History

The family bought the property in 1896 for ten gold coins earned cooking in the California gold fields. The deed already refers to a producing young vineyard, which dates the planting to 1892 or earlier. Four generations of the Passalacqua and Seghesio families have held it since. Ridge has bottled a San Lorenzo designate for years, and Pete Seghesio continues with the fruit under his own Journeyman label after the family winery was sold in 2011.

The Site

Alexander Valley, north of Healdsburg. The site is often presented as an unresolved case straddling two appellations; Seghesio's own materials treat it as Alexander Valley, and that is what the labels say.

Vines and Blocks

A head-trained, spur-pruned, dry-farmed field blend of Zinfandel with Petite Sirah, Primitivo and other mixed reds, yielding roughly one to two tons per acre. The block called The Pearl is named for Pete Seghesio's mother.

The Wines

Ridge's San Lorenzo is the widely available bottling. The vineyard does not appear on the Historic Vineyard Society register despite comfortably qualifying on age.