History
Dirck and Sue Bass bought a run-down, century-old vineyard ranch in Mays Canyon in 1980 and revived it using organic and then biodynamic methods. Dirck Bass spent his career as an architect. The Zinfandel on the property traces to a planting made by Italian immigrant growers in the early 1900s, and part of it carries the block name Dot's Garden.
The Site
A hillside ranch on Mays Canyon Road above Guerneville. The estate labels its own wines Russian River Valley; the two outside producers who buy here both label Sonoma Coast, which is a real disagreement about the same ground rather than a mistake by either.
Vines and Blocks
Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on the modern plantings, with the old Zinfandel block, roughly two acres, surviving from the early twentieth century.
The Wines
The estate bottles Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Zinfandel under the Porter-Bass label. Ceritas makes a single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the site, and Littorai bottles fruit from the same ranch under the name Mays Canyon.