History
The Vellutini and Martinelli stories begin together: Giuseppe Martinelli and Luisa Vellutini ran away from their Tuscan village to Sonoma County, where Giuseppe planted the hillside now called Jackass Hill. Generations later, Albert Vellutini and Lee Martinelli Sr. were childhood friends who fished the creeks and hid from the truant officer on this ground. Martinelli acquired the ranch in 1999 and planted it in 2001 through 2003, closing the family circle.
The Site
The parcel at 11000 Vellutini Road covers about 41 deeded acres in the cool river corridor outside Forestville, bordering Jackass Vineyard and the backside of Jackass Hill, with the Vellutini family's old fruit orchards still standing. Soils are rocky Franciscan clay loam with Hugo and Josephine series over sandstone and shale, farmed certified sustainable.
Vines and Blocks
Zinfandel propagated from budwood cut at Jackass Hill and Jackass Vineyard, grafted on 420A rootstock and wire-trellised in the modern style, in contrast to the head-trained heritage plots it descends from, plus a small Syrah planting.
The Wines
Martinelli's Vellutini Ranch Zinfandel carries the corridor's cool signature, cranberry and raspberry over forest floor and spice with vibrant acidity, in lots under 300 cases; the Syrah is rarer still, under a hundred cases a year.