Hirsch Vineyards
HirschVineyardsand Winery sit on a ridge overlooking the Pacific in western Sonoma County. Established in 1980 as the first vineyard in the region planted to the production of premium pinot noir, it is one of the finest sites for the production of pinot noir and chardonnay in the new world. The nearby San Andreas Fault has produced a complex of highly varied soils and topography that is worked on by an always changing, wild climate.
From the start all efforts have been on the growing of fruit that makes wines profoundly characteristic of the site vintage after vintage. David Hirsch is dedicated to living and working on site in order to discover by farming and, since 2002, winemaking, a valid philosophy of viticulture that will harmonize his inputs with the constantly changing effects of a dramatic geology. Since the early 1990s, David has provided fruit to such estimable winemakers as Kistler, Williams Selyem, Littorai and others. In 2002 the winery was built and their first estate vintage was produced.
This complex, unique site produces fruit and wines of unusual acidity and balance with a vintage-specific concentration of pinot noir or chardonnay fruit. The 68 acres of pinot and 4 acres of chardonnay are divided into 60 farming blocks. Each block was individually developed and is farmed and harvested separately. The fruit is vinted and aged without blending until bottling. The wines are blended barrel by barrel, so the personality of each wine in a given vintage reflects the complexity of the entire site. The wines are not pumped and are unfined and unfiltered. No additives or foreign yeasts are added at any time, resulting in unmanipulated wines which are pure expressions of this remarkable site.
