Monte Bello’s Additional Vineyard Development

Blog Post

“The Open Space” – A Decade’s Long Planting Project Comes to Fruition

July 2025

A Vision Rooted in History

More than 40 years ago, Paul Draper approached the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) with a novel idea. Drawing on his deep historical knowledge, Paul recognized that the gentler slopes of the rugged Monte Bello Ridge—land then owned by MROSD—had once flourished with winegrape cultivation in the late 1800s. His proposal was simple in concept: allow Ridge Vineyards to carefully steward this land, then teeming with chaparral, and restore it to world-class winegrowing.

In practice, however, the plan was far more complex.

From Concept to Conservation

After years of meetings, negotiations, and onsite visits, Ridge Vineyards and MROSD reached an agreement in 2014. RIDGE would be granted an agricultural easement on roughly 30 acres of MROSD land. In return, both parties would enter into a conservation easement on an adjacent 30 acres of RIDGE-owned property, ensuring that the land would be protected from large-scale residential or commercial development. Under the terms of the agricultural easement, Ridge is required to follow rigorous vineyard development and farming practices. Chief among these is the requirement that all vineyard blocks achieve USDA Organic Certification. Fortunately, we had already begun our journey toward organic certification in 2008. Still, the easement includes additional environmental safeguards, such as surveys for endangered plant and animal species and hydrological surveys to ensure the land’s suitability for sustainable viticulture.

The project has been divided into six phases of vineyard development. Each phase must adhere to a detailed vineyard installation plan, followed by a comprehensive management and operations plan. These plans are reviewed and approved by an independent third-party expert and are monitored annually. To date, we’ve completed the first two phases, with 16 acres planted, and we are preparing to plant the third phase this summer. Fruit from the first phase has already made it into Monte Bello, and we have high hopes for the second phase, with its first harvest expected in 2025.

We are honored and humbled by the opportunity to farm these historic vineyards on MROSD land, and to continue building on the legacy of Monte Bello.

— Kyle Theriot, Director of Vineyard Operations, Monte Bello

Related Links:

• RIDGE History
• Our Farming Practices
• An Agreement 40 Years in the Making