History
The Charles family settled the ranch in the 1860s, burning redwoods to open sheep pasture on what became the county's largest sheep ranch. George Charles planted Chardonnay on the ranch in 1981 (now the separate Charles Ranch Vineyard); his daughter Carolyn married into the Martinelli family, and Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were planted at Three Sisters in 1995 and 1996. The vineyard is named for Carolyn, Charlotte and Donna, the three sisters who inherited the ranch, with Carolyn's family its owner today; the three plastic chairs still stand under the trees. Marcassin, Helen Turley's own label, once bottled Three Sisters Chardonnay, and Benovia now buys fruit from Martinelli-farmed blocks.
The Site
The vines sit around 1,100 feet on south and east aspects above the Fort Ross coast, on well-drained Josephine and Goldridge soils, part of roughly 55 Martinelli acres in the appellation with Charles Ranch, Blue Slide Ridge and Wild Thyme.
Vines and Blocks
Chardonnay, including Dijon clones 95 and 76, and Pinot Noir in Pommard, 115 and 777 on 101-14 and 3309.
The Wines
Martinelli's Three Sisters Chardonnay and Pinot Noir carry the ranch's name coastward: marine-cut, structured wines from Carolyn Charles Martinelli's family ranch on the Sonoma Coast.