Laurel Glen Vineyard was planted to Cabernet Sauvignon in 1968. Right across the creek next door the Berger family planted Cabernet Sauvignon in 1973. Both vineyards still have vines from the 1960s and 1970s that are alive and producing incredible old vine wines! In the 70’s Laurel Glen’s fruit was purchased by Richard Arrowood when he was winemaker for Chateau St Jean, and this became one of the first vineyard designated wines in Sonoma County. In 1981 Patrick Campbell produced the first commercial vintage under his own Laurel Glen Vineyard label. As Patrick’s reputation grew, he added fruit from Berger Vineyard to the Laurel Glen wine. 10 years ago, we renewed this relationship and have since been using old vine Berger fruit in the Counterpoint wines! A few other wineries are purchasing fruit from Berger Vineyard and producing their own wines. One of the most interesting of these is a small winery named Model Farm. Owners Joanna and Sean Castorani are both winemakers who seek out cooler vineyard sites at higher elevations. We loved their descriptions in a recent blog, and how they made you feel like you were there experiencing it all with them. We wanted to share it with you here below!
– Randall and Bettina
“They’re not good because they’re old; they’re old because they’re good.” This perfect, simple statement came from Patrick Campbell, founder of Laurel Glen and one of the original champions of Sonoma Mountain Cabernet, on a recent harvest evening in Sonoma. We were gathered for a backyard Asado, an Argentine tradition centered around fire, food, and friends, when the conversation drifted to the early days of mountain winemaking. Around the table sat some of the pioneers of Sonoma Mountain, growers and winemakers who have worked these rugged hillsides since the early 1970s.
Vintages of our Sonoma Mountain Cabernets were shared alongside Patrick and Ray’s wines from Laurel Glen, the 1986 and 1999 Vineyard Reserve. The wines were each brilliant in their own way, a testament to the diversity of Sonoma Mountain’s terroir, the thoughtful (yet not always perfect) farming behind them, and the precision required in the cellar to adapt gracefully to the challenges and character of each vintage.
So much of viticulture and winemaking these days has come to mirror the pace of the world around us – driven by the pursuit of efficiency and uniformity, easily commodified and optimized for profit. And with that, so many wines have lost their individuality.
These heritage vineyards feel like a step back in time: steep slopes, remote locations, stubbornly low yields, sprawling canopies, and acres of gnarled vines still entirely dependent on human hands from pruning to harvest. Far from the mechanization and ease of modern viticulture, what they offer in return is distinctiveness and soul – the very qualities that make wines worth remembering, and that keep the next generation reaching for more.
Vineyards get planted; vineyards get uprooted. The great ones endure, and we are just the caretakers.
Today’s release features two of these old-vine heritage sites: Berger Vineyard on Sonoma Mountain and P&M Staiger Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Both were planted more than fifty years ago and continue to produce wines of depth, mineral tension, and unmistakable character. They’re not good because they’re old; they’re old because they’re good.
From our cellar to yours,
Joanna and Sean, Model Farm