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In a Glass of their Own: Monterey County’s Elite Vineyards
01/01/2016
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There are over 175 unique vineyards in Monterey County. Our vineyards range from very big, with the historical size of San Bernabe Vineyard at around 5,000 acres, to small, with Gary’s Vineyardat 50 acres. Both of these vineyards have achieved worldly fame, but for very different reasons. San Bernabe is one of the largest contiguous vineyards in the world. Gary’s is synonymous with producing world-renowned Pinot Noir wines. This wide vineyard range also exemplifies some economic principles, namely scarcity and how pricing is reflected – this also has to do with quality, but we’ll return to this shortly. For now, picture it this way: you have a wine made from a 5,000 acre vineyard versus a 50 acre vineyard. Clearly, there are going to be a whole lot less grapes available to make into wine from the 50 acre vineyard. Thus, one would naturally expect the 50 acre vineyard bottle to be more expensive than the 5,000 acre one. As for quality, just the nature of limiting wine grape growing to a smaller area also tends to result in higher quality wines. The topic of terroir, essentially all of the elements which may impact a vine’s growing characteristics and eventual fruit, is behind this viticultural reality. And with the larger vineyards, the vineyard names can often get lost. While it is possible to find a bottle which has San Bernabe identified as the single sourced vineyard, more often fruit from this vineyard is blended with fruit from other vineyards and will appear as the broader category of Monterey County or Central Coast wine.  Central Avenue, Hames Valley, and Pinnacles are other similar large vineyards in our County. As you probably are aware, these wines are quite a bit less expensive than a wine from a small single vineyard, such as those we are going to describe below. Along with Gary’s, we are blessed with quite a few elite, outstanding vineyards. So without further delay, here are some of our premiere Monterey County vineyards.Gary’s Varietals: Pinot Noir, Syrah Location: Santa Lucia Highlands Planted Area: 50 acres  Rossella’sVarietals: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah Location: Santa Lucia Highlands Planted Area: 50 acres Boekenoogen Varietals: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir Location: Santa Lucia Highlands Planted Area: 91 acres Double L Varietals: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling, Syrah Location: Santa Lucia Highlands Planted Area: 47 acres Brosseau Varietals: Pinot Noir, Syrah, Viognier, Roussane, Marsanne, Chenin Blanc, Grenache Location: Chalone Planted Area: 36 acres Holman Ranch Varietals: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir Location: Carmel Valley Planted Area: 29 acres Lone Oak Varietals: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris Location: Santa Lucia Highlands Planted Area: 143 acres McIntyre Varietals: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay Location: Santa Lucia Highlands Planted Area: 57 acres Mer Soleil Varietals: Chardonnay Location: Santa Lucia Highlands Planted Area: 897 acres Paraiso Springs Varietals: Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Souzao, Roussanne Location: Santa Lucia Highlands Planted Area: 256 acres Pisoni Varietals: Pinot Noir, Syrah, Chardonnay Location: Santa Lucia Highlands Planted Area: 52 acres Sleepy Hollow Varietals: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay Location: Santa Lucia Highlands Planted Area: 188 acres Doctor’s Varietals: Pinot Noir, Syrah, Malbec Location: Santa Lucia Highlands Planted Area: 243 acres Tondre Varietals: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Syrah, Riesling Location: Santa Lucia Highlands Planted Area: 99 acres Ventana Varietals: Grenache, Chardonnay, Syrah Location: Arroyo Seco Planted Area: 300 acres Le Mistral Varietals: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Carignan Location: East of Soledad Planted Area: 10 acres Griva Varietals: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Blanc Location: Arroyo Seco Planted Area: 334 acres Riva Ranch Varietals: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir Location: Arroyo Seco Planted Area: 880 acres So there you have it – a solid selection of some of Monterey County’s most esteemed vineyards. These vineyards really are in a class of their own. Of course, there are many more, but we tried to highlight vineyards you will encounter most often. In fact, you’ll often see these vineyards highlighted on bottles on A Taste of Monterey’s shelves! |
Post By:
Bryce