History
Neither family was new to the ground. The Franscionis had farmed the Salinas Valley since the 1880s and the Pisonis since the 1950s, and by 1996 Gary Pisoni had spent fourteen years proving that the Santa Lucia Highlands could grow serious Pinot Noir on his mountain to the south. The parcel was virgin land that had never carried grapes. Planting followed in 1997, and the vineyard's fruit was in outside hands almost immediately: Testarossa and Morgan both date their first Garys' bottling to 1999, and the first wine ever released under the Pisoni family's Lucia label was a 2000 Garys' Pinot Noir. The two founders have since handed the work to their sons, with Mark Pisoni and Adam Franscioni managing the farming and Jeff Pisoni making the Pisoni side's wine. The vineyard is SIP certified.
The Site
Fifty acres on an east-facing alluvial terrace looking out over the Salinas Valley, falling toward the valley floor at about five degrees, with the rows running up toward the ridge in a shallow V. Elevation is low by the standards of the appellation, roughly 200 to 400 feet depending on the source, and the vineyard sits within twenty yards of Soberanes to the south, separated from it by a dirt road. Sources disagree about what the vines are rooted in: ROAR and the growers association both call it Arroyo Seco sandy loam, while the Pisoni family's own writing describes decomposed granite through topsoil and subsoil. The published bearing acreage is sometimes given as 42 rather than 50, which is likely planted versus deeded ground.
Vines and Blocks
Garys' is now planted entirely to Pinot Noir; a small Syrah block existed once and ROAR's Garys' Syrah is out of production. What sets it apart from its neighbours is clonal simplicity. Where Rosella's carries seven selections, Gary Franscioni has described Garys' as all one clone, the Pisoni selection, with Calera, Mount Eden and clone 23 named elsewhere as complements. The rootstock is mostly SO4 with a little 3309. Four blocks are farmed across the elevation range, from the rockier, heat-holding ground near River Road up to the mountain-adjacent top, and the long upper rows are picked in sections because their north and south ends come ripe at different times. None of the blocks carry proper names. Rows are set eight feet apart, against the six feet the same partnership chose a decade later at Soberanes.
The Wines
ROAR and Lucia are the two owners' labels. Kosta Browne has bottled the designate since 2005, and Testarossa, Morgan, Bernardus, Miner, Capiaux, Clarice, Rombauer and Twomey have all taken fruit. Garys' is the appellation's most recognisable single-vineyard name and the wines run to its dark, spiced, broad-shouldered end, with the density that made the Pisoni selection famous.