History
Paul Draper made Ridge's first Lytton Springs bottling in 1972 from purchased fruit, and Ridge went on farming the vineyard under a grower relationship until it bought the property outright in 1991. It added the neighbouring Lytton Estate West parcel in 1995. The oldest core, Lytton East, was planted by the Mazzoni family in 1901 with help from the Simi brothers.
The Site
Benchland and rolling hills north of Healdsburg, straddling the boundary between Dry Creek Valley and Alexander Valley, which is why the estate has always been described as sitting on the line rather than inside one appellation. Ridge's winery here is a deliberately low-impact building with clay, sand and straw walls and its own photovoltaic power.
Vines and Blocks
An interplanted old-vine field blend rather than a varietal planting: Zinfandel with Petite Sirah, Carignane and small amounts of Mataro and other mixed blacks through the same rows, in the pre-Prohibition manner. Lytton East holds the 1901 wood.
The Wines
Ridge's Lytton Springs is one of the two wines the winery is built on, alongside Monte Bello, and among the longest continuous single-vineyard runs in California, unbroken since 1972.