As part of Rob’s apprenticeship in winemaking, he was lucky enough to spend a harvest at the historic Mount Eden Estate. While it was first planted in the 1940s by Martin Ray, winemaker and local Santa Cruz legend Jeffrey Patterson has been working there since 1981 and has been instrumental in its development. Patterson has developed this property with a careful determination to make delicious, age-worthy, and balanced wines that are farmed in an ecologically sound manner. He believes that vineyards should be planted and managed to last a century, in an era when many producers plan on replanting every 25 years. 

To quote him directly: “Wine, at its essence, is a snapshot of the ecology of the vineyard. By the ecology, I mean the slope, soil, exposure, wind, sun, grape variety, and weather that particular year. At Mount Eden every bottle is a succinct expression of the vineyard’s ecology. Year in and year out we produce wines from the same vines, in the same cellars, by the same people. With that purity of expression comes a true ‘vineyard wine’.”

To put it mildly, this idea inspires us deeply, and is only the smallest tip of the iceberg of wisdom that Jeffrey passed on to Rob during his time at Mt. Eden. We hope to accomplish a vision as substantially rooted in the stewardship of the Santa Cruz Mountains as well as the simple pursuit of fantastically delicious wines.