On the west side of Money Road in Oakville Napa Valley, there are ribbons of land that look
like dried out river beds. Covered with smoothed out rock deposits they do not yield much
wine, but make distinctive wines. This is why we chose this vineyard for 2002. It probably
yielded less than a ton an acre. This Clone is one of our favorite French family clones, 337.
Stanton Vineyard is a venerable well drained special piece of Oakville. Stanton was planted
in 1991 to one of Napa Valley’s own unique clone known as the See Clone. It originated in
Harry See's vineyard planted decades ago and has been one of the most sought after cuttings
for as long as I have been in this Valley.
This new appellation for the Napa Valley, it is one of the most southern high quality
Cabernet Sauvignon hot spots. I have stomped through several vineyards from the
appellations, and find the soils very varied. Some deep, some shallow, the ones on the
western hills radically different from those next to the Napa River, with a few exceptions of
course.
This vineyard belongs to Ken Laird and is farmed by Ken and his son, Justin. Both know
farming high quality grapes, and both have been a joy to work with beginning with the 2001
Rutherford Clone 4 wines. They treat us like family, and we feel like family. This vineyard
goes exclusively into their own wines, but we begged in 2002 to try a few tons, and our
wish was granted. Happy days.
