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 2014 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
A 24-acre property on Piner Road where the plain meets the city, deep-rooted, dry-grown head vines with small clusters and low yields.
Vines and Blocks
A field blend, predominantly Zinfandel, interplanted with Alicante Bouschet and other mixed black varieties.
The Wines
Seghesio and Carlisle carry the designation today; Carlisle's 2014 Montafi scored 96 points from Wine Spectator, old-vine Russian River Zinfandel of dark, briary depth from vines nearing their century.