History
Dan Kessler and Ellen Haak-Kessler bought the forty-acre property and planted it in 2005, taking their first harvest in 2009. Kessler had worked with Bruce McGuire at Lafond and Santa Barbara Winery before starting his own site. The family bottles under its own label and sells fruit to a short list of producers.
The Site
Thirty acres under vine on a forty-acre property off Gypsy Canyon Road near Lompoc, about eleven miles west of Buellton, in the cooler north-western part of the Sta. Rita Hills. It sits immediately next to Clos Pepe. Francisco Ramirez manages the vineyard.
Vines and Blocks
Roughly twenty-seven acres of Pinot Noir to three of Chardonnay. The Pinot Noir runs to seven clones, 113, 114, 115, 667, 777, Wadenswil 2A and Pommard, and the Chardonnay to three, 76, 95 and 96, which is a wide clonal spread for a vineyard this size and gives the blenders who buy here something to work with.
The Wines
The estate label is Kessler-Haak Wines. Loring Wine Company, The Ojai Vineyard, Samsara and Tercero all bottle designates from the site.