The Royal Nonesuch Farm

In the summer of 2011, our family purchased a tiny piece of property high up in the Santa Lucia range in the historic, rugged, and almost forgotten York Mountain AVA. After planting our first vines in 2013 – own-rooted, bushvine Grenache – we started to discover the uniqueness of this incredible site. 1800 feet above the Pacific ocean our little vineyard boasts an incredibly diverse set of soil profiles, including rocky limestone, clay, and sand. Rainfall is almost 4-times that of the nearby town of Paso Robles, allowing us to dry farm many of our young vines.

The extreme weather, diverse soils and steep topography create unforgiving farming conditions and minuscule yields – yet reward us with incredibly intense and character-driven fruit. We showcase the uniqueness of our vineyard by being as gentle and transparent as we can in the winery – co-fermenting when possible, lots of whole bunch fermentations, native yeast, and a mix of concrete and large format neutral oak aging.

Today we have 7.5 acres planted to a mix of Grenache, Graciano, Syrah and Clairette Blanche. We only make a small selection of wines — each made with the intention of allowing the vineyard to speak louder than the winemaking. We don’t make very much wine, and never will, but what we do make is unique, powerful and elegant.

We call our vineyard The Royal Nonesuch Farm, a reference to the great “tragedy” of Huckleberry Finn and a constant reminder to never take ourselves too seriously.