We came to Sonoma County in 1999 when Peter's father decided he wanted to have a vineyard. Peter's father provided the capital, and we provided the sweat and on-site supervision. We found an ideal property in Bennett Valley (which was about to become a new appellation) that was perfectly suited to Syrah, although we didn’t know it at the time - in fact we knew almost nothing about growing grapes. The vineyard was planted in 2001, mostly to Syrah with some Grenache, Roussanne and Sauvignon Blanc. Over the intervening years that vineyard, which came to be called Dry Stack Vineyard, has been the source of several highly acclaimed wines including those made by Pax, DuMOL, Broc Cellars, Eric|Kent Wine Cellars and others.
In 2005, after a little encouragement from some friends, we decided it was time to try to make the best possible wine from Dry Stack Vineyard. During the 2005 harvest we crushed 4 tons of Syrah for our first vintage of Dry Stack Cellars. Earlier in the year we had borrowed even more money from Peter's father and purchased an additional 10 acres of land with amazing potential for Syrah in the Russian River Valley Appellation, eventually named Greywacke Vineyard. Now leveraged to our eyebrows and beyond, we were fully committed to a life of grapes, wine and debt.
With no winery, no equipment and little experience, we seem an unlikely team to take on such an undertaking, but several good friends convinced us that we could make it work. Andy Smith, the winemaker at DuMol, encouraged and supported us through our first year and helped make the wine. Russell Bevan and his wife Victoria of Bevan Cellars, neighbors in Bennett Valley, also supplied a great deal of support and help and in 2006 Russell became Dry Stack Cellars’ winemaker.
Place
Wine is unique in its ability to translate the soil, geography and climate of a particular site into a truly unique form of art. No other food or beverage conveys the subtleties of its environment like wine. Our goal is to create as intense an expression as possible in the vineyard, and then to transform that expression from grapes into wine with as little intervention and adulteration as possible. However, it all starts with the right "place".
Every place on the earth is unique, but only a few of them qualify as exceptional sites for growing wine grapes, and even fewer are capable of bringing out all the potential depth and character that Syrah can deliver. Syrah loves to be stressed, and it produces its most profound expressions (on the West Coast at least) in areas that are on the verge of being too cool, as do our other varietals.
At Dry Stack Vineyard, we have five different clones of Syrah growing in five distinctly different locations, each with its own unique soil, aspect and micro-climate. We continue to adjust the clonal mix with the use of grafting to optimize the character of the fruit that we get from each block. We cannot say that we searched the world looking for a spot exactly like this before we purchased the property because at the time we (and the rest of the wine world) didn’t realize the quality of fruit that Bennett Valley was capable of producing. But over the years that we have farmed here, we have realized the truly special nature of the climate of Bennett Valley, and more specifically, of the unique location that Dry Stack Vineyard occupies in Bennett Valley.
Colder than most areas of Russian River Valley and Green Valley, appellations known for their cool growing season, we routinely are one of the last vineyards in Sonoma County to start growth in the Spring and to harvest in the Fall. The cool marine air that feeds through the Crane Canyon Gap from across the Santa Rosa Plain keeps daytime temperatures from spiking. The fog that comes with it provides a natural delay in the daily warming.
The rocky, well-drained soil, the long, cool growing season and the individual micro-climates on our Dry Stack Vineyard property all combine to create the ideal terroir to produce our spectacular Syrah, Grenache, Roussanne, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy making them.
Track Record
Since 2003, we have been providing fruit to some of the best wineries in Sonoma County. Many of these wines have earned very high ratings.
Pax
1. Their 2003 and on vintages of Moriah contains our Grenache in varying percentages. This wine consistently gets scores in the mid 90's from Parker.
2. Starting in 2005, 100% of the Roussanne in Venus is from Dry Stack Vineyard. The 2005 got 92 points from Parker.
3. In 2004 Pax produced a stand along Grenache from Dry Stack Vineyard that received 91 points from Parker.
DuMol
Their 2004 and on vintages of Russian River Syrah contains our Syrah (never more than 15%). 2004 got 94 points from Parker.
Broc
1. 2003 and on vintages of Syrah
2. 2003 and on vintages of Petite Sirah
3. 2004 and on vintages of Grenache
Favia
2004 Miel Y Sal
Eric|Kent
2003 and on vintages of Syrah
Kosuge
2005 and on vintages of Syrah
Bevan
2005 and on vintages of Syrah
The Future
Dry Stack Cellars is a 100% estate winery focused on cool climate varieties. We either own or have full control of all the vineyards from which we get fruit. The two primary sources of fruit for our wines are our home ranch in Bennett Valley, Dry Stack Vineyard, and our ranch in the Russian River Valley, Greywacke, which was planted in 2006. In addition, we will source fruit from vineyards in Bennett Valley and Kenwood that we feel have special potential: Grenache from Keiser Road Vineyard and more Syrah and Pinot from the Steiner Ranc in Bennett Valley
In early 2007 we released three wines from our home ranch of Dry Stack Vineyard:
1. Marie's Block Syrah
2. Rosemary's Block Sauvignon Blanc
3. Rosé of Syrah
In 2008 we will release two Syrahs, a Sauvignon Blanc, a Rosé and a Viognier from our Dry Stack Vineyard.
In 2010, Greywacke Vineyard in Russian River Valley will come into production and we will add a Syrah and hopefully a Grenache from Greywacke to our lineup. In addition Keiser Rd will come on line adding more Grenache.
In 2011, we will release our first Syrah from the Steiner Ranch.