St. Peter’s Church Zinfandel

Blog Post

There’s a brand new Zinfandel in our line-up of single-vineyard wines and this one has an interesting history and a special tie to Winemaker Shauna Rosenblum’s family. Read on to learn more about our first vintage of St. Peter’s Church Zinfandel, where this unique vineyard is located, and why the San Francisco Chronicle called it “one of the most influential vineyards in California.”

1870s – The First Plantings on the St. Peter’s Church Site

The vineyard now known as St. Peter’s Church sits directly behind St. Peter’s Catholic Church in the town of Cloverdale in the Alexander Valley AVA of Sonoma County. Historical records indicate that two Irish immigrants, Frank McElarney and Patrick Smith, first planted grapes on the site in the early 1870s. Those early plantings were wiped out by the grapevine pest phylloxera and were replaced by zinfandel, carignane, and petite sirah vines in the 1880s, which still stand on the 5-acre site today.

An Unusual Planting Pattern Preserves the Zinfandel Vines

McElarney and Smith were viticultural pioneers and had an idea for how to protect the valuable newly-planted zinfandel vines from pylloxera: they would plant zinfandel at the center of the vineyard and surround it with carginane and petite sirah, then lessor-value vines. The idea was that if pests were going to get to the vines, they had to get through the carignane and petite sirah first. This approach also had the bonus effect of protecting the zinfandel vines from deer.

The vineyard was farmed by the Smith family until 1906, when they sold it to Italian immigrant, Andre Ghiotti. It is unclear when the Catholic Church took ownership of the vineyard, but it is reported that they were selling the grapes to large producers as well as using them to produce sacramental wine up until local vineyard manager Jack Florence Jr. took over management of the vineyard in the early 1990s.

Modern History

The First Vineyard Designate Wine & The Rosenblum Connection

Florence Jr., a parishioner at St. Peter’s church, wanted to sell the grapes to a higher-end producer and make the vineyard “a more economical venture” for both the church and his new vineyard management business. His first client, and the very first winery to bottle a vineyard-designated St. Peter’s Church wine, was Alexander Valley producer White Oak Vineyard in 1992.

After that initial White Oak bottling, Florence met Kent Rosenblum, founder of Rosenblum Cellars (and RIDGE Winemaker Shauna Rosenblum’s father). He knew that the grapes from St. Peter’s Church would be a perfect fit for Rosenblum’s portfolio of limited-production, highly-regarded Zinfandels. According to Florence, in Rosenblum’s hands, “the potential of St. Peter’s Church Vineyard was finally realized.”

The First RIDGE St. Peter’s Church Zinfandel

Since our founding in 1962, RIDGE has championed single-vineyard winemaking, searching California for those rare and exceptional vineyards where climate, soil, and grape variety are ideally matched. When the opportunity arose to purchase fruit from this historic Sonoma vineyard, we jumped at the chance.

“This is a vineyard that is very special to me. My father started working with this vineyard back in the 1990s. Over the past 30 years, the Florences and the Valdez family have grown some phenomenal fruit at St. Peter’s Church and I’m so happy we get to share it.” -Lytton Springs Winemaker, Shauna Rosenblum

Winemaker Tasting Notes

“Elegant, lifted nose of boysenberry, white peach and honeysuckle flower. Medium-light bodied with juicy acidity followed by notes of plum, dark chocolate, blueberry and sage.” -SR (June 2025)

How to Get it – Made for ATP Members

Our first bottling of St. Peter’s Church Zinfandel is one of the many limited bottlings we produce exclusively for our ATP membership program. This new wine will be available to ATP members this fall. Not a member? Learn more about the club and become a member for access.