History
Bourn, whose Empire Mine fortune built Greystone Cellars, now the Culinary Institute of America, bought the St. Helena property in 1872 as a family residence and planted its first vines that year; much of the original vineyard stayed with his descendants. Andy and David Beckstoffer bought the parcel in 2010, the newest of the Heritage collection, and began a gradual replant toward Cabernet clones 8 and 337 while keeping rows of the old head-trained Petite Sirah.
The Site
Thirteen gross acres, 12 plantable, on the west side of Highway 29 just south of town, on unusually homogenous, well-drained gravelly Cortina loam that Beckstoffer has called his favorite Cabernet dirt from a pure soil standpoint.
Vines and Blocks
Cabernet Sauvignon clones 8 and 337 alongside the surviving old-growth head-trained Petite Sirah.
The Wines
Realm's Beckstoffer Bourn Cabernet, begun with the 2018 vintage and carrying up to a fifth Petite Sirah in some years, leads the designates, with Bourn fruit also in Realm's The Bard and a Myriad bottling alongside.