Griffin's Lair

A ranch in the throat of the Petaluma Gap where the marine wind runs so hard the owners say it salts the fruit, and where California's cool-climate Syrah movement found one of its defining sites.

History

Joan and Jim Griffin planted the vineyard in 1999 just off Lakeville Highway, developing it with Byron Kosuge and Ann Kraemer, and became early advocates for the Petaluma Gap AVA recognized in 2017. Pax's Griffin's Lair Syrah, bottled from the mid 2000s, made the name; Bedrock, Spottswoode's Field Book, Desire Lines and Adobe Road followed. The Flynn family, whose roots run to the Kingston family farm in Chile's Casablanca Valley, took over as caretakers in 2018 and launched an estate label in 2020.

The Site

The 35 acre ranch sits under fifteen miles from the Pacific and five from San Pablo Bay, a wind tunnel shaped by three active faults, on Haire, Clear Lake and Diablo soils with loam under the older Pinot blocks and clay beneath the 667. Yields hold at two and a half to three tons an acre under Atlas Vineyard Management, certified sustainable.

Vines and Blocks

Fifteen acres of Pinot Noir in Swan, Pommard and Dijon 115 and 667 on 101-14, six acres of Syrah in Syrah Noir, 470, Alban and 877 selections, and rows of Viognier kept for co-fermentation.

The Wines

Griffin's Lair Syrah is the Gap's calling card, black pepper, blood and violets at moderate alcohol, usually deepened by a twist of Viognier, with the Pinot designations and the young estate label carrying the wind-grown signature onward.