Corral Creek Vineyard surrounds the winery, and is the only estate vineyard we did not plant ourselves. Formerly known as Veritas Vineyard Winery, it and the winemaking facility were purchased from the Howiesons family in 1995. This acquisition allows us to expand our winery operations. Currently, the 40-acre site has 24 acres bearing fruit.
Corral Creek Vineyard is planted on a sedimentary soil called Laurelwood, which is a brown, silty clay loam. Laurelwood soil can be excessively fertile, but when managed it produces consistently spectacular fruit. The site is relatively rich in deeper and wetter lower elevations of 200 feet. The upper elevations at 450 feet can be shallow and water deficient from erosion over the years, which can require some water augmentation.
Characteristics of Pinot Noir from Laurelwood soil include red fruits – from strawberry to cherry – carrying moderate to high tannins. Our first vineyard designate Pinot Noir from Corral Creek was in 1998. Roughly 70 percent of the vineyard is planted to Pinot Noir (primary the Pommard and Wädenswil clones) with the remaining acreage planted to Chardonnay (Dijon clone), Pinot Gris, Riesling, and Gamay Noir.