Winemaker Notes
The van der Kamp Vineyard lies at the very top of the eastern side of Sonoma Mountain, at 1,400 foot elevation looking down on the town of Glen Ellen to the east and Bennett Valley to the northwest. Sonoma Mountain was once part of the Pacific Ocean floor, and thus has a patchwork of diverse soils, from Speckles loam, Volcanic Tuff and decomposed streambed. Sonoma Mountain itself has been inhabited for thousands of years, and van der Kamp has been farmed for well over one hundred. The Marin and Sonoma tribe, the Coast Miwok, believed that the top of the mountain was where life first began, as they thought the world was born from the ocean floor. The van der Kamp vineyard and surrounding areas were an important religious site, and still are to this day. Van der Kamp was planted in 1953, making it the oldest Pinot Noir vines (still producing) in California. The family farms the entire site organically.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Defined more by altitude than geographical outline, the Sonoma Mountain appellation occupies elevations between 400 and 1,200 feet on the northern and eastern slopes of the actual Sonoma Mountain and is part of the greater Sonoma Valley appellation. The mountain reaches 2,400 feet; its hills separate the cooling winds of Petaluma Gap from the Sonoma Valley.
On a cooler western flank, Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Syrah enjoy a great deal of success. Vineyards on its warmer, eastern side, interspersed with heavily forested areas, tend to include Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, and Syrah. Given its complexity of topography and mesoclimates, Sonoma Mountain excels with a wide range of grape varieties.