ASV is in an undiscovered/unplanted region of California. Stuart also jokingly says that him & Tom need to enter a 12 step program to stop cultivation lesser known varietals.

Located in the northern reaches of Mendocino County, three hours north of San Francisco, the Alder Springs ranch covers nearly 10 square miles, of which a mere 140 acres are currently carved out for viticulture. With 315,000 tightly spaced, low-yielding vines clinging to steep, rocky hillsides, the property has all of the essential ingredients for producing extraordinary wines: high elevation (up to 2,700 feet); fast-draining, low-vigor soils; southern and eastern exposures; warm days; cool nights; and virtually no fog.

This picture was taken directly 13 miles east from the apex of our vineyard.

Vineyards are 13 miles from Mendocino's Lost Coast

From Anderson Valley ASV is a 1.5 hour north, 30 miles east.

NO FOG | NO VALLEY

Our proximity to the coast with no fog, creates afternoon breezes keeping the grapes free of rot & allowing us to forgo chemicals.

Alder Springs Ranch

6,000 acre ranch | 10 square miles
The peninsula of San Francisco is 7 square miles.

Undeveloped property
with an abundance of wildlife.

Bears, deer, boar, turkey, bobcat, coyote, fox, cougar, and an elusive large black cat.

"A lot of people play it safe, but Stu did just the opposite. He has a pioneer attitude and a scientific bent."
- James Hall, Patz & Hall

Stuart just simply is not the person to take the easy way out. He's an out-of-the-box thinker and an innovator. He's enormously creative and is not willing to do something simply because everyone else does. If he sees possibilities, he has to explore them.

The area that Alder Springs Vineyard is located in known for redwoods, natural beauty and a homesteader life.

The closest real city is Santa Rosa, 2 hours south of ASV. To the north another two hours is the Arcata/Eureka area.

Stuart did not buy Alder Springs Vineyard, he built. He planted everyone of the vines at Alder Springs Vineyard. It took a lot of hard work, guts, vision and conviction.

He is really engaged in the project & has a die-hard commitment to quality.

Blue dot is the office at 1,500 feet.
Note the number of ponds within this location and note that this picture is only about 1/3 -1/4 the area of the ranch.

Upper block
White Rhone
Syrah

Pinot Noir
Chardonnay

Middle block
Grenache
Mourvèdre
Counoise

Lower block
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Sauvignon
Malbec
Merlot

Cahto Ridge (to the left & off screen)
Pinot Noir
Chardonnay

The best vineyard sites in the world have one thing in common.

VINES PLANTED ON SLOPES | EN VINUS VERITAS

• Quick draining, less dense soils ultimately forcing the vine to grow longer roots in order to search out nutrients.

• Better exposure to sunlight, allowing each vine to obtain maximum exposure.

• More Intense Sunlight – heat ripens sugars but
sunlight ripens flavor. Vines on slopes can get a hour or two before the heat kicks in.

• Intense sunlight also creates vibrant wine
with deep, concentrated colors in some varietals (Malbec, Syrah, Merlot, Cab Franc, Cab Sauvignon).

• More air movement since cold air sinks to the valley floor at night and warm air rises, protecting the grapes from frost.

The California ‘Sweet Spot’ for high elevation can range from 1,000 – 3,000 ft depending on where you are located.

ASV ranges from 1,700 – 2,700 feet.

• Smaller berries – less water and higher ratio of skins and seeds resulting in tannic structure & flavor concentration.

• Higher acid levels giving wine better structure (for age) and better ability to pair with food.

• Less uniformity then valley floor vineyards, allowing for more layered flavor and individual expression in each block.

• Wines made from higher elevation vineyards can have power, structure and finesse at the same time.

• Vines benefit from high altitude, intense sunlight and air movement.

In the best European sites stems and seeds turn brown far before harvest time. It is a result of the flavor ripening (not sugar ripening). It tells you the vine has reach PHYSIOLOGICAL ripeness.

Rarely seen in California due to wam climate.

Faults and fractures in the earth result in numerous soil types on the property.

Good mineral content

iron
magnesium
not much calcium
copper
manganese
sulphur
we supplement

Sedentary rock, was covered by water

Red: high in iron
red soils with high iron and an affinity to red grapes

low nutrient soil
here it from everyone
improve the nutrient content of grapes
by adding fertilizers

ALL TIME CLIENT LIST

Patz & Hall
Arnot-Roberts
Kesner
Relic
Pax Wine Cellars
Agharta
Sojourn
Brack Mountain
Bedrock Cellars
Carte Blanche
Caldwell Vineyard
City Winery
Rhys Vineyards Vineyards
Copain Wines
Enkidu
Rosseler
MacPhail
Yeilding Winery
Eric Ross Winery
Spell Estate
Townley Wines
Olsen Ogden Wines
Kutch Wines
Y Rousseau
Rudius
Behrens & Hitchcock
Vie Winery
Donkey & Goat
Brooklyn Winery
Kale Wines
Shirah
The Wine Foundry
The Hess Collection
Thralls Family Cellars
Bure
Mendocino Farms
Siduri
La Gauche
Curtis & David
Carini
Violet Green
Landmark
Shane Wine Cellars
Rockledge
Breggo
Audelssa
Stageleft
Goblet
Anaba
Shoeshine
Lolonis
Shaunt Oungoulian
Knight’s Bridge Winery

Winemaking starts in the vineyard

25 years of Viticulture (combined 60 years between Stuart and Tom).

small berries and high skin to pulp ratio

minimum amount of water to grow

do not want large clusters or large cluster so it is crucial that irrigation is kept to a mimimus

Decomposed Sandstone

Sustainability at Alder Springs Vineyard

• All WATER used comes from springs or PONDS (rain water) on property.

• To keep the headwaters of the Eel River clean, we use a reverse FRENCH DRAIN systems to filter out any sediment.

• Our viticulturalists' background is in Organic
viticulture: we use as few synthetics & the LOWEST IMPACT chemicals possible.

• We have a very strict\MINIMAL water IRRIGATION program – only watering to ensure healthy vine growth.

• Lack of fog, creates afternoon breezes keeping the grapes free of rot & allowing us to forgo chemicals.

• We use cover crops rather then tilling to prevent erosion control.

• We have a program to encourage the owl population program to help with rodent control rather then using chemicals.

• We manage vegetation in order to encourage predator insect instead of using chemicals.

• We have an intense canopy management program to reduce fungicide use (including extra shoot removal to encourage air flow).

• We house and offer year-round, full-time
employment for our vineyard staff, many of whom have been with our company for 15-20 years now

• We provide a high quality ranch life for our employees where they can raise their own livestock/horses/chicken and hunt for food.

Born and raised in Davis, California.

Father was a farmer & a biochemist.

Fifteen years winemaking at Saintsbury in Carneros where he specialized in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Miura in California making Pinot Noir & Chardonnay.

Kingston Family Vineyards working on a Pinot Noir/Syrah in the mountains of Casablanca, Chile.

Kosuge Wines where he crafts his own Pinot Noir, Chardonnay & Rosé.

Each varietal is made separately, using winemaking techniques that will bring each grape to it's highest expression.

Winemaking Notes:

2012 Apex a blend of Marsanne, Rousanne, Viognier. They were picked at a range of maturity. Richer in style due to the warm year. 100% neutral, french oak.

2013 Apex
Picked much earlier and has the addition of Picpoul. Still neutral oak but less noticeable influence.

2012 Kinesis | The Grenache was fermented with 33% whole clusters. The Mourvèdre/Counoise blend had none. Counoise was punched down & Mourvèdre & Grenache - pump over.

2011 Syrah | Very cool growing year. Picked low brix. 20% whole cluster. Normally The Row Five would be a blend of the vineyard blocks but in this case (due to the cool vintage), the wine came from our best Syrah block - Spirit Rock.

Notes: Neutral is 3-5 years (according to Byron).

2012 Chardonnay | 25-30% new, french.
2013 Chardonnay | 11% new, french.
2014 Chardonnay | combination of concrete egg, stainless & oak. Final blend to be determined.

2011 Row Five White | 100% neutral, french

2012 Apex | 100% neutral, french
2013 Apex | 100% neutral, french (more neutralized barrels & higher acid, shows oak less).

2011 Row Five Red | 100

2012 Kinesis | 20% new, french.
2013 Kinesis | 100% neutral, french

2012 Syrah | 20% new, french.
2013 Syrah | 100% neutral, french.

2009 13 Tasks | 20% new, french 18 months
2013 13 Tasks | 100% neutral, french.

Pinot Noir | Syrah | Grenache
With these particular grape varieties, whole cluster helps tone down the tannins.

This seems counterintuitive but the "green-stemmy" tannins help smooth out the skin tannin.

Larger production (although still quite small), from various vineyard blocks, inoculated (more controlled), pure expressions.

Only the top quality fruit from select vineyard blocks. Tiny production, natural winemaking (spontaneous malo, ambient yeasts), and a combination of reductive and oxidative winemaking techniques. More age.

Grapes used in the 2011 Row Five Syrah all come from Spirit Rock, our best Syrah site.

2011 vintage was the coolest vintage in many years. Harvested later in the year due to cool temps. Moderate growing season without heat spikes

Highest elevation that we grow red wine

Heat is moderate by elevation

Clones used are selected French clones

Soil is decomposed sandstone. Allows vines to penetrate deep. Low vigor, has to search and work for nutrition.

Produces Less fruit on the vine because nutrients isn't abundant.

Crop is green thinned between set and veraison.

A LOT of light. Allowing for a lot of light ripening versus heat ripening.