If You Like Our Style, You’ll Like Our Grapes.

Getting intensity—and the right amount of fruit flavor—into our grapes takes a lot of planning and hard work. Since 1969 when we first planted grapes, we’ve tried to carefully pair the best clones and rootstock with the best location for that particular variety and keep our yields low. Tending to our grapes closely, we use growing techniques that focus on developing complexity in each berry based on balancing each variety’s sugar and acid content. At Sangiacomo Family Vineyards, we grow several varieties of grapes, but predominately feature the following three, which really thrive in our various vineyards:

Chardonnay

The Grape: This crisp white grape is one of the world’s favorite varieties. Versatile in its abilities to be both fresh and fruit forward with apple, pear and lemony characteristics, it can also show complexity and mellow beautifully into oak, vanilla and honey. Try it in a premium sparkling wine, and really tickle your palate!

How We Grow It: Our Chardonnay appreciates sites that have richer and deeper soils than other varieties. Moderate yields balance the vine and intense flavor profiles and our Chardonnay tends to achieve this with good healthy vine and a slightly longer canopy.

Pinot Noir

The Grape: To us, Pinot Noir is the premier red grape. This fruit has everything going for it, bold cherry and berry flavors with an exuberant spark to send your taste buds soaring, along with the ability to chill-out and get earthy with some age—the very definition of goût de terroir.

How We Grow It: We’re most attentive when choosing a site for our Pinot, because to produce the highest quality wine in this variety, there is no room for error. We’ve discovered over the years that our Pinot Noir clones prefer well-drained soils to produce vines of moderate vigor and superior grapes.

Merlot

The Grape: Our slow-ripening red grape is a different kind of Merlot. Cultivating this variety in our cool climate gives this wonderful red distinctive flavors and a more supple structure than ordinary Merlot. Our Merlot is easy on tannins and rich on finish, and our wineries have committed themselves to making this special variety a perfect compliment to any table.

How We Grow It: Our premier Merlot clone likes soils that have good drainage. We provide the right vine ecology for them by leaning on loam and rock to achieve this. But our major discovery is that our best Merlot sites have a percentage of clay content. This added clay allows the soils to hold some moisture during heat spikes to prevent premature sugar accumulation before the flavors have a chance to fully develop.