Lago Lomita Vineyards

Mark and I took a class in terroir at the Wine Institute in Bordeaux, France. It was fascinating. It covered how elevation, exposure, climate, and soil affect wine. The class included tastings that compared wine made from grapes in the same vineyard.

One was from a sandy patch of the vineyard, the other from a rocky patch. Everyone in the class was shocked at the difference. Environment matters greatly. The Santa Cruz Mountains is blessed with a temperate climate and great, fertile soil.

We have something very unusual at our high-elevation vineyard. We have a huge wall right at the border of our property. Not an actual wall, but a climactic one. Every day, we look out at the Monterey Bay. Some mornings, we wake up to the fog, but it is always below our elevation. Some days it is coastal. Some days it comes up and looks like we can just step out onto it. We quite often feel like we are in an airplane looking down at the clouds below. Occasionally, it builds and builds to an elevation easily a thousand feet higher than us. Yet it never comes over us! It is like someone constructed a huge force field that the fog wall climbs and pushes against but never defeats. We believe we know why.

Our elevation at nearly 2,600 feet is so high that an egg rolls down in every direction. The obvious direction is toward the coast. But we are also at the headwaters of the Los Gatos Creek. The watershed from our property’s northern border is the water that fills Williams Reservoir, Lake Elsman, and Lexington Reservoir. Some day, I want to chuck an empty wine bottle with a note inside over the vineyards’ edge and see if someone in Los Gatos finds it.

It is this very draw that connects us with the warm weather of the Central Valley. We get a back breeze that forces the fog back toward the coast. It builds a wall of pressure that makes the fog climb and climb instead of rolling over us. This formidable wall allows for full sun on our grapes and warm breezes. A famous wine critic, Mike Dunne, Family Owned & Operated Licensed Bonded & Insured 24 hour Service - Sump Pumps - Booster Pump Systems - Filtration Systems - Well Pumps - Sewer Pumps - Portable Pumps - Residential & Commercial (415) 367-5136 Serving Northern California wrote of our Nebbiolo from here: “…How about Lago Lomita Vineyards, high in the Santa Cruz Mountains? Elevation, exposure, temperature, and all the other elements key to profound wine come together there. And here – a Nebbiolo of extraordinary cherry/ berry fruit, silken texture, peppery spice, and regal bearing.” It shows what terroir can do!

• Dry & Seasoned • Hardwood – Oak & Madrone • Wood is covered all winter • Moisture level is average (14-18%) Phone: 408.353.2867 Cell: 408.761.2092 Email: scottgreen315@gmail.com Serving the Santa Cruz Mountains since 1985 Mountain Resident for 57 yearsQuality Firewood Ripe Nebbiolo clusters