Kistler Vineyard: Kistler Vineyards is a small, family owned and operated winery in the Russian River Valley specializing in the production of Burgundian-styled Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. While the winery produces from numerous vineyards, they have great talent bringing out the best qualities of each respective site. Their consistency in producing great wine year after year is outstanding, and their Chardonnays and Pinots are arguably some of the best in California.

Kistler Vineyards (Kistler Vineyards as described by Kistler)

Kistler Vineyard - When we started Kistler Vineyards in 1979, we planted about 35 acres of chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon at our original winery location in the Mayacamas Mountains, 2000 feet above the Sonoma Valley. Our chardonnay vineyard is planted with budwood from the Mount Eden/Martin Ray Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Those vineyards consisted of ungrafted vines whose history is directly traced to the cuttings that Paul Masson brought from Burgundy to California. When Martin Ray planted his Mount Eden Vineyard in 1947, he selected his wood from Masson's fine old chardonnay and pinot noir vineyards, which he had come to know since his 1937 purchase of the winery and vineyards. In spite of the low productivity of the clone (2½ tons per acre is our maximum yield), we decided to use it in our chardonnay vineyard because of the intense, varietally true flavor qualities it has. Every year since we started making a separate bottling from the vineyard in 1986, Kistler Vineyard Chardonnay has been recognized by all of the most respected wine writers as being consistently one of the very best Chardonnays made in California. This fine old clone has truly found a new home in our mountain vineyard. In 1995 we planted an additional 6 acres of Chardonnay on a steep, rocky slope we had cleared several years earlier. As it has matured, this has proven to be one of the best sections of the vineyard.

Vine Hill Vineyard - In 1986 we purchased this superlative twenty acre site in the cool Russian River Valley, with rolling hills and excellent exposures. In the late 1800's there had been a vineyard here, which had been removed during Prohibition. The site was planted to apples when we bought it. In 1988 we planted a special low-yielding clone of chardonnay which we had selected for the concentrated and complex flavors of the wines it produced. The wines we have produced have exceeded even our high expectations for the vineyard. The Chardonnay has tremendous concentration combined with variety and complexity of flavor.

McCrea Vineyard - The McCrea Vineyard is ideally sited for Chardonnay, with northern and eastern exposures at about 800 feet elevation on the eastern flanks of Sonoma Mountain. The climate is a cool region I. Original owner Tom McCrea shared an intense concern that the quality of their grapes be the highest possible and that the wine bearing the name "McCrea Vineyard" be the finest possible. Tom's father John planted the main part of the vineyard in 1970, using a shy-bearing old clone of Chardonnay. The combination of climate, soils, excellent viticultural practices, and low-production, mature vines produce some of the best chardonnay grapes in Sonoma County. Since 1993 we have farmed the vineyard ourselves with complete viticultural control, thus allowing us to bring the vineyard to the full potential of this outstanding location. Since 1994 the property has been owned by Mr. and Mrs. Forden Athearn of San Francisco who have been very supportive of our efforts to produce the finest possible Chardonnay from this dramatically beautiful mountain site.

Dutton Ranch Vineyard - The 2004 vintage is our twenty-sixth Chardonnay from Dutton Ranch, surely one of the finest chardonnay vineyards in California. The Dutton family’s vineyards are located in central Sonoma County about 10 miles from the Pacific Ocean. This is one of the coolest grape growing locations in Sonoma and Napa Counties, reflected in the fact that apples were long the principal local crop, not grapes. It is so cool that the California "tradition" of every area producing every wine variety is not followed. Chardonnay and pinot noir are the principal local varieties; no cabernet sauvignon (a warmer climate variety) is grown. Year after year, we find the slowly ripened grapes from the 33-year-old vines at Dutton Ranch produce an excellent Chardonnay with a fine balance of ripe intensity and subtle elegance. The wines always have great depth, completeness and a wonderfully balanced structure.

Durell Vineyard - Durell Vineyard lies in the southwestern Sonoma Valley, almost in the Carneros appellation. San Pablo Bay, about 10 miles away, provides reliable cooling breezes most afternoons throughout the growing season. These breezes and the frequent fogs that spill over the hills from the west keep the vineyard cool and allow the slow ripening that results in full yet finely-flavored Chardonnay. The soil is very shallow here, which stresses the vines and produces a particularly intensely flavored wine. Starting in 1993, original owner Ed Durell and vineyard manager Steve Hill planted some particularly well-sited new vineyard sections especially for Kistler Vineyards in an undeveloped part of the property. These sites consist of well-drained, west facing hillside. Our main new planting propagates the shy-bearing Old Wente Clone of Chardonnay which we have planted at Vine Hill, McCrea, Kistler, and other new vineyards of ours. This clone, originally from Larry Hyde’s Vineyard in Carneros, has done very well in all these varied locations, producing its signature small bunches of very flavorful, small berries at production levels of 2½ to 3½ tons per acre. This is the selection of chardonnay that we now use for all our new plantings. In 1998 the property was sold to Bill Price who continues to work closely with us in producing the finest chardonnay possible from this excellent site.

Hirsch Vineyard - Located across the deep canyon of the South Fork of the Gualala River, the vineyards are planted almost entirely to Pinot Noir and are a main reason for the excitement about and new attention focused on this growing area (though David Hirsch planted his first vineyards here in 1979). The Hirsch Vineyards are also planted at an elevation of about 1200 feet in order to be above the chilling summer fogs that blow into the canyon from the ocean. The Chardonnay vineyard at Hirsch is dramatically sited at the peak and both sides of a very steep hill. The unusually richly flavored fruit produces a very delicious and distinctive Chardonnay.

Hudson Vineyard - Lee Hudson has established one of the finest, most renowned vineyards in the Carneros district of the Napa Valley. Here he grows superior quality Chardonnay and several red varieties. Kistler Vineyards receives the entire production of Hudson’s E-Block, an old, low production section of Old Wente Clone chardonnay which produces some of the very finest chardonnay in the Napa Valley. This wine has been bottled in small quantities each year since 1994 as our Hudson Vineyard Chardonnay, one of our rarest and finest wines.

Hyde Vineyard - Over the last fifteen years, Larry Hyde has created another of Carneros’ pre-eminent vineyards. Besides its exalted location almost next door to the Hudson Vineyard and Winery Lake (from whose grapes we produced Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the early 80’s before its purchase by Seagram’s), Hyde Vineyard is special because of the variety of Chardonnay clones that Larry has collected and planted over the years. Sixteen years ago Larry shared with us the budwood from a particularly low producing clone of Chardonnay and through our efforts this selection has become the primary clone of Chardonnay planted in our new vineyards as well as the special blocks our growers have planted for us. Since1994 Kistler Vineyards has received the fruit from the “mother block” of this Old Wente Clone of chardonnay. Larry has also planted a new vineyard section using our own selection of this clone. The first grapes were produced from this section in 1998 and the quality has been very high, promising many more great Kistler Hyde Vineyard Chardonnays for the future.