El Diablo Vineyard, Russian River Valley
Chardonnay
Ulises Valdez planted the El Diablo Vineyard in 2008. The site is located on a ridge off of Eastside Road serves as the eastern edge of the Russian River Valley Appellation. The location of the site means that while each morning the vineyard is shrouded in fog by early afternoon the marine layer burns off and the vines are able to soak in several hours of warm sunlight. Careful thought was put into both rootstock and clonal selection for the vineyard. Our block of Chardonnay is planted to Old Wente Selection and was grafted to rootstock 420a. Row spacing is tight at 4x6 which helps to further reduce vigor and encourage competition for nutrients. The result is low yielding vines that produce intense, flavor packed clusters. Though young now, the exceptional potential of this site is already very apparent.