History
Ben Montafi's father planted the ranch in 1926 on the eastern bench of the Santa Rosa Plain. The fruit disappeared into White Zinfandel in the 1980s before Carlisle and Williams Selyem rediscovered it, and after the vineyard came close to removal, Seghesio bought it in 2011 expressly to preserve the old vines. The Historic Vineyard Society certifies it, listing the ranch with the Tom Feeney name it also carried.
The Site
Twenty one acres on Piner Road where the plain meets the city, deep-rooted, dry-grown head vines with small clusters and low yields.
Vines and Blocks
Ninety-nine parts Zinfandel to one of Alicante Bouschet as planted, with mixed blacks, Grand Noir, Petite Sirah, Peloursin and Trousseau, threading Carlisle's bottlings.
The Wines
Seghesio and Carlisle carry the designation today; Carlisle's 2014 Montafi placed in Wine Spectator's Top 100, old-vine Russian River Zinfandel of dark, briary depth from vines nearing their century.