Ravenswood Vineyard Designate Wines

"You know what, Dad? When I grow up, I want to be a farmer."

Patricia Herron and her father had just passed a nice old farmhouse in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. Patty was a restless ten-year-old who, despite a roaming mind, got straight As in school. Her father was a hardware man who knew a bit about nuts and bolts. He also knew his daughter. "Patty," he said from behind the wheel, "I think your idea of farming mainly involves a porch and a rocking chair."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Well," he said, "do you like cows?"

"They're morons," answered Pat.

"Chickens?"

"Total idiots."

"What about wheat fields?"

"Yawn."

"Don't you think that might be a problem if you were a farmer?"

Patty just looked out the window, thinking the question over. She wasn't much given to arguing, as even at the age of ten she already had an amazing ability to understand all sides of an issue and choose the most logical course of action.

This was undoubtedly why, after she'd later spent time in a convent, served as dean of several colleges, gone to law school, managed a California firm, and developed a specialty representing divorced men who sought custody of their children, Governor Jerry Brown appointed her a judge. It also probably had something to do with the fact that, only a year and a half later, her male peers elected her presiding judge of the Seventh Circuit Court.

When Pat and partner Barbara bought land near Sonoma, they christened the place with a combination of their own names. Only later did they learn that "barrica" is Spanish for wine barrel. This seemed somewhat appropriate, though, seeing as how the property contained 36 acres of old grapevines. A mixture of rich alluvial deposits and volcanic soil from the surrounding mountains, it was now in pretty bad shape, but Pat learned to drive a tractor, prune the plants, and check them for curling leaves and bugs. In only a year they turned the place around.

Sometime after that, Pat and Barbara gazed out at the vineyard from the shade of their Sonoma Valley porch. "You know what?" Pat said, sipping the beautiful, blackberry-and-pepper-spiced Zinfandel that Ravenswood now made from the 100-year-old vines, "I like being a farmer."

FLAVOR PROFILE:				Blackberries, raspberries, allspice, and vanilla


Location				Sonoma Valley

Acreage				10 acres Zinfandel, 2 acres Petite Sirah

Year planted				6 acres Zinfandel planted before 1892 4 acres Zinfandel planted in 1995 2 acres Petite Sirah planted in 1998

Soil type				Very old, volcanic, cobbly red clay loam

Climate				"Banana Belt of Sonoma Valley"

Elevation				Sea level

Exposure				Slightly western

Spacing				Old vines 8'X8', younger vines 5'X10', PS 4'X12'

Yield				Old Zinfandel about 2.5 tons per acre,young Zinfandel about 3.5 tons per acre, Petite Sirah about 5 tons per acre

Varietals				Depends on year, generally close to 100% Zinfandel

Rootstock				St. George