History
The Firestones planted the Chenin Blanc on its own roots in the late 1970s or early 1980s, sources split between 1978 and 1982, and a young Adam Firestone coined the Jurassic Park name for the fossil-bearing property. For decades the fruit disappeared into Firestone blends; around 2008 the state's Chenin revivalists discovered it, and today Birichino, Lieu Dit, Lo-Fi, Kunin, Habit, Enfield, Municipal Winemakers and Hartford, which labels it Jurassic Vineyard, all bottle the old vines.
The Site
The vineyard sits in the Foxen Canyon corridor near Los Olivos at roughly 1,000 feet, on deep, well-drained Arnold sands over soft sandstone, laced with limestone. Working oil pumps share the property, and the sandy ground is why the ungrafted vines have never met phylloxera.
Vines and Blocks
Own-rooted Chenin Blanc, with the X2 block feeding Enfield's bottling.
The Wines
Jurassic Park Chenin is California old-vine white at its most distinctive: waxy orchard fruit over searing acidity, honeyed with age, and increasingly a sparkling base, with Birichino keeping a tirage program from the site.