PICCETTI FAMILY VINEYARDS: A HISTORY

Peña Ridge partners John and Jim Piccetti's father planted our first vineyard in 1982 at 400 above the valley floor on the southeastern slopes of Bradford Mountain. Over the next ten years, he added to the vineyards at higher elevations, slowly edging up toward the mountain slope at 600 and culminating at 900 feet, just slightly below the peak of Bradford Mountain. John has since assumed the role of overseeing the production of our vineyards spread over 22 acres and Jim manages the upkeep of the 80 acre property and buildings.

Our mountain vineyard site is characterized by relatively thin red clay soils with very low water holding capacity due to the soil type and the fairly steep gradient. In fact, several of our small vineyard blocks are managed and tended by hand since these steep grades make them inaccessible for farm machinery. Our vineyard sites receive a bountiful amount of sunshine as the valley fog almost normally dissipates as it moves up the hillsides. The vineyards are above the frost zone and are not subject to frost control measures. The high degree of exposure, soil type, and gradient subjects the vines to a fair degree of stress and therefore excessive vine vigor is well controlled by the terroir.

We hand tend our grapes for low fruit yields and for plenty of free space for clusters to mature without overstressing the vines. Leaf pulling and canopy management are minimal with lateral leaf pulling only on the morning side of the vine rows for Zinfandel. Cluster shoulders are removed in order to promote even ripening and allow for free hanging space for the grape clusters. Spur positions are kept to a minimum, six to eight per vine. The canopies of our other varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Syrah, and Syrah ) are well-balanced with a minimum of alteration during the growing season.

GOALS OF OUR GROWING SEASON AND BEYOND
John's primary goal as a winegrower is to produce a well-balanced canopy, with free hanging clusters, and a balance of shade and light inside the canopy. Each vineyard block for our wines receives a minimum of three thorough “detailing passes” which John personally performs in order to eliminate lagging, under-developed clusters; reduce canopy density where needed; and, pre-select the fruit for our wines even before they arrive on the sorting table at the winery. It is his belief belief that this post-veraison selection process on the vine assures that only the highest quality clusters are part of our wine making process.

Due to the steep slopes, soil conservation is one of our ongoing vineyard management goals. The vineyards are planted with annual mixed cover crop which is mowed prior to harvest. Herbicide is very minimally used to prevent excessive competition for water prior to harvest.

BLOCK BY BLOCK: A FOCUS ON THE BEST SUITED VARIETALS FOR OUR HIGH ELEVATION TERROIR
The vines grown on the Piccetti Family Vineyards are Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Syrah, and Syrah. All the vineyards are vertically trellised with an average of six to eight spur positions per vine with two clusters per shoot. The average density of vines per acre is approximately 850 and annual average rainfall in our northwest corner of Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley is 40 inches per year.

THE BARN BLOCK: The Zin was chosen since the Dry Creek appellation is best known for this variety. Peña Ridge Zinfandel is sourced from the southern portion of the Barn block at a 400 ft elevation above the valley facing southeast.

Our Syrah grows contiguous to the Zin block. The Syrah clone is unknown on 44/53. The Syrah has a particular terroir quality which is quite distinctive and seems to love this site and produces nearly chocolate like flavor notes when it achieves ripeness.

THE LANES BLOCK: The lanes block run in a north-south direction with full morning and afternoon sun exposure. Its shallow soil produces earthy flavors and an intense dark color.
Fruit from this block is used in our Zinfandel.

THE HILL BLOCK: The 20-year-old Syrah vines of our Hill block grow high on Bradford Mountain. Planted in east-west rows with full sun exposure, these vines yield an earthy, complex fruit.

THE ROCKS BLOCK: The Cab blocks are grown on carefully selected sites with rootstock and clone combination that have been altered over time in order to achieve small intense berry sizes with open clusters. We have found the best results from the Rocks block, 600 feet above the valley floor, on a mountain ridge above the Peña Creek. The Cab shares the same southeast exposure. The Cabernet is clone 7 on 5BB.

THE TERRACE BLOCK: Our Petite Syrah is grown in the Terrace block directly above Peña Creek facing the northwest and was planted as a blending varietal for the Zin. Interestingly, this was formerly a Cabernet vineyard which we grafted with Petite three years ago. These vines produce a wine with exotic flavor notes and continues to impress us with every vintage. The Petite Syrah is clone 03R on 5BB.

We sell the balance of grapes that are not grown for our wines to other wineries in Dry Creek Valley.
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For more information about our vineyard blocks or grape production, please email john@penaridge.com