Lytton Estate (Advance Tasting Program wine)
Vineyard
First RIDGE Lytton Estate: Syrah/Grenache: 2001, Petite Sirah: 2002
Location: The bench
and hills separating Alexander and Dry Creek Valleys, just north of Healdsburg
in Sonoma County.
Soils: Varied, with a predominance of gravelly clay;
gravelly clay loam on hillsides.
Training: Syrah:
Spur pruned, cordon, vertical-shoot-positioned trellis. Grenache & Petite
Sirah: Head trained (no trellis) spur pruned.
Yields: 1.5 – 3.0 tons/acre
History
Petite Sirah: The oldest petite sirah vines on our Lytton Estate were planted
in 1904; the youngest, in 1998. We made our first wine from the property
in 1972, and, until 2002 when we bottled portions of the petite sirah
as a separate wine, it had always been included in the Lytton Springs.
The 2003
is our second release. Syrah/Grenache: Ridge became involved with grenache quite by accident when,
in 1972, we first harvested the nineteenth-century vines on the eastern hills
of Lytton Springs. Though we didn't know it then, one of the hills—planted
in 1902—had a high percentage of grenache interplanted with small amounts
of zinfandel and petite sirah. We purchased the eastern vineyards in 1991
and identified the varietal percentages in each parcel; in 1992, those old
mixed vines, harvested separately, produced our first Grenache/Zinfandel.
Ridge bought Lytton Springs' western vineyards in 1995, acquiring a mixed
grenache block planted in 1963, and a straight grenache block planted in
1991. We currently have 3.2 acres of mature syrah, and 6 acres of young vines
planted in 1997 on Lytton West. We have since planted several of the finest
syrah clones and field selections, including, most recently, a 10.5-acre
block of syrah (together with a small amount of viognier).
