Our Vineyard Sources
Since its beginning, Red Mare Wines has remained true to its core mission - discovering premium vineyard sites to deliver uniquely luxurious wines at great prices. We select our grapes from highly sustainable or organic sources, identifying those hidden gems among the vineyards of the Napa Valley, and working with farmers we trust.
Gamble Family Vineyard
Yountville, Napa Valley
Tom Gamble's Yountville Vineyard is a bit of a legend for Sauvignon Blanc aficionados. He is a dedicated clone wonk, and his vineyard is his work of art, a patchwork of unique and preserved clones from various sources.
Our block of Clone 22 Sauvignon Blanc vines is full of big, round river stones and gravel sediment deposited by the Napa River over the last few thousand years. These stones provide excellent drainage, which helps control the vigor of the vine, allowing the vine to put energy into its grapes, rather than its leaves. This is this same type of gravel terroir that gives the old world "grave style" Sauvignon Blanc in France.
Tom's vineyard is CCOF Certified Organic, and he takes immense care in optimizing fruit quality over quantity. Every year he carefully thins the fruit very early in the growing season to affect highly concentrated fruit. The cover crop is thoughtfully managed, and the shoot positioning immaculate. The vineyard is a pleasure to work with year after year.
Dutton Ranch Vineyard
Russian River, Sonoma County
Dutton Ranch is legendary for producing award-winning Chardonnays. They have many vineyard locations throughout Sonoma County. We source from the Mills Station Vineyard, one of their lower elevation, cooler sites - precisely what Anne was seeking. Anne's ideal was a Chardonnay that would be inspired by the Chardonnays of Burgundy - fresh, flinty, and mineral-driven. The Mill's Station Vineyard sees plenty of cold Sonoma Coast fog. Ripening is slow, and we are patient to let these grapes develop on the vine. Often this site is harvested after many of our Napa Cabernet vineyard sites.
Mills Station's soil is a thick deposit of the coveted Goldridge soil series, known for producing deliciously complex Chardonnay. Our Dutton Ranch Chardonnay is the result of the combination of what we call "The Old Block" planted to an unknown clone in the '70s along with a touch of the modern - Dijon Clone 76. This results in a beautiful juxtaposition of the bright, fruit-forward characters of the Dijon clone, and the textured, mineral characteristics of the Old Block.
The Alsace Vineyard
Rutherford, Napa Valley
The Alsace Vineyard is in Rutherford - not to be confused with the growing area in easter France known for its fantastic white wines. Nestled into the southeastern corner of Rutherford, The Alsace Vineyard is home to Scarlette Wines. We are fortunate to source a block of their clone 685 Cabernet Sauvignon. This clone produces tiny berries and beautiful loose, cylindrical clusters.
The Napa Valley often gets discussed in terms of its northern areas and its southern areas. In truth, there is just as much distinction when you split the valley vertically and look at its eastern-facing and western-facing vineyards. This site is west-facing and receives the warm afternoon sun, enhancing those lovely ripe fruit characters for which the Napa Valley is so well known. Thoughtful row orientation and the use of a quadrilateral Lyre system protect berries from too much heat. The fruit from this site always gives us beautifully balance fruit characters.
This vineyard has been at the core of Red Mare Wines' Cabernet Sauvignon for a decade.
Hestia Vineyard
Coombsville, Napa Valley
The Hestia Vineyard was quite a find. Tucked away in a residential area of the Coombsville appellation is an immaculately planted and farmed vineyard. Too large to be considered landscaping, but too small to be regarded as a commercial farm, this site is carefully managed and beautifully maintained. Always attracted to the cooler appellations, and knowing the quality of the farming, Anne was interested in taking a look. It has proved to be a well-placed bet.
It holds the refreshing morning fog from the San Pablo Bay in the warmest parts of the summer. Located in the lowest part of the swale, and protected by a copse of trees on one side and wild chaparral on the other, the Sauvignon Blanc rests in gravelly well-drained soils. This provides lovely tension and balance in the fruit, making it well suited for our long aging regime.
Volker Eisele Vineyard
Chiles Valley, Napa Valley
When Anne was attending UC Davis, she remembers one of her first encounters with the legendary Volker Eisele. He came to discuss with great humility and passion the importance of organics in grape growing. He was a champion of using technics that preserved the land, and his leadership in the industry has left a long legacy that bears fruit still today.
Volker's son Alex now walks the fields and we are very blessed to be able to source fruit from their "New Fields" block, which was planted in the '80s. Both CCOF and CDFA Certified Organic, the Eisele family takes great pride in continuing the legacy of putting the land first and stewarding it for the next generations.
Chiles Valley is part of the Napa Valley AVA and sits just to the east, nestled into the edge of the Mayacama Mountains. It is one of the cooler sub-appellations and much influenced by the fog of the San Pablo Bay. Traveling to their vineyard is like taking a well-needed step back in time - the perfect place to source grapes that yield balanced wines.
Swickard Vineyard
Calistoga, Napa Valley
In the northernmost reaches of the Napa Valley, the Calistoga AVA sizzles in the summer evenings. It is a wonderful and very traditional place to grow Petite Sirah. These "non-cab" varieties are a dying breed only because Cabernet Sauvignon can demand significantly higher prices. We feel it is a treasure to have access to this small family vineyard.
The Swickard Family knows about farming, they have ushered their cattle operation, Five Dot Ranch, into the new world of direct to consumer marketing and put a premium on organics and grass-fed products. It follows then that the Petite Sirah we make off of their farm goes remarkably well with delicious meats.
Petite Sirah is a big-berried variety that yields lots of juicy red and black fruit characters. Always inky black, the wine is big and bold but also has generous acidity, which gives the wine structure and length. Speaking of structure, it also carries our most powerful punch in the tannin department.