Sebastopol winery’s dry-farmed Hallberg Ranch ranks among Sonoma County’s elite Pinot Noir vineyards.
Riggs Lokka, the vineyard manager at Emeritus Vineyards, descended into a soil pit at the winery’s Hallberg Ranch to explain to media guests the nuances of its soils and farming techniques. The occasion was the 25th anniversary of the winery and its flagship estate vineyard. After selling another winery in 1999, Brice Jones used the proceeds to purchase Hallberg, for decades an illustrious apple and peach orchard (before Prohibition a vineyard). Three miles northwest of downtown Sebastopol on Gravenstein Highway, the ranch, with 110 planted acres, ranks among Sonoma County’s elite Pinot Noir vineyards.
Loose and Fine
Jones’s daughter, Mari Jones, who runs Emeritus, accompanied us on a hayride to the pit, where Lokka extolled the Goldridge sandy loam soil and underlying Sebastopol clay loam as ideal for Pinot Noir in part because it doesn’t retain water well, forcing the vines to develop deeper root systems. Viticulturists often say that Pinot Noir “doesn’t like to get its feet wet” (its roots don’t do well when water accumulates), another benefit of this soil type.
Benefits of Dry Farming
Riggs’s father, Kirk Lokka (also a partner in the winery), planted the vineyard in 2000, later converting it to dry farming (no irrigation), inducing the vines to burrow for moisture farther still. Per Kirk, dry farming produces grapes that ripen at lower sugar levels and have more concentrated flavors and complexity. It also conserves water. Other Hallberg attributes include typical summertime shifts in temperature from daytime highs in the upper 80s to the low 50s at night, which helps preserve acidity.
The Wines
Following the tour, winemaker Keith Hammond of Emeritus and counterparts from other wineries that buy grapes to make Hallberg Ranch Pinot Noirs poured current and older wines. While chatting with the renowned participants, I recalled the response of Kirk Lokka, ever the blunt one, when I asked him in 2018 why Hallberg had such a sterling reputation: “We don’t sell to just anyone.”
Standing out among the current releases were (above) Scherrer Winery (owner-winemaker Fred Scherrer, top left) and Gary Farrell Vineyards & Winery (winemaker Brent McKoy, bottom right) wines for their complexity and bracing acidity.
The Emeritus (Hammond, above top left) and Joseph Jewell (owner-winemaker Adrian Manspeaker, bottom right) wines enticed with rich red fruit and mild spice.
The plush mouthfeel and soft tannins of the DRNK Wines (owner-winemaker Ryan Kunde, bottom left) and EnRoute (winemaker Michael Accurso, top right) made them easy to like.
Most wines had grapes from two to five Pinot clones (the Scherrer only one). EnRoute and Emeritus had more than ten each.
Info
2500 Gravenstein Hwy. (Hwy. 116) N, Sebastopol 95472
Itinerary
More Sonoma County Pinot Noir
Arista Winery
Black Kite Cellars
Blue Farm Wines
Dot Wine
Martinelli Winery
Patz & Hall
Small Vines Wines
Three Sticks Wines
Trombetta Family Wines