Ravenswood Vineyard Designate Wines

When Dick Gregory was a $5,000-a-year rookie running back for the Chicago Bears, he and his teammates staged a three-day strike against the team's owner, George Halas. Their labor demands were:

"1. Pay for our laundry. 2. Buy us game shoes. 3. If you cut us, buy us a bus ticket home." Halas's answers: "1: No. 2: No. 3: We'll pay your way home, but not on the bus. The Burlington Railroad is cheaper."

Gregory played in the NFL before football helmets had facemasks. Players stayed in on both offense and defense, and still had to have a second job during the offseason.

All of which was fine with Dick Gregory, who was just happy to be there. Growing up in Montana, Gregory had to be tough; before he was even eleven, his father, brother and aunt died in drowning accidents—and Dick had responded by going to work as a lifeguard. Years later, when doctors removed one of his kidneys, Gregory told them to make the incision through his abdomen because vineyard work put a strain on his back. Grapegrowing was supposed to be Dick's "retirement." When he quit working in the Seventies, he'd bought ten acres southeast of Sonoma that had been planted in 1945 with Cabernet Sauvignon. The weeds were higher than the vines, so Dick and his family coaxed the bushes upward, installed drip irrigation and changed from cane to cordon training. In 1983 they planted fi ve acres of Merlot and in 1987 Ravenswood starting buying the grapes.

From them comes a New World version of an Old World-style wine. In warm years the cedar-tinged Cabernet comes forward, and in cool ones the Merlot adds softness to the center. It's all made distinctive by a dollop of mint, wafted in by cool Carneros breezes from a eucalyptus grove next door. As a whole, the package is unique— bright, lean and complex, but also friendly, flavorful and approachable.

If it sounds like the guy who grows it, maybe that's not a coincidence.

FLAVOR PROFILE:				Very intense, concentrated fruit with flavors of cassis, chocolate, mint, and eucalyptus.


Location				Sonoma Valley-Carneros

Acreage				About 7 acres Cabernet Sauvignon and 5 acres Merlot

Year planted				Cabernet Sauvignon planted in 1945, Merlot planted in 1982

Soil type				Clay loam

Climate				Very cool Carneros-type climate

Elevation				Sea level

Exposure				Slight slope to west

Spacing				Cabernet Sauvignon 6'X10', Merlot 6'X12'

Yield				Between 1 and 2 tons per acre

Varietals				Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Blends vary based on vintage characteristics

Rootstock				St. George for Cabernet Sauvignon, AXR for Merlot (2/3 of block being replanted)