Our Farming Partners

Our wines are born and largely made in the vineyard.

Our growers really farm microbes in their soils. These healthy soils yield healthy vines that produce delicious wine.

All while having a positive impact on our health and planet.

Fenaughty Vineyard

AVA: El Dorado
LOCATION: Sierra Foothills
SOIL TYPE: Red Volcanic Aiken Clay-Loam
FARMING PRACTICE: Sustainable/Roundup Free

Fenaughty Syrah, Gamay, Eliza, The Bear, Grenache Blanc

In 2003 after a year in the Rhone Valley with the inimitable Eric Texier, we found our way to Ron Mansfield via an 8’ geologic map of California and a life-changing bottle of the 1993 Edmunds St. John Wylie Fenuaghty Syrah. It took us two years to convince Ron to trust his fruit in our hands and we made our first vintage in 2005. That was the start of our longest grower relationship and together we helped put El Dorado on the radar for Rhone fans around the world. Since then our partnership with Ron and Chuck has only flourished, growing to multiple Apple Hill vineyards and the entire gamut of Rhone varietals.

Without a doubt, Fenaughty Vineyard is a jewel of the Sierra Foothills and one of the most celebrated vineyards we get to work with. Perched at 2,800 feet, this once apple and stonefruit orchard now boasts one of the most extensive collections of Rhone varieties in California. Fenaughty’s plantings range from 40-year-old own-rooted Syrah to newer plantings of Bourboulenc, Clairette, Gamay, and Terret Noir bringing the last count up to 17 different varieties. Fenaughty’s rugged steep slopes, warm days and cool nights, and bright red iron-rich volcanic soils provide the optimal growing environment for rhone varieties to thrive.

Elen Ridge Vineyard

AVA: El Dorado
LOCATION: Sierra Foothills
SOIL TYPE: Diamond Springs Decomposed Granite
FARMING PRACTICE: Sustainable/Roundup Free

Stonecrusher

Another gem of El Dorado farmed by the Mansfields, We have been working with Elen Ridge Vineyard since 2007 and started making our Skin ferment Roussanne, Stonecrusher from the vineyard in 2009. As the name suggests this steeply terraced rocky site is comprised of decomposed granite. Planted in 1998 at a slightly lower elevation of 2100 ft, this vineyard is always one of our first picks from the foothills.

Siletto Vineyard

AVA: San Benito
LOCATION: Central Coast
SOIL TYPE: Soper Gravelly Loam
FARMING PRACTICE: Certified Organic

Cabernet Pheffer

The eponymous Siletto vineyard is the home ranch of the Siletto Family in San Benito. Its alluvial terraces and southern aspect keep it frost free and sun-kissed throughout the season. The ranch boasts a large variance in elevations as it is a series of elevating alluvial terraces cut during ancient flood years along Tres Pinos Creek. The gravelly loam soils become sparser as you rise up the terraces. The Silettos bought the 123 acre property in 1989 and planted 20 acres in 1992. They added roughly 10 acres in 2009 and leave the other 90 acres on the south side to grazing land. The ranch is across Highway 25 from the Bolado Park Fairgrounds, home to the San Benito Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo. John once won 2nd place in the Wild Cow Milking Contest as a mugger at the Rodeo in the early 90s. We source our Cabernet Pfeffer from this vineyard.

Calleri Vineyard

AVA: Calleri Vineyard
LOCATION: Central Coast
SOIL TYPE:
FARMING PRACTICE: Certified Organic

Falanghina, Negrette

Located in San Benito County 30 miles inland from the cooling influence of Monterey Bay The 30-acre Calleri Vineyard is farmed by John Siletto and borders his Wheeler vineyard to the North and Tres Pinos Creek to the South and West. It is a flat alluvial fan with deep and well-drained gravelly loam soils. A distillery operated on this property during Prohibition, which later became a bonded winery, delivering wines to the New Idria Mines in South San Benito County We started sourcing Negrette from this vineyard in 2021 and added our Falanghina in 2022. The ranch boasts an impressive 13 french and Italian varieties and we hope to make Grecco for the first time in 2023.

Filigreen Farm

AVA: Anderson Valley
LOCATION: Mendocino County
SOIL TYPE:
FARMING PRACTICE: Certified Organic & Biodynamic

Pinot Noir, Ramato Pinot Gris

The 97-acre Filigreen Farm is tended by Stephanie and Chris Tebutt in Anderson Valley. It is a Demeter-certified Biodynamic and CCOF-certified organic diversified farm whose primary products are tree fruits, blueberries, olives, wine and table grapes, and houses a production garden (flowers and vegetables), livestock, apiary, and an ongoing inquiry into water revitalization. Filigreen is located on land once inhabited and managed by the Tabahtea (Tah-bah-tay) Pomo First Peoples named after Taa-Bo-Tah, or Long Valley. Donkey and Goat sources our Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris from Filigreen.

Dommen Vineyard

AVA: Russian River Valley
LOCATION: Sonoma County
SOIL TYPE: Goldridge
FARMING PRACTICE: Sustainable/Roundup Free

Pinot Meunier, Brut Nat, Solera Pinot Meunier

Dommen Vineyard is one of the oldest continually farmed vineyards in the Russian River AVA. First planted in the 1930s most of the vineyard is still dry-farmed and undergoing extensive rehabilitation. Our block of Pinot Meunier is a replant that took place in 2010. Might be from 1953? Conflicting Information. Classic Russian River Goldridge soils result in low vine vigor increasing the concentration and intensity of the fruit. Donkey and Goat started working with the vineyard in 2017 with the intention of making sparkling wine and it soon became the backbone of Brut Nat. In 2021 we made red wine out of the vineyard for the first time and never looked back.