History
The Hubers planted here in the late 1980s, which puts the vineyard among the region's early sites and well ahead of the 2001 appellation. In 2013, as the couple approached retirement, Pali Wine Company took over the long-term vineyard management and grape contract, and the wines that had been labelled Huber began to appear as Chapel. Who owns and farms the site today is not on the public record, nor is any explanation for the change of name. What the record does show is a site with a steady list of independent customers, which is the clearest evidence that it is a vineyard in its own right rather than a block of something larger.
The Site
About 22 and a half acres as counted in 2013, in one of the colder pockets of the appellation, on sandy soils exposed to the ocean wind and fog that come up the valley from Lompoc. The vineyard sits on the Highway 246 corridor rather than the Santa Rosa Road corridor to the south. Elevation and aspect are not published.
Vines and Blocks
The 2013 accounting gave roughly ten acres of Pinot Noir, ten of Chardonnay and an acre and a half of Dornfelder, the last a German crossing almost unknown in California and the vineyard's genuine oddity. Whether that mix survives under the current name is unconfirmed. No internal blocks are documented.
The Wines
Five independent producers bottle a Chapel designate, which for a vineyard this size is a strong signal: Sweetzer, which makes both a Pinot Noir and a Dornfelder from it, Marbeso and Le Poidevin for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Pali under both the Huber and Chapel names across the transition, and Paul Lato, whose Belle de Jour Chardonnay has come from here since the 2021 vintage. That last is worth noting for anyone tracing the wine backwards: Belle de Jour is a cuvee name that has moved, sitting at Hilliard Bruce in 2013 and Duvarita from 2018, before landing here.