Hirsch Vineyards of the Sonoma Coast of California is located on a unique site on the second ridge from the Pacific ocean. Everything that's being done in this unique wine growing area is original as there was no generational transfer of practical experience. Just a few generations ago, this area was primal redwood rain forest and when they cut down all the trees the environment was really changed. It turned this area into a summer desert, with greater extremes of heat and cold. Because of the collision of tectonic plates and earthquake faulting (the San Andreas fault runs between Hirsch Vineyards and Fort Ross), the area is a composite of all kinds of soils, rocks, rolling hills, sandstone, shales - just a hodge-podge of growing sites with sharp changes of weather from site to site and very dramatic climate working on a very heterogenous site.
David Hirsch arrived in the late 1970s and planted his first grapes in 1980. Hirsch Vineyards now has 47 plus producing acres - mostly pinot noir. Hirsch Vineyards has just released its first home-bottled wine, a 2002 Pinot Noir made 100 percent from estate-grown fruit.
We recognize that this is a new viticultural region with a short history. The winery is set in the center of the property to serve as an “eye” to help us look deeply into the myriad aspects and interactions of the land, climates, and cultural practices that affect the vines and the fruit. The resolution of this dynamic in vintage after vintage will create a succession of individual wines that are unique, complex, and typical: annual children with different personalities that share the heritage of a single mix. Our responsibility to this transformative procession is to enter into the play of this matrix with the right attitude and tools in order to accurately identify and elaborate its nuanced possibilities.
