The GRAPES
We also decided to add to the variety with small blocks of Grenache and Tempranillo. In addition to zinfandel, the Paso area is well known for Rhone-style blends. With the Grenache, we now have a little Rhone flavor at 4hearts. The tempranillo was a pure flyer. I wanted to do something different just to see what would happen. Steve and I went through many options and decided we'd go with a Spanish varietal. The Grenache started coming online in 2012 and the Tempranillo in 2013.
parcel formed as a huge bowl with the bowl area being unplantable at all. It has a low lying area at one point and then expands out and slopes up rather dramatically to a plateau at the top of the property. The property extends over 500 feet upwards from the lowest to highest points... that's a pretty steep slope.
Zinfandel is what the area is best known for and what Steve felt would work best on the site, so that it what was mostly planted. The petite and cabernet were more a combination of variables: what Steve thought would grow well in certain blocks and what would be relatively unique for the growing Paso wine area. Petite was "up and coming" and not widely planted and dry-farmed cabernet was extremely rare (probably because it was a bit risky). However, we knew that there were some winemakers who would appreciate the opportunity to work with dry-farm cabernet, so we went for a small block.
During 2010, additional acreage was planted. We (again with the "we"... well, I paid for it!) added to the petite and cabernet because both turned out to be very popular with buyers.
In early 2007, 10 acres of zinfandel, 3 acres of petite sirah, and 2 acres of cabernet sauvignon were planted. WHY those grapes and WHY those acreages? That actually was a "we" discussion, but I greatly depended on Steve's advice and experience. The vineyard is basically a diamond-shaped