History
The property was a pre-Prohibition vineyard that the Hallberg family converted to apples; Don Hallberg ran it from 1963, when his father Oscar retired, until 1999, when he and Marcia sold it to Brice Cutrer Jones for five million dollars. Jones, who had founded Sonoma-Cutrer, replanted it to Pinot Noir with vineyard manager Kirk Lokka and built Emeritus Vineyards around it. The first vineyard-designated wines from the ranch were released in 2004, by Scherrer and Gary Farrell.
The Site
One hundred and fifteen acres at 200 feet, of which 107.76 are planted, on Gravenstein Highway at Graton. The site lies inside the Green Valley of Russian River Valley AVA, but the Pinot Noir is bottled under the broader Russian River Valley appellation.
Vines and Blocks
Pinot Noir throughout, in a wide clonal spread that includes Pommard, Swan and Mount Eden selections alongside the Dijon numbers. Emeritus farms toward dry-farming and has moved much of the ranch off irrigation, though the claim that it has been entirely dry-farmed since 2004 overstates the record.
The Wines
Emeritus makes the estate wines, including Hallberg Blanc, a white pressed from the estate's own Pinot Noir. Gary Farrell and Scherrer have both bottled Hallberg designates.