California Vineyard Series: Monte Rosso

ABOUT THE VINOUS CALIFORNIA VINEYARD SERIES Since 2015 we have been working on a large-scale project to map the vineyards of California. To date, we have published seven regional Napa Valley maps and have several more in the works, including a five-map set of Sonoma Valley and map of the Santa Lucia Highlands, both of which are nearly finished. Although travel restrictions related to COVID-19 have delayed final, on-the-ground checks that are such an essential part of the quality control process, we are eager to share our work and show you a little bit of what we have been up to through this series of excerpts that kicks off with a look at Pagani Ranch. MONTE ROSSO Few vineyards in California are as evocative as Monte Rosso. Known for producing wines of extraordinary character and longevity, Monte Rosso (‘red mountain’) is every bit as magical as its name suggests. The first Monte Rosso wine I remember tasting was a Cabernet Sauvignon from Ed Sbragia about ten years ago. It was so distinctive, and so incredibly different from the Napa Valley Cabernets I was used to. That was my first real introduction to Sonoma Cabernet. I was immediately hooked. Later, I had the opportunity to taste many Martini wines from the 1950s and 1960s that told the story of a remarkable place. Monte Rosso is located in the Moon Mountain AVA, which itself is contained within the larger Sonoma Valley AVA that develops on the western side of the Mayacamas Mountains. For reference, Napa Valley’s Mt. Veeder AVA lies just on the other side of the Mayacamas Mountains. The entrance of the ranch sits at about 700 feet above sea level and then winds up to nearly 1,300 feet. On a clear day Monte Rosso provides stunning views of the San Pablo Bay and San Francisco. Emanuel Goldstein and Benjamin Dreyfus, partners in a grocery business in San Francisco, first developed the property in the late 1880s. They called their vineyard Mount Pisgah, although locals referred to it as the Goldstein Ranch. The first 75 acres of vineyards went into the ground in 1886. That same year work on a winery was completed. Even today, Monte Rosso remains an incredibly rugged site. It is nearly impossible to imagine how the land was developed given the tools and transportation that were available at the time. Louis Martini, a buyer of fruit, bought the ranch in 1938 and made numerous wines that still bear testament to the pedigree of the land. The Martini family sold their Louis M. Martini Winery and Monte Rosso to E. & J. Gallo Winery in 2002. --Antonio Galloni, California Vineyard Series: Monte Rosso, December 2020 To read more about Monte Rosso and take a look at the Monte Rosso map block by block, check out the full article on Vinous now. Check out Pagani Ranch here .