Van Alyea Ranch grapes receive Best of Class- San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

http://winejudging.com/medal_winners_2012/445.htm

Year in and year out this Merlot is simply some of the best in the state. The Merlot from the Ranch always is very well structured. I have harvested this as high as 27 ( during the heat spell in 2005) and have never had to adjust the ph as it retains the acidity even at higher brix.

If any wineries are interested in purchasing Merlot.

Please contact: Chris Van Alyea- Phone: 760.579.2800

Clones, Rootstocks, etc.

Merlot

Clone 3
Root Stock- s04, 101-11, 101-14
Years Planted: Western Block -1995, Central Block 1999, Eastern Block 2005
Trellising- Lyre and VSP- 8x12, 8x8, 6x12
Total Acres- 20


The Merlot is located in the rockiest soil adjacent to Dry Creek and the
quality of this fruit is superb largely due to the fact that the yield is
only 1.5-2 tons per acre. It is an aberration for Merlot with solid
tannins/acidity and dark color. Our first vintage was a 2002 (unblended)
Merlot and I used to blind taste it with sommeliers and wine professionals
who always guessed it was a Cab, Syrah, or some other heavy red.
We used to sell the grapes to Kendall Jackson and they would isolate
the "creekside" Merlot for their Reserve programs. Clos du Bois has
bought our Merlot and every year they evaluate it and rank it at
#1 or #2 of all the 12-15 growers in the area. Our family began producing single vineyard wines from the fruit in 2002 and it has taken Golds at the toughest competitions in the state.



Recent Accolades:

Gold Medal- 2004 Christopher Cameron Vineyards - Orange County Fair Wine
Competition

Gold Medal- 2004 Christopher Cameron Vineyards- SF Chronicle Wine
Competition


Gold Medal- 2005 Christopher Cameron Vineyards- San Diego Intl Wine
Competition


Silver Medal- 2002 Christopher Cameron Vineyards- Orange County Fair Wine
Competition

Petite Sirah

Clone: Durif
Root Stock: 101-14
Planted: 2004-2005
Trellising:VSP 6x8
Acres Planted: 6

When fermented these grapes have rich blackberry and boysenberry fruit with some spice. As with the Merlot, the Petite can be harvested at a higher brix for my body/fruit and it doesn't show any heat.
We have been selling it to a lot of boutique wineries around
the North Coast ; Merry Edwards, Michael Dashe (previous winemaker at
Ridge, ) Amphora, Miro, and Puccioni to name a few. We do a fair amount of crop thinning to lower the yield which concentrate the intensity of the grapes/wine. This wine is a great blender for Zinfandel but has produced top notch wine on its own.

Recent Accolades:


Chairmans Award- 2007 Miro Wines ( Personal label of the Winemaker at
Trentadue) Orange County Fair WIne Competition


Gold Medal- 2007 Christopher Cameron Vineyards, Orange County Fair Wine
Competition

Cabenet Sauvignon

Clone: 337
Root Stock:101-14
Year planted:2001
Trellising: VSP 8x8
Total Acres: 4

This Cabernet always exhibits lots of fruit on the palate primarly cherry and blueberry. While the Cab is generally more of a fruit forward style there is still a moderate amount of tannins and acid. Cab from other areas can exhibit some green characteristics but we haven't seen it especially due to the extra hang time (generally harvest in late October/early November.

Accolades:


Gold Medal- 2006 Christopher Cameron Vineyards - Critics Challenge Wine
Competition


Silver Medal- 2003 Christopher Cameron Vineyards- Orange County Fair Wine
Competition

Chardonnay

Year Planted: 1999
Clone 4 on the South Block and Clone 76 on the North Block
Root Stock: 3309
Trellising:VSP: 8x8
Total Acres: 6

As with the Merlot, we have been selling all of our Chardonnay to Clos du Bois and they
have always ranked it as a "Classic Plus" which is the highest rating
given to growers. While Dry Creek Valley isn't exactly known for
Chardonnay, our vineyard is only a few miles away from the Russian
River Valley Appellation. When fermented this Chardonnay has lots of tropical fruit and lime on the nose and palate. Generally when harvested around 24 BRIX we see the TA around .75- .8.