Bob and Jim Varner
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In 1980, twin brothers Jim and Bob Varner began their labor of love when they planted Spring Ridge Vineyards in Portola Valley in the northern part of the Santa Cruz Mountain Appellation. Located 10 miles from the ocean, Spring Ridge is made up of several separate blocks of vines, each with its own microclimate and soil difference. The vineyard has been dry farmed and hand-hoed since 1988. Insecticides have never been used, nor fertilizers. The grapes are hand-harvested only in the morning into small lug boxes to allow natural cooling of the juice.
Bob works in the rows during each harvest, insuring that sorting is done at the vine rather than at the winery. The wine is treated as naturally as possible, using indigenous yeast and malolactic bacteria from the vineyard. Rather than fining and filtering, the barrels are hand-racked, using a fontaine d'aspiration and a hand-cranked barrel lifting device. With this method, the lees are not disturbed and the wine is clarified without filtration.
Vintage Information
The 2005's are less vineyard-driven and more vintage-driven. Acid structure dominates and should allow the wines to age longer. There was a cool summer and fall, unlike 2003 and 2004 which had heat waves at harvest.
The 2006 vintage was characterized by having long, cool but steady development around harvest time, which was one of the lates we've seen. Sugars stayed in balance and did not get ahead of the flavors which feel riper than the 2005's. All three blocks of Chardonnay kept the higher acidities seen in 2005.
The 2007's show less of a vintage imprint and more of a vineyard imprint, with each block showing individuality. Their structures fall somewhere in between the 2005 and 2006 vintages. These wines will age well, like the 2005's.
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