History
Manchester Ridge LLC planted the site in 2003 and 2004 on ground leased from the Piper family, whose surrounding ranch runs to some 4,191 acres, though POE and Auteur both date the planting to 2002 and nothing reconciles the two. The Pipers later took the vineyard over and brought in Martin Mochizuki to finish its development and farm it. Buyers name him as the grower, while the sale listing describes him as consultant to a manager of nineteen years' standing. The commercial model explains the roster. Rather than contract the crop to one or two wineries, the vineyard sold a few tons each to a number of small high-end labels, and Tom Eddy, who bought in on that basis, records a token first harvest in 2005 and about two tons to the acre by 2007. Woodenhead labels its wine Piper Ranch to credit the landowning family, so the fruit reaches shelves under two names.
The Site
The planted ground amounts to thirty and a quarter acres inside a property of 259, with a further seventy-eight described as plantable, and it is reached by logging road roughly seven miles off pavement; the property has lately been offered for sale separately from the ranch around it. Published elevations vary more than most, running from 2,000 through 2,058 to 2,200 feet, with one producer giving 2,700, while the property's own listing settles on 2,000. The soils belong to the Ornbaun series, which the national survey describes as deep and well drained, weathered from sandstone and mudstone, though the winemakers who work here talk instead of eroded, nutrient-poor ground. The vineyard faces south above the marine layer and takes full sun over cold nights, so harvest often waits until late October or early November. Ocean proximity combined with altitude above the fog is the whole argument for Mendocino Ridge, an appellation approved in 1997 that admits only land at or above 1,200 feet and remains the country's only non-contiguous AVA. On the coast below, the San Andreas makes its final landfall and runs out to sea at Alder Creek. The vines are dry-farmed and organically farmed, though the property carries a reservoir and two wells.
Vines and Blocks
Nineteen acres are given to Pinot Noir and eleven and a quarter to Chardonnay. The Pinot Noir runs on Dijon 114, 115 and 777, while the Chardonnay carries Dijon 76 and 809 alongside Old Wente heritage material. No internal blocks are named.
The Wines
Red Car has bottled both varieties from here, and the list of buyers is long for ground this remote. Auteur, La Follette and Greg La Follette's later Marchelle label, Tandem, POE, B. Kosuge, Olson Ogden, Taft Street, Russian River Vineyards, Alquimista, Trail Marker, brick & mortar, Minus Tide and Woodenhead have all taken fruit, all of it bottled under the Mendocino Ridge appellation. The acid in the Chardonnay carries sparkling wine as readily as still, and both POE and Anonymous Wine Collective make a blanc de blancs from it, the POE aged seven years before release. The still wines are pale, saline and firmly acidic, which is what a cold ridge above the ocean gives at this crop level.