Evangelho

Ancient Vines Endure

A truly unorthodox site, the Evangelho Vineyard is located 50 miles east of San Francisco in Contra Costa County and is planted on an ancient alluvial sand bar at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. Planted in the 1890s, the vineyard’s 130-year-old vines have survived the test of time. Evangelho is dry-farmed with roots that bury themselves 40 feet underground in search of water and nutrients, producing some of California’s most unique and expressive wines. The cooling influence of the nearby San Francisco Bay along with the vineyard’s deep, sandy soils produce elegant wines with excellent natural acidity.

Our History Working with Evangelho

Ridge produced its first wine from the Evangelho vineyard in 1990 and went on to produce small bottlings of mataro and zinfandel from this distinctive 1890s-era vineyard for the next three years. After a 25-year hiatus working with this special site, we were offered the grapes again for the first time in 2018 and were delighted to have the chance to make this wine again.

Grape Varieties

Zinfandel, carignane, and mataro

Age of Vines

Planted in the 1890s

Soil

Alluvial Sand

Training & Yields

Head trained (no trellis), spur pruned. 1-1.5 tons per acre.

To learn more about Ridge Evangelho, read our post: “Evangelho Vineyard: Ancient Vines Endure Against All Odds“