasted one of these, the “Hollywood Red” blend named for the classic 1941 Graham Hollywood automobile. Other bottlings with classic auto labels include the “Sharknose Chardonnay” (named for another Graham model) and “Continental Cabernet.” Al told us that the “Hollywood Red” is their top seller, and is made in a solera-type of system going back to 1997. Each year they bottle half of the most recent vintage along with half that’s a blend of all the older vintages – the other half of the recent vintage is in turn blended with the older ones for use in the following years.
All of the DeRose wines are fermented with native yeast and are bottled unfined and unfiltered, with minimal intervention winemaking. Wines are aged in French oak, using a variety of coopers and up to around 15-20% new barrels. White and rosé wines are bottled under screwcap. Most of the wines are given additional aging in bottle prior to release, so the available vintages are generally bit older than found at many wineries.
Al started out our tasting with the 2020 Chardonnay, aged in French oak barrels for 10 months with lees-stirring but no malolactic fermentation, and then aged in bottle for another two years before release. This had apple and stone fruit aromas plus floral hints, with medium-light body and a lively texture. We followed that with the 2019 Viognier – this was sourced from old vines on limestone soil near the highest part of the vineyard, and barrel-fermented in neutral oak with no malolactic fermentation. With bright but subtle citrus, stone fruit, and floral aromas, it had fine acidity and a long, fresh finish. Next was the 2023 Zinfandel Rosé, fermented in neutral oak and then aged in stainless steel prior to bottling. Displaying strawberry and watermelon notes plus hints of fresh herbs and flowers, it had medium-light weight and a pleasant finish.
Our first red wine was the 2021 Cabernet Franc, from vines planted nearby the winery buildings. This had ripe plum and black cherry fruit with spice and dried herb notes in support, with a moderately rich texture and youthful tannins. Al next poured us the 2020 Négrette – the fruit for this bottling came from younger vines developed from the old Négrette vine cuttings. Featuring earthy plum and darker berry aromas along with a savory herbal element and undertones of spice and vanilla, this had medium body and a lively mouthfeel and finish.
We continued with the NV “Hollywood Red” #22, made using the solera system described above, is a blend of 65% Zinfandel, 15% Syrah, 10% Négrette, 4% Cabernet Pfeffer, 4% Rose of Peru, 1% Alicante Bouchet, and 1% Cabernet Franc, all from vines planted between 1855 and 1918. This definitely showed the Zin component upfront, with ripe black cherry and wild berry aromas, plus spice, earth, and a touch of pepper, with a moderately rich texture and fine tannins. We finished up our tasting with the 2007 Port, made from 100% Cabernet Franc. With ripe plummy fruit, spice, and vanilla aromas, this had a rich mouthfeel yet good acidity. On its own this shows a touch of a port-style wine’s alcoholic heat, but paired with food – chocolate would do well here! – it should be a fine accompaniment.
Al had to leave as we were finishing up our tasting – he was on his way to the winery’s recently-opened second tasting room in San Martin, between San Jose and Gilroy – and he left us in the capable hands of Luke Garrett, who works mainly in sales and at the tasting room for DeRose. We’d mentioned to Al and Luke that we were interested in seeing some of their old vines, and Luke led us out into the vineyard. The Cabernet Franc vines planted in 1985 were directly across from the winery buildings, and from there we followed Luke a short distance up the hillside to the old Zinfandel, Négrette, and Viognier vines. It’s always a treat to see old head-trained vines such as these, and it’s wonderful that the DeRose family was able to restore the vines after they’d been poorly managed by the previous vineyard owners.
In addition to the wines we tasted, DeRose also makes Carignane, Cabernet Pfeffer, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Zinfandel, Sangiovese, plus a couple of additional red blends and Port-style wines. They currently produce about 5,000 cases per year. A new project for DeRose is a return of the Cienega Valley Winery label for a line of value-priced wines.
We had a great time at DeRose visiting with Al and Luke. They were both terrific hosts and made us all feel right at home at the winery and in the vineyard. I enjoyed all of the wines we tasted – many were on the fruit-forward and somewhat bolder side, though none of them were over-ripe or jammy at all, and the fine acidity that they displayed kept them all very well-balanced. My favorites included the 2019 Viognier, 2020 Négrette, and NV “Hollywood Red” #22. A visit to DeRose should certainly be on your itinerary if you’re exploring the wines of San Benito County. With their new San Martin tasting room you can now visit them very easily from the South Bay Area, though a visit to their Cienega Valley winery and vineyard will give you a great opportunity to discover an important part of California wine history.
Eden Rift Vineyards
Our final San Benito County wine visit of the day was at Eden Rift Vineyards, a very short drive from our previous stop. I’d tried a few Eden Rift wines in recent years that friends had brought to tastings and dinners, and enjoyed them. I was able to get in touch with winemaker Trevor Chlanda and he arranged for our group’s tasting at the winery. Wes, Stephanie, Larry and I walked into the tasting room, located in the historic Dickinson House – designed in 1906 by Frank Lloyd Wright associate Walter Burley Griffin – and we were greeted there by Hannah Harvey, who led us out onto the large patio for our tasting.
The Eden Rift property makes up part of the earliest commercial vineyard plantings in San Benito County. The first vines – possibly Mission – were planted around 1851 by Frenchman Theophile Vaché, who added French grape varieties not long afterwards, including one of California’s first plantings of Pinot Noir in about 1860. After William Palmtag purchased the property, he expanded the vineyard and winery in the 1880s, and subsequent owner John Dickinson expanded them further in the early 1900s. A bit later, the Valliant family headed up the vineyard and winery. In the 1950s, wine giant Almaden Vineyards bought the land, and later sold it to Heublein – a period when the vineyard was farmed more for quantity than quality and when many of the older vines were pulled out and the site planted with other grape varieties.
The single large property was split into two not long afterwards, with part of it going to the DeRose family (now DeRose Winery), while the other part, purchased by the Gimelli family, became Pietra Santa Winery – this is the portion that is now Eden Rift. Many of the vines were replaced with Merlot, Sangiovese, and Dolcetto during the Pietra Santa years, though some older vines including a small block of Zinfandel were preserved. The Pietra Santa property was purchased in 2016 by Christian Pillsbury – a longtime California wine business veteran – who changed the name to Eden Rift as a tribute to both John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden” and the San Andreas Fault zone that runs through the estate.
Pillsbury had been looking at older vineyard properties in a number of California wine regions, with a goal of buying one to preserve it and restore it to its historical roots, and as soon as he saw this one he knew it was what he wanted. Soon after he purchased the site, he and original Eden Rift winemaker Cory Waller began the process of replacing most of the plantings there with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris – a return to the vision of original owner Theophile Vaché. The soil and climate of the vineyard is similar to that of famed Calera Wine Company, located just a couple of miles away, so Pillsbury was confident that these grape varieties would do well at the site.
There are currently about 117 acres of grapevines planted at Eden Rift. About 90 acres is planted to Pinot Noir, including Dijon clones 115, 667, 777 and 828, Pommard 4, and California heritage clones Mount Eden, Swan, and Calera. These vines are planted on some of the site’s distinctive terraces, as well in specific blocks including the Lansdale and Palmtag blocks. Over 22 acres of Chardonnay are planted – also some on the terraces – plus a little over 3 acres of Pinot Gris, which is planted entirely on the terraced part of the site. There are also small blocks of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre planted in the vineyard. In addition to these more recent plantings, the small (less than one acre) own-rooted, head-trained Dickinson Block of 1906 Zinfandel is still there. Eden Rift uses most of the estate fruit for their own wines but they do currently sell about 10-20% each year to other producers.
There’s about a 400-foot elevation difference between the top and bottom portions of the vineyard, and various slopes and aspects. The vineyard soil includes decomposed granite, limestone, and dolomite, and Pillsbury had 36 soil pits dug in order to help determine what to plant in various parts of the vineyard and what rootstocks to use. The vines are farmed using mostly organic methods. The daytime climate at the site is warm during the growing season but it cools off considerably at night, and my friends and I couldn’t help but notice the cool mid-afternoon breeze as we sat on the patio outside of the Dickinson House.
Although winemaker Trevor Chlanda wasn’t able to meet with us during our visit, we had several text and email exchanges that helped me better understand the property and the wines. Trevor, who took over the winemaking at Eden Rift in the summer of 2024, worked at several noted Napa Valley producers as well as Duck Pond Cellars in Willamette Valley and Williams Selyem Winery in Russian River Valley – both well-known for their Chardonnay and Pinot Noir bottlings.
Winemaking at Eden Rift is minimal intervention, with fruit picked at night to ensure that it’s cold when it reaches the winery. All of the fruit is fermented with native yeast. Chardonnay is whole-cluster pressed, fermented in French oak, and aged in barrel for 10-11 months, going entirely through malolactic fermentation. Pinot Noir fruit is fermented with a percentage of whole clusters, ranging from about 20-30% for the Estate bottling and up to 100% for some of the more limited bottlings. The Estate Pinot is in French oak for about 10-11 months while other Pinot bottlings receive up to 16 months of barrel age before bottling. Wine for the estate bottlings of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir is aged in about 15-20% new French oak barrels, while other bottlings get up to 35% new oak. They’re moving toward aging in puncheons rather than barriques with white wines, for gentler oak extraction. Other red varieties have been aged in a little new oak in past vintages but Trevor said that they’re moving to older barrels for these, plus some once-used barrels for Zin and Syrah.
Hannah at the tasting room poured the winery’s current tasting flight of wines for Wes, Stephanie, Larry, and me as we sat out on the pleasant patio. We could see a sizable brick building with a distinctive tower across the vineyard from Dickinson House – it looks old but we learned that it was built only about 25 years ago, when the property was Pietra Santa, and is the winery building. We also got a look at the 1906 block of Zinfandel vines, which are right next to the patio.
We started our tasting with the 2023 Estate Rosé. The Pinot Noir fruit that goes into this is from fruit that’s farmed, picked, and made specifically for rosé wine – it’s whole-cluster pressed and then fermented and aged entirely in stainless steel, with no malolactic fermentation. This had subtle floral red fruit and tropical fruit aromas, with a medium-light mouthfeel and lively finish. Our next wine was the 2022 Valliant Griva Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc. The Valliant line of Eden Rift wines is from non-estate fruit. This Musqué clone Sauvignon Blanc was sourced from the Arroyo Seco region of Monterey County, whole-cluster pressed, and made in both stainless steel tanks and neutral French oak, with no malolactic fermentation. With herbal grapefruit and stone fruit plus floral undertones, it had a pleasant texture and finish. Hannah continued our tasting with the 2021 Estate Chardonnay, which was aged in both older and new French oak for 11 months and went completely through malolactic fermentation. Displaying stone fruit and tropical fruit notes along with spice, oak, and hints of flowers, this was medium-bodied with a long finish.
We proceeded to the 2021 Estate Pinot Noir, made mostly from 115, 828, and 777 Pinot clones. This had about 25% whole-cluster fermentation, and was aged in around 30% new French oak. This had ripe black cherry and plum aromas along with spice and a touch of earth, with medium-light body and milder tannins. The last wine that Hannah poured for us was the 2020 Lansdale Pinot Noir. This came from Calera clone Pinot grown at the highest part of the vineyard (Q-Block, at around 1,600-foot elevation), and fermented entirely with whole clusters. I thought this wine showed more character than the previous one, with black and red cherry fruit, flowers, a savory herbal component, and undertones of spice and oak, with more texture on the palate, fine acidity, and good structure for continued development in the cellar.
Since Trevor wasn’t available when my friends and I visited Eden Rift, we weren’t able to taste all of the wines that he’d wanted us to, but he generously sent three additional bottles to try afterwards. All three are limited-production bottlings, and Trevor felt that they would really showcase some of the vineyard’s most special fruit. I was able to get together again with Wes, Stephanie, and Larry a few weeks after our winery visit to taste these wines. The 2022 Terraces Chardonnay was made from entirely from the terraced Chardonnay vineyard block, with clones 76 and 4. Whole-cluster pressed, it was aged for about 10 months in neutral and new French oak. It was a little reductive at first, but with some air this featured subtle lemon and pear, fresh herbs, a light touch of oak, and a stony mineral note, medium bodied with vibrant acidity and a fresh finish.
Trevor also sent the 2022 Terraces Pinot Noir, sourced from two terraced vineyard blocks. This was entirely whole-cluster fermented, and then aged in French oak barrels (22% new) for 16 months. Showing black cherry fruit, savory herbs, and lots of spice, this had great structure and a lively finish. Quite promising but it still seems young and can use some time in the cellar for all of the components to really mesh. Rounding out the additional wines that Trevor sent was the 2021 Dickinson Block Zinfandel. Fruit from these low-yielding Zin vines was destemmed, and the wine was barrel-aged for 14 months in both neutral and new French oak. This had ripe berry fruit, spice, and undertones of vanilla, with a broad mouthfeel and long finish.
Other releases include Terraces Pinot Gris, Reserve Chardonnay, Palmtag Pinot Noir (entirely Mount Eden clone), and a few limited-production wines including Syrah and Valliant Petite Sirah. Total annual production for both the Eden Rift and Valliant labels is currently around 10-12,000 cases. A new development at Eden Rift is a Blanc de Noirs sparkling wine that will be released a few years from now.
Our visit to Eden Rift was a very pleasant and relaxing experience, and Hannah was a friendly and knowledgeable server for us. I have to thank Trevor again for sending those three additional bottles that he’d wanted us to taste, as they really gave us a better picture of what the vineyard is capable of producing. All of the wines were very well-balanced, and I don’t believe any of them other than the Zinfandel were over 14% alcohol. While all of the wines were good, I thought the 2022 Terraces Chardonnay, 2020 Lansdale Pinot Noir, and 2022 Terraces Pinot Noir were a noticeable step up from the others, and they were my three favorites, and the 2021 Dickinson Block Zinfandel was a fine expression of old-vine Zin. These wines were standouts and definitely worth seeking out. For its long history, its relaxing atmosphere in a beautiful setting, and its wines, a visit to Eden Rift is certainly recommended if you’re visiting the Cienega Valley wine region.