Izay Vineyard

Ron Mansfield's been trying to establish a good planting of Mourvèdre in the Gold Hill area of Placerville (west of town, on what might be thought of as a vast mesa) for some time. I visited a site in the area with Ron back in '89 or '90 that I thought might be an appropriate one, (my kinesthetic sense, on that visit, suggested a certain Bandol-ishness to the place) but the owner balked, perhaps because he'd never even heard of Mourvèdre (or maybe because it was so hard to pronounce). He finally agreed, in '91, and in '93 the first grapes seemed promising, but over the next three years he repeatedly balked at Ron's insistence on the need to control the productiveness of the vines, in order to ensure properly ripe fruit, and the vineyard never panned out. A couple of years later, Ron was able to establish a new planting, just a few miles north and east from the previous site, on the Izay property, on virtually identical soil, a sandy granite-loam, sloping gently to the south at perhaps 1800" elevation. Mourvèdre vines propagated from wood obtained from the great Brandlin vineyard on Napa's Mt. Veeder, went into the ground on their own roots. The first grapes came in '98.

They say in Bandol that Mourvèdre makes its best wine when the vines are more than eight years of age, so this vineyard's best years are ahead of it. Thus far the wines show a strong red color, some pretty aromas, and an iron-firm structure, with very fine tannins. The Izay grapes are an integral part, now, of our Rocks and Gravel wine.