History
Ed Durell bought the roughly 400 acre ranch in 1977 intending to run cattle, pivoted to grapes in 1979 with vineyard manager Steve Hill, and picked his first commercial crop in 1981. Kenwood was the first buyer, Kendall-Jackson began buying fruit with the 1984 crop and later took a vineyard designate, and Kistler's Durell Vineyard Chardonnay, bottled since 1986, made the name famous. Bill and Ellie Price acquired the ranch in 1998; Price founded Three Sticks in 2002 with Durell as its estate anchor, bought into Kistler itself in 2008, and Patz and Hall have partnered with the vineyard since 2001. More than twenty wineries have bottled Durell designates. Steve Hill managed the ranch for some thirty years, later joined by his son Ned.
The Site
The property now spans more than 750 acres at the junction of three appellations, with 134.5 acres planted and more in development. San Pablo Bay lies ten miles south and the Petaluma Gap funnels Pacific wind across the hills on most afternoons in the growing season, stretching hang time and locking in acidity. Soils run through Los Robles gravelly clay loam, Tuscan and Goulding cobbly clay loams and Clear Lake clay. The core parcel traced here, 1951 Felder Road, carries about 95 acres of mapped vine fields.
Vines and Blocks
Chardonnay, about 61 acres, draws on old Wente, Hyde, Rued, Mt. Eden and Dijon 76 and 95 material; Pinot Noir, about 69 acres, spans Calera, Swan, Mt. Eden, Martini, DRC and Wadenswil selections plus Dijon clones, with small lots of Pinot Blanc, Zinfandel and Syrah. Named sections include the 3.5 acre Sand Hill block, ancient uplifted ocean-floor sand farmed for Patz and Hall, and the 8.5 acre Ranch House Block, replanted in 2005 for Dunstan.
The Wines
Durell Chardonnay is a California archetype: rich stone fruit carried by mineral cut and the acidity of a wind-chilled site, with Kistler's bottling the benchmark and Three Sticks now the estate voice.