We have about enough room for 400 total Estate vines and have already put in tests that total 100 on VSP in a mix of Cab #08, Chardonnay #95, Pinot Gris #52 and Zinfandel. Rather than just build those out, we wanted to stop at about 75 each (or about a barrel) and plant the last 100 in Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Cabernet Franc (we have neighbors who have fine Merlot) to give blending components to go along with purchased Cabernet and Merlot.
Any suggestions other than 1/3 each ?
We are in Western San Martin, (near Gilroy) in the Santa Clara AVA, have clay soil, 101-14 rootstock does well 3309 not so much.
How close to the Santa Theresa Hills are you? Are you in the piedmont at all? Just curious because my personal thought is that’s one of the finest grape growing areas in the world. We put in about 2 acres off Palm and Katana two years ago in the piedmont, and I’d love to plant more in that area.
I’d recommend not cutting yourself to short. It’s nice to have different types of grapes to work with, but 1-2 of something really good is much, much better than 7-8 average things. It’s very hard in most years to buy really small quantities of good grapes so you really should plan on supplying yourself.
Might be best if you send me a note.
If it was me I would not plant Chardonnay, or Pinot Gris for a white. Sauvignon Blanc, or Viognier would do better. We’ve found Mourvedre really rocks in that band of soil, but that’s a poor economic choice. I’d avoid Syrah which seams to bake on our hot days and Grenache unless you can get a great clone (Alban and Beaucastel have not worked great for us and I pulled most of them out).
For the Bordeaux grapes, all should do well. Bill and Ted are high on Petite Verdot in the area, and our Crimson Clover Vineyard is just off llagas round and makes great Cabernet. Personally if I had 400 vines to play with there I’d do 300 Cab S., 50 Cab F, and 50 Merlot.
Surely if the wine is good enough you can charge a decent price for it?
Bonny Doon’s Cigare Volant goes for about $30 - that’s usually about 50% Mourvedre.
And there are Mataros from Jumilla that go for $100+
That requires a 95+ rating from the WA which requires flying Miller somewhere and stuffing him full of $5-$10k worth of food and wine. I ain’t got that in the bribery, er marketing budget.
Thanks for the inputs. We are about 1/2 mile from the Western hills (305 Roosevelt between Colony and Harding)
Soil is about 6 in of topsoil and then ~12- 18 of clay and then back to a permeable strata, we used an auger to plant the original vines, shovels just bounced. (Area was farmland till '72) I have not had soil analysis done yet, its in the plans.
As regards whites, its a matter of economic vs personal tastes, my wife likes chardonnay and I like Pinot Gris, ergo we planted some and they seemed to do ok. That may be naive palate, or it may be a fluke.
We plan to make a SB, but would probably buy it from Monterey county in more volume and keep the “estate” whites for personal use.