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The search finally began in earnest when on September 9th , 1974, California Admission Day, George, wife Greta, daughter Noel, and son John drove up to Sonoma to look at prospective dream ranches. After several hours of looking at brown and dried up pieces of land we drove into what was to become Indian Springs Ranch. Fifty acres of rocky soil, overgrazed hilly grassland, and the antique evidence of the remains of an abandoned pioneer ranch. Visible were some old fruit trees, traces of old foundations, some ancient rusting farm equipment, a small abandoned and trashed two room cottage, a eucalyptus wood lot, and a wooded area bordering Sonoma Creek. And to our great pleasure the creek was a beautiful running stream. To find running water in California in early September is a miracle.. The day was a Saturday. By Monday we had bought the abandoned acreage and the dream had taken on a life of its own. It took another five years to see much progress. I continued my good paying job, we cleaned up debris, we made a livable camp out of the abandoned cottage, we pruned the abandoned fruit trees, we piped water to the cottage and built an outside privy! But most importantly we began a research and academic program to learn about grape growing. And we planted an experimental vineyard on our Los Altos property and experimented with making wine. Summer 1978 vacation was spent on the ranch with the first introduction to rock gathering and soil preparation. The first Zinfandel vines were ordered in November 1978. In January 1979 I retired from my great good paying job with Monsanto and began to pursue the ranch dream full time. I was 58 years old. I had visions of gondolas of ripe premium grapes traveling to the winery, of award winning wines, of healthy work in the warm sun and the reaping of huge financial rewards. Well, everything came true except the financial rewards! Over the next fifteen years we prepared the soil, planted the grapes, built the ranch house, the barn, the deer fencing and continued courses at U.C.Davis and at Santa Rosa Jr. College. But over all these years the dream of producing vintage quality grapes remained intact and alive. In 1992 we had a severe set back when phylloxera attacked the roots of our vines. We had to replant the entire vineyard! This took us six years and made a huge dent in our checkbook. But again the dream continued. The Grapevines We selected Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc, and Merlot based on an analysis of our soils, exposure, and hillside orientation coupled with our best forecasts of market demand. At the same time we consciously picked varieties that we thought would allow us to take advantage of these issues to provide unique quality differentiation. We picked two rootstocks, 110R and St George, well known to be good performers in lean, dry, rocky soils. Further St George is particularly suited for Zinfandel. Our Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc are on Wente Brothers clones. The Merlot is clone ______. The Vision and Dream is alive and well! The Vineyards Before planting it was necessary to prepare the vineyard site. The soil was ripped to a depth of three feet using a large caterpillar. The soil was ripped in three directions. Then the real fun began. With a crew of 20 young Mexican men, and a D-2 Caterpillar pulling a trailer we tried to pick up enough stones so that we could plant and then cultivate the new vineyard. This was brutal work. It was accomplished over two summers. Even after this huge effort time has shown that we only made a small dent in the stone population. After the stones were cleared the site was disced, surveyed, the vineyard rows laid out, the irrigation lines buried, and the metal grape stakes installed. |
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