Quick Fact Sheet - Field Stone Winery

Transcription

Quick Fact Sheet
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Land purchase: 1958 (750 acres)
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Founder: Wally Johnson (Mayor of Berkeley in the mid 60’s)
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André Tchelistcheff was our consultant from day one.
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Wally invented the first upright mechanical grape harvester and is still used throughout the world
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First underground winery constructed in the modern era in California completed in 1977.
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Wally passed away in 1979 and his daughter Katrina and her husband John Staten took over as our second generation owners. John is an ordained Presbyterian Minister.
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After Wally passed the family sold off 700 acres and sized down to 50 acres planted to six varietals
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Bartles and Jaymes wine cooler commercials were filmed on the porch for 3 years
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The old barn on our property was one of Sonoma County’s historical “Ghost Wineries,” a forgotten winery and
vineyard estate that existed before Prohibition with some or all of its remains still visible
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121 Year old Petite Sirah vines (7 acres and one of the oldest in the world still producing)

Our old block of Cabernet Sauvignon was planted, using budwood from three renowned Napa plantings (BV1,
the source for Beaulieu Vineyard’s George de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet, the May Family Vineyard, the
source of Joe Heitz’s acclaimed “Martha’s Vineyard” Cabernet, and the Old Niebaum vineyard block, the source
of the lionized early Niebaum estate Cabernets).
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The December 2013 issue of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate rated our Petite Sirah with a 94+ point score!
Contact:
Jason Robinson - Director of Sales and Marketing
10075 Highway 128, Healdsburg, CA 95448
Winery: 707.433.7266 | Cell: 916.293.1384
[email protected]
www.fieldstonewinery.com
Winery Fact Sheet
Overview: The family owned Field Stone Winery and Vineyard was one of the first underground wineries constructed
in the modern era in California. Fifty acres with thirty acres planted to six different varietals.
Location: Alexander Valley, Sonoma County, California
Date Founded: Land purchase: 1958, Subterranean winery completed: 1977
Owners: John and Katrina Staten family
General Manager and Vineyard Manager: Ben Staten
Winemaker: Patrick Murray
Director of Sales and Marketing: Jason Robinson
Our Famous Consultant: André Tchelistcheff
Vineyards: Estate vineyards founded in 1894 with recent family plantings from 1967 to present
Estate Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, 120 year old Petite Sirah, Sangiovese, Viognier
Production: 9000 cases (75% reds, 25% whites)
Soil: Volcanic clay
Wines: Field Stone Winery and Vineyards produces 8 varietals and a total of 17 award-winning wines. Offering something for every palate, our wines offer tremendous value with exceptional quality at accessible price points.
Distribution: Field Stone wines are currently distributed in 20 U.S. states, and are available for sale in our tasting room
and through our website www.fieldstonewinery.com.
Tasting Room: Underground tasting room located on the estate vineyard property
Hours of Operation: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily (Closed Major Holidays)
Contact:
Jason Robinson - Director of Sales and Marketing
10075 Highway 128, Healdsburg, CA 95448
Winery: 707.433.7266 | Cell: 916.293.1384
[email protected]
www.fieldstonewinery.com
The Winery & Early Vineyards
The winery facility, which was built in 1976-77 in time for the ’77 harvest, was designed by Wallace
Johnson, Katrina Staten’s father. Wally was a mechanical engineer by training (graduating with honors
from Cal Tech) and manufacturer of many of his inventions, e.g., the portable aluminum scaffold and its
many scaffolding and elevated lift and platform offshoots, now used around the world for a wide variety of
maintenance and construction projects. His company was UpRight Scaffolds, Inc., with its headquarters in
Berkeley, CA. In addition, Wally was the inventor of the first commercial mobile harvester for wine grapes.
The UpRight Vectur Grape Harvester is used extensively in wine regions throughout the world.
The underground concept of the winery was rooted in Wally’s later grape harvester interests which, in
the late seventies, included another invention of a mobile grape press that, working in tandem with an UpRight harvester down an adjacent vineyard row, would allow the grape grower to mechanically pick the
grapes (destemmed with the vibrating rods of the harvester), drop the berries into the tandem crusherpress, expel the pressed pomace into the vineyard row (to be disked later by tractor into the soil), and
pump the fresh, gently pressed juice directly into an oxygen-free, stainless, mobile tank. The tank would
be taken immediately to the winery and, by means of gravity flow, drained into a cold, underground stainless steel fermenter. This technological concept made good sense at the inception of the winery, which at
that time, received mainly white grape varieties (Chenin Blanc, White Riesling, and Gewurztraminer) planted in the 1960’s on the adjacent family-owned Redwood Ranch.
For Wally, putting the winery underground had its merits for other reasons too: environmental impact,
natural aesthetics, and energy efficiency. In the 1970’s the Alexander Valley Association, alarmed by developments in Napa Valley, was concerned about the “commercialization” of its valley. Residents agreed to a
policy that would maintain the unique bucolic character of the valley by encouraging landscape integrated
with minimally visible construction projects. The winery’s present site, a corner parcel of Wally’s 750 acre
Redwood Ranch, was considered one of the best vineyard sites of all in Alexander Valley by such vineyard
experts as André Tchelistcheff, Mike Grgich, and Lee Stewart. (In an address to wine experts in southern
California during the 1980s, André drew a pyramid diagram of the best quality vineyard locations in Alexander Valley and placed this site surrounding Field Stone as the pyramid’s apex.)
Wally chose a rounded knoll near his restored century-old redwood barn as the excavation site.
(Serendipitously, eight years later we learned from the appellation historian, William F. Heintz, that the old
barn, lifted up and reconstructed with original heart redwood by Wally in 1975, was one of Sonoma County’s historical “Ghost Wineries,” a forgotten winery and vineyard estate that existed before Prohibition with
some or all of its remains still visible. As for energy efficiency, Wally, during an earlier trip to wine estates
in the Loire Valley in France, learned the advantages of their ideally cool cellars carved out of deep limestone outcroppings. How could he create the same effect without a limestone ridge?
Wally’s answer came from his professional experience as an engineer, as now applied to his new involvement in community politics. In the 1960’s Wally ran for mayor of Berkeley in conjunction with a referendum he sponsored to put the Bay Area Rapid Transit’s (BART’s) proposed Berkeley terminal and tracks
underground. (Wally believed that an above ground rail structure on Shattuck Avenue in the heart of the
city would in effect divide the community ethnically and racially.) BART’s engineering team (headed by
Bechtel Corp.) rejected the proposal out-of-hand as “too expensive.” With an engineer colleague from
Oakland who knew about the innovative “cut-and-cover” concrete design used in Montreal’s new subway
system, Wally went to Canada to do cost-studies with their design team. He applied this to his Berkeley
proposal and won the day—and the mayorship. It was to this cut-and-cover, interlocking, pre-stressed
concrete design that he used (in micro form) for his dream of an underground winery. Field Stone is
known in the wine industry, through the research of historian Leon Adams, as the first underground winery
facility built in California’s modern era. In a recent publication by Chronicle Press, 50 Best Northern California Wineries, wine writer Heidi Dickerson captures the unique character of Wally’s personal winery vision:
“With its stone wall and small subterranean cellar surrounded by a forest of valley oaks, Field Stone appeals
to romantics who dream of what their personal winery should look like.”
Following Wally’s sudden death of a stroke in 1979 at age 66, his son-in-law and daughter, John and
Katrina Staten became heirs of Wally’s dream. With his mentor and consultant, André Tchelistcheff, John
reassessed the winery’s potential, now without the application of Wally’s conception of mechanical field
harvesting and crushing and a focus on white varieties. After tasting the 1977-80 bottlings of Cabernet and
Petite Sirah (from its century-old vines), they clearly realized that the winery’s strength lay in the red Bordeaux and Rhone varieties. In the nineties, three outstanding Merlot clones (were planted in an ideal site
in front of the winery (see John Staten’s “The Merlot-Ausone Story”) and, in the red rocky soil near the Petite Sirah vineyard, Syrah and Viognier were planted at the recommendation of André. The lauded Merlot
vineyard was named, in his honor, the “Tchelistcheff Vineyard.” In the late nineties, John and his son Ben
(Field Stone’s vineyard manager) added a celebrated Italian red, Sangiovese Grosso (an acclaimed Brunello
di Montalcino clone), to their estate vineyard scheme at the recommendation of John’s longtime friends,
Lucio and Alessandro Landini, proprietors of Fattoria Viticcio in the Chianti Classico district of Tuscany.
From the eighties up to the present the winery facility was modified and upgraded to meet the needs
of these red varieties: a rear entryway to a new crush pad atop the winery, new and modified steel fermenters (including ideal small, stainless, open top fermenters), a new Delta crusher, a new Diemme press,
new pumps, etc. During the last few years the Statens have been exploring their plan to build a complete
on-site barrel facility connected with the winery crush pad that would involve an innovative preservation of
the century-old redwood barn. With a unique sense of entering immediately into the heart of a working
winery, Field Stone visitors and wine writers discover a unique and appealing ambiance because all barreled “Estate Bottled” Reserve wines are stored within the winery. (“Estate wines” cannot leave the premises for any reason, and other red-barreled wines are stored off-site in an excellent larger facility.)
The Century-Old Barn, Farmhouse & Later Prized Plantings
In the late 1950’s Wally purchased what is now the Field Stone Winery & Vineyard site. At that time all
that was on this picturesque property was a hallowed little white farmhouse, still in good shape and located in the middle of an overgrown Petite Sirah vineyard, served by a venerable, but dilapidated redwood
barn. Neighbors had spoken to him of the glory days before Prohibition when this little property was
known for its outstanding vineyard. Doing some research at the Sonoma County Wine Library in Healdsburg, Wally had discovered an article, which he copied and framed and pondered while waiting patiently
for this choice, rocky, red clay soil property to go up for sale. The article was in the 1895 Alexander Valley
Directory, and it described this property as “the best grape land in California.” His first task was to revive its
vineyard. In 1964 and 1965 Wally hand-harvested and sold the impressive Petite Sirah grapes to Lee Stewart, the respected vineyard consultant and vintner of the original Souverain Winery on the Howell Mountain slopes of Napa Valley (now Burgess Cellars). Both Stewart and Wally were ecstatic with the results,
prompting the thought of completing the vineyard development of the property. (The owners during Prohibition were permitted to retain only ten acres of the original vineyard.)
Next on the agenda were the restoration of the old redwood barn and farmhouse, and the planting of
a new Cabernet vineyard. The barn was restored first, while a new vineyard block of Cabernet Sauvignon
was planted, using budwood from three renowned Napa plantings (BV1, the source for Beaulieu Vineyard’s George de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet, the May Family Vineyard, the source of Joe Heitz’s acclaimed “Martha’s Vineyard” Cabernet, and the Old Niebaum vineyard block, the source of the lionized
early Niebaum estate Cabernets). It is from this prized, forty-one year old vineyard and its heritage clones
that the winery’s award-winning Staten Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon comes. (See John Staten’s description of Field Stone’s estate Bordeaux red, Staten Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon” and his account
of how the famed wine critic, Robert Parker, in his important Wine Advocate article, “How Well Do California Cabernets Age,” mistook it for his favorite Chateau Mouton Rothschild.) During the vineyard planting
Wally found a genuine “barn raising” carpenter, who set to work lifting (literally) and restoring completely
this jewel of a historical “Ghost Winery” barn. Over the years this barn has been a landmark in the valley, a
home to barn owl families, the central site for the winery’s glycol refrigeration unit, the property’s water
storage tank cover (filled continuously from its well and pipeline pump in a choice location near the Russian River), and site of a water softening and UV purification system together with a central routing pump
system for the water drip lines installed with our new vineyards.
The historic century-old farmhouse (its age based on the milling character of the redwood and the type
of nails used on the barn and dwelling) was the home and farm office for the first Italian family that planted the vineyard and barn in 1894. (This date might have been earlier, in 1874, according to historian, William Heintz.) In the 1980’s, John and Katrina restored and upgraded the little house without changing any
of its earlier structural charm. They stabilized the foundation, rebuilt the original porches, added a new
bathroom and septic system (it had no indoor bathroom), and replaced its roof (once again in 2007).
From 1984 to 1991, the white primer coat of paint was left on the little house at the request of Hal Riney,
the late award-winning creator and art director of the famed Bartles & Jaymes wine cooler TV ads, which
were filmed on the little house’s front porch.
The ad’s ‘stars,’ Dick Maugg, the quiet one, and Dave Rufkahr, the talker, became avid Field Stone fans
(along with the filming crew). The great insider joke at the time was that when Dick held up the first
“Exotic Berry” cooler, it had been refilled with Field Stone’s Rosé of Petite Sirah, the hit for the crew during
the hot summer months of filming. In 2007 John and Katrina painted the farmhouse’s exterior again, in
keeping with its earlier historical character and its unique vineyard landscape setting. In 1999 they built a
swimming pool designed to fit into and enhance the home site’s setting in the midst of the enchanting
(especially on a starlit night) old Petite Sirah vineyard, a stone’s throw from the little house. At the same
time, a multiuse equipment building was built nearby with an additional pen and saddle room for John’s
horses (to put them close at hand for more frequent riding through the vineyards—and over the verdant
hills to the nearby Russian River!). The roof of this building is the location for the swimming pool’s solar
heating panels. With the pool’s automatic cover during the summer and fall, this solar heating system will
provide water temperatures up to ninety degrees, if one desires.
Sitting on the front porch of the little farmhouse-office, one looks out over the top of the Petite Sirah
vineyard at our latest planned Cabernet planting. This ideal site in rocky red soil was planted in 1997 on
low-vigor rootstock with two highly acclaimed French clones new to California, Clone Blocks 337 and 15. A
third adjacent block was planted with budwood from our original heritage Napa Cabernet clones (BV-1,
Martha’s Vineyard, and Old Niebaum clone). Now in full maturity in 2008, this planting is showing its full
potential. Our expressive heritage vines, in essence, a vineyard blend (or vineyard “bouquet,” as André
would put it) has all the character of its ancestors; Clone 15, as promised, provides us with a rich, but soft
Cabernet character as we strive to tame our tannins at the front-end of fermentation to conserve more
abundant fruit character. Deep, big Clone 337, also as promised, has now shown its potential as a blending partner for our Staten Family Reserve Cabernet when added to grapes from our twenty-seven year
Old Terra Rosa Reserve vineyard. (See Vineyard Map for all of our vineyard blocks.)
For more information about Field Stone Winery, please visit our website or scan this QR Code
10075 Highway 128, Healdsburg, CA 95448 | W: 800.544.7273 | Cell: 916.293.1384 | fieldstonewinery.com | [email protected]
John Staten, Vintner (left) with Mentor André Tchelistcheff
John C. Staten
Vintner
Born in West Texas and raised for brief periods of his life on a sheep ranch, Mr. Staten is not
a stranger to the world of farming. His road to Field Stone, however, followed a circuitous
route by way of another lengthy career, which he still pursues as his "passionate second vocation". After receiving his B.A. in history and philosophy from Stanford University in 1960,
Mr. Staten went to Princeton Theological Seminary to study ancient biblical languages and
literature. Following the receipt of his master's degree from Princeton he entered The University of Chicago in 1964 to study for his Ph.D. in Theology. While completing his doctorate
he studied with the Protestant theologian, Paul Tillich, the French philosophical theologian,
Paul Ricoeur, and Mircea Eliade, the pioneering historian of world religions.
Since 1969 Dr. Staten has taught on the west coast, heading the religion departments at
Reed College in the Pacific Northwest and at Mills College in Oakland, California. A writer
and lecturer in the Bay Area, he is also an ordained Presbyterian minister. For several years
he served as an adjunct professor at the San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo/Berkeley. His book entitled Conscience and the Reality of God, a study on the experiential basis of religious knowledge and ethics, was recently published by Mouton de Gruyter in
Berlin.
Following the untimely death of Mr. Staten's father-in-law, Wallace Johnson, in 1979, Mr.
Staten found himself propelled into the management of the family ranch, vineyards, and
winery. With the assistance of his wife, Katrina, who serves as an officer of the corporation
which they now both own with their four children, Mr. Staten has acquired a second vocation and a renewed love of the land and of wine. An eager student, winemaking and viticultural knowledge have come to Mr. Staten by what he terms "an initiation by fire". For more
than a decade he has been "tutored" and assisted by the eminent winemaker, Andre Tchelistcheff, who served as his senior enologist and long-range adviser from 1979 through
1991. His son, Ben, joined the winery in 1990 following his graduation from Stanford. He is
General Manager and heads up the winery's estate vineyard development.
Field Stone's 121 Year Old Petite Sirah Vineyard: A Rare Survivor
Musing on the course of his life following an illness at age 91, my beloved
late friend, André Tchelistcheff, once remarked, "While the odds of me
getting to a hundred are looking better, the odds of a vineyard lasting a
hundred years here in America are almost nil." We were nearing the end
of a walk through our old Petite Sirah vineyard - a vineyard seven years
older than André at that time- and he was in one of his wonderful reflective moods. "Vineyards like this one, "he mused, "have had to survive not
only the battering of age, pestilence and disease but other
things we never think of." The other things he had in mind
were the more subtle dangers of history and human nature.
"These vines had to survive the devastation of the Prohibition,
the life sapping entanglement of post-Prohibition tax laws, and
the suffocating regulations and restrictions of state and federal bureaucracies. And more recently,” he reflected, looking at me in a curiously personal way, "such old vineyards
have had to survive the hard realities of farming economics. This one is located on some of the best vineyard land the winery owns. If values are measured simply by price per ton, you can see how a five ton per
acre Cabernet vineyard would easily replace a meager two ton per acre Petite Sirah vineyard, and all in the
name of good business!" And so he talked while he stooped to study the old gnarled vines one by one, as
he were a physician making the rounds of some dusty army field hospital, quietly studying the faces of
the lone survivors of a great battle.
What was André telling me that day? There were those times when he gave me technical advice: how
to grow this, how to prune that, what to grow there, when to pick here. That day he was definitely not a
technical consultant. He was something better:
gracious bearer of wisdom, my unexpected sage. There
are only a few people you encounter in life whose wisdom helps you clarify what you ought to really be
living for and what values ultimately count when all is said and done in this world of striving and making
and taking and spending. It is not that such people are born geniuses or have some natural monopoly on
truth. Sages like André acquire their wisdom through long, impassioned life experience and an acquired
knack of seeing another dimension in the things we see every day. He was telling me, don't be tempted to
get rid of this great old vineyard under any circumstances. It is a priceless survivor. It won't give you a lot
of fruit, but what it does give you will have the intensity of color and depth of flavor and aroma that you
will find no where else. Preserve it, and share it with others while you can. Join us in a toast to a rare old
vineyard and remember, like the grand wine master himself, great wine, as hard earned wisdom, doesn't
come until at least your nineties! John Staten, Vintner
Sustainable Winegrowing Is Organic and Much More
CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE WINEGROWING PRACTICES*
For a number of years Field Stone Winery has committed itself to sustainable winegrowing practices. We are
proud to be a certified member of the California Sustainable Winegrowing Program, a rigorous voluntary program
devoted to long-term sustainability for the California wine community. The Sustainability Vision involves the
adoption of recognized practices of organic agriculture and winemaking, but includes these practices within a
broader set of interconnected values. Our ultimate goal, "Sustainability," involves three essential principles in
our viticultural and winemaking endeavor. To be truly Sustainable Field Stone’s practices must be—
1. Environmentally Sound + 2. Socially Equitable + 3. Economically Feasible
1. To be Environmentally Sound involves our commitment to:
• Minimal pesticide use through vital organic (vs. synthetic/chemical)
viticultural choices.
• Soil building through organic composting and amendments.
• Erosion control through annual use of nourishing soil cover crops.
2. To be Socially Equitable involves our commitment to:
• Minimal pesticide exposure and use of lowest-zero risk pesticides.
• A living wage and health insurance for employees.
• Minimization of any health degrading labor.
3. To be Economically Feasible involves our commitment to:
• Maintaining a small enough size of production that quality and
price do not need to be sacrificed to the economies of scale.
John Staten, Vintner
Ben Staten, Vineyard & Gen. Mgr.
*The certification program for Sustainable Winegrowing Practices is administered by the California Sustainable
Winegrowing Alliance in partnership with the Wine Institute, and the California Association of Wine grape Growers.
For additional information about this program see the Alliance’s website: www.sustainablewinegrowing.org.
Vintage: 2012
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Clone Selections: 15, FS, OB
Appellation: Alexander Valley
Harvest Dates: October 21st & 26th
Average Sugar at Harvest: 25.14 Brix
Barrel Ageing: 19 months in 70% French & 30% American Oak
Average Acid at Bottling: 6.18 gm/liter
Average pH at Bottling: 3.70
Alcohol: 13.5% by volume
Cases Produced: 1680
The Story Behind Our Popular Cabernet Sauvignon
Before our first winery production of Cabernet Sauvignon in 1977, Field Stone's vineyards had acquired
an enviable reputation for the outstanding quality of their Cabernet grapes that were sold to Chateau Montelena, Grgich-Hills, Jordan, Simi, and Souverain wineries. From the beginning, André Tchelistcheff, our longtime esteemed consultant, emphasized the importance of planting a variety of Cabernet clones instead of just
one ("a bouquet of mixed flowers is always more captivating than a vase of one," he said). Like flowers, clonally distinct Cabernet fruit yields a strikingly broad range of different aromas and flavors. The result is more
delightful blending possibilities on the winemaker's palette and a singularly more intriguing, complex wine.
The budwood which we planted in our original vineyards during the sixties and early seventies was from three
celebrated Napa vineyard sites: the BV1 clone, the source of Tchelistcheff's famed Beaulieu "Georges de
Latour Private Reserve" Cabernets; the May Vineyard clone, the source of Joe Heitz's acclaimed "Martha's
Vineyard" Cabernets; and the Old Niebaum clone of the lionized early Niebaum Cabernets. These Field
Stone heritage clonal blocks make up the old and new Cabernet blocks of our Field Stone estate. To these
classic sources we added in 1997 two new highly praised Bordeaux clones in our estate planting expansion:
Clones 15 and 337. Now in their full maturity, these vines have provided even further outstanding qualities to
our Cabernet.
The Wine
Our Cabernet is a luxuriant blend of all five of our estate clones,. The result is, in short, terrific. In
character this ’12 release is an expressive, prime Alexander Valley Cabernet that opens up with seductive,
spicy, varietal aromas that follow through with impressive mouth-filling flavors of ripe plums, Bing cherries
and blackberries. This Cabernet is a classic example of Field Stone’s definitive “Alexander Valley Style”: rich,
fruit forward, with attractive notes of oak vanillin that never dominate.
Vintage: 2013
Varietal: Merlot
Harvest Date: September 23rd & 24th, 2013
Clone Selections: 181, 314, Bear Flat
Barrel Aged: 16 months 30% new American Oak
Cases Produced: 602
The Story Behind Our Merlot: Our French Connection
The grapes for our Merlot come from our long planned and newly planted Tchelistcheff vineyard block which
graces the north side of our winery entrance. We named this vineyard in honor of our eminent consultant and
friend, André Tchelistcheff, who, in the mid-1980s, facilitated a unique joint-venture possibility between famed Château Ausone and ourselves. Château Ausone is one of the twelve Premiers Grands Crus in the St-Emilion region of
Bordeaux where Merlot is the primary red instead of Cabernet Sauvignon. (The same is the case in neighboring
Pomerol where, with Château Petrus and others, Merlot is the leading vine, Cabernet the attending.) Through Ausone's important soil analyses of our property, we both were convinced that a major planting of Merlot in this location
showed great promise. Changes in Ausone's family ownership brought their joint-venture explorations to an end,
but we had confirmation of our belief that Merlot would find a perfect Alexander Valley home here at Field Stone.
Our vineyard manager, Ben Staten, initiated our close-spaced planting in the mid-nineties, utilizing two recommended French clonal sources along with a superb California source. We used low vigor rootstock to insure a controlled low crop for the highest possible wine quality. Our 2013 release represents the fruition of our longanticipated plans—and the results are indeed more than just promising—as you will taste!
What’s Unique About This Merlot
With our Merlot we selected the very best of our prized clones planted in 1997. The winning blend came from a
marriage between Mr. “Big, Dark, and Delicious” (our 181 clone) and Ms. “California Svelte” (our Bear Flat clone).
With complimentary new French-coopered American oak (30%) this deep, full-fruited, big red is packed with all the
attributes necessary to be compared to our acclaimed Cabernets: deep violet color, seductive complex aromas, and
rich flavors.
Vintage: 2013
Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc
Vineyard: Redwood Ranch
Harvest Date: September 16th, 2013
Fermentation: 100% Stainless
Average Acid at Bottling: 5.74gm/liter
Residual Sugar at Bottling: Dry (.04 gm/liter)
Cases Produced: 696
The Story Behind Our Sauvignon Blanc
As you may expect from its label, this wine is styled in the Field Stone manner where emphasis is
placed on a bright, deep, fruit-forward expression. Our neighboring Redwood Ranch Vineyard source is ideally located in cooler benchland soil along the Russian River. (Our powerful red wines come from our
warmer, higher elevation, rocky volcanic soils.) It is a newly planted vineyard that has come into its full fifteenth-year of maturity, bearing fruit that consistently gives us a wine in the appealing "New World" style.
The Wine
Proud of our reputation as “a consistent producer of one of California’s better Sauvignon
Blancs” (Robert Parker), we release our outstanding ’13 vintage wine to you with great expectations. Handharvested in the cool of early morning, 100% of the grapes were cold fermented in stainless steel in order
to capture their delightfully crisp and complex fruit character. Fermentation was finished without malolactic
fermentation to further accentuate this wine's fresh-fruit character. With food, Sauvignon Blanc is one of
the most versatile of all white wines. Ours is especially delicious when served slightly chilled with brightly
flavored Mediterranean, Caribbean, and Southwestern-Hispanic foods. And unlike other white wines, we
have found that our Sauvignon Blanc is one of the best complementary matches with corn and cornbased foods (polenta, tortillas, and tamales) and with herbal fare (basil, garlic, and cilantro). Our Sauvignon
Blanc also serves as a delicious aperitif and, of course, either chilled or, at cool room temperature, it is a
superb table accompaniment to poached or grilled seafood, chicken, pastas, salads and many vegetarian
dishes.
Vintage: 2012 Convivio Red
Blend: 74% Merlot, 19% Sangiovese, 5% Malbec, 2% Cab Sauv
Barrel Aged: 19 months French and American oak
Cases Produced: 1513
A Delicious Red Mélange- That’s Affordable!
Convivio is a Special Wine in Several Ways
In Italian, “con-vivio” means with-life, or, literally, life-together-with. Perhaps more than any other word,
Convivio (con-viv-eo) evokes that sense of enlivening connectedness we experience when gathered
around a table to share bread and wine and the substance of our lives with one another. In such communion, we believe that we and the world are made better. In addition, by purchasing our Convivio
Red Wine you will contribute to the lives of the others since we donate a portion of the proceeds to
Clinica Alianza, a non-profit medical center serving farm workers, their families, and the wider community in Sonoma Count’s farmland.
The Vineyards & the Wine
The fruit for our delicious 2013 Convivio Red Wine involves a succulent blend of grapes including: Merlot, Sangiovese, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. This delicious mélange is serendipitously unique and,
as with ‘11 and ‘12 vintages, may rival its varietal brothers! At its incredible value price, is a prime candidate for the most interesting “everyday red wine” you can buy. ‘Enjoy. Give thanks. Convivio!”
Vintage: 2012
Varietal: Petite Sirah
Age of Vineyard: 120 Years Old (Planted in 1894)
Harvest Date: October 18, 2012
Average Sugar at Harvest: 24.3° Brix
Barrel Ageing: 20 months in American Oak (30% new)
Cases Produced: 854
Suggested Retail: $38
The Story Behind our Staten Family Reserve Petite Sirah
Our century old Petite Sirah vineyard provides a rare taste experience of California wine history.
This special reserve wine comes from our carefully tended estate vineyard planted in 1894 by an Italian
farm family in Alexander Valley. Our 2012 bottling marks this rocky, red, clay soil vineyard’s 118th continuous year! This plot of gnarled, picturesque head-pruned vines was described in the 1895 Alexander Valley
Directory as “the best grape land in California." Today many feel our Petite Sirah indeed bears testimony
to this admitted hyperbole.
The Wine
2012 was a true banner vintage of beautifully ripened fruit with expressive bright character both aromatically and flavor-wise. Building gradually with aeration in the glass, our deeply expressive '12 Reserve
Petite opens with aromas of violets and spicy crushed boysenberries. This big, bold wine is anything but
"petite," as it spreads out lavishly on the palate with rich, complex flavors suggestive of black cherries, ripe
plums, and tart blueberries. Its finish is long with a bold layer of deep fruit covering its youthful, dusty tannins. The use of new American oak with this wine accentuates its impressive ‘sweet fruit’ character.
Smooth tannins are achieved through special enzymatic fermentation methods and from a modest blending with estate Viognier, a practice found in the great red wines of the French Côte Rôtie. Field Stone’s
Petite Sirah has been placed by critics in the same class as our finest Cabernet Sauvignon and rightfully is
taking its place as one of the Sirahs on discriminating restaurant wine lists. This rich wine is showy now,
and it will become more fully integrated in the next six years on its way to full maturity well into the next
decade. At age ninety, our long-time consultant, André Tchelistcheff, who loved our Petite Sirahs, often
referred to them as the “wines of the angels,” in tribute to their glory and extra-long ageing potential.
Robert Parker rated our 2010 vintage with a 94+ point score in December 2013.
Vintage: 2012
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon (Clone 337)
Harvest Date: October 27, 2012
Average Sugar at Harvest: 27° Brix
Barrel Ageing: 20 months in French Oak (40% new)
Cases Produced: 494
Suggested Retail: $45
The Story Behind Our Staten Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
When the grapes begin to color in mid-summer, we earmark special estate vineyard blocks as potential sources for our Staten Family Reserve Cabernet. Grapes from one or more of these prime blocks show
the greatest promise of producing the most highly extracted and concentrated wine of the Cabernet harvest. This Reserve selection receives the most lavish treatment possible from start to finish, and the result
embodies the finest expression of our viticultural and winemaking skills. Grapes for this wine came from
our prized, new Bordeaux Clone 337 block. An ideal rocky red earth site adjacent to our century-old Petite Sirah vineyard is home to this prime Cabernet block. This new Bordeaux Clone 337 block, planted in
1997, produces exquisite small berries yielding a level of color, aroma and fruit extraction that winemakers
dream about.
The Wine
This highly outstanding vintage for Alexander Valley reds smiled especially on Field Stone in '12, giving
us a powerful, deeply concentrated Reserve Cabernet with a distinctive deep violet color, complex seductive aromas, and flavors of rich Bing cherries, cassis, and black currants carried through with a deep, lasting
finish. Our Reserve Cabernet was barrel aged for 20 months in specially selected new French oak barrels
(40% new). The combination of this wine's concentrated fruit core and firm, though supple tannin backbone, augurs well for long-term ageing (15-20 years) with increasing enjoyment. Robert Parker rated our
2010 vintage with a 90+ point score in the December 2013 issue!

Quick Fact Sheet - Field Stone Winery

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