Vineyard and Winemaking

Located in the eastern portion of the exclusive Fiddletown AVA, Distant Cellars' vineyards sits at over 2,000 feet in elevation with a soil consisting of decomposed, iron infused, granite. Averaging 36"-40" inches of rainfall a year, the vines are rarely in need of additional water. The high luminosity, or solar radiance, and low humidity allow our grapes to reach proper ripening year over year.  We currently have zinfandel planted circa 1996 in North to South rows of head trained vines and Syrah vines planted in the same North to South configuration; only the Syrah vines are trellis trained. Our estate harvest is timed to get the perfect balance of ripe fruit and acidity and is often left to ferment on the natural yeast that we have been cultivating in the vineyard since 2009.

We focus on traditional wine making techniques and allow our wines to represent the regions and vintages from where they began. We believe that wine is made best in conjunction with nature and try to minimize our interventions. This minimalist approach is applied from the initial planting and pruning of the vines, through the fermentation, barreling, and finishing stages to end with the bottling of our wine. This process is executed with the utmost care to ensure a truly unique wine that speaks from our heart, the land and individuality of the terroir.