Visitors 6
Modified 27-Sep-23
Created 14-Oct-18
19 photos
A wonderful tour of Ridge Winery, led by legendary winemaker Paul Draper. He led us through the process of creating fine wines, from the vineyard (we saw some vines planted in about 1949), the harvest (we happened upon a harvest and inspection of the harvested grapes) -- the whole process. Paul has established a hands-off tradition of winemaking at Ridge, informed by traditional 19th-century methods and current knowledge. For instance, they rely on natural yeast, which is preserved by the bees over the winter, who bring it back into a few damaged grapes in the vineyard each spring. The yeast in these few grapes, perhaps one in 500, finds a fertile place to multiply and grow once the grapes are harvested and placed into the fermentation tanks. Paul also described his innovations in equipment and workflow, making it easier to step back and let the grapes do their work. Then we were treated to a delicious lunch. Did I mention the wines? Enough said. A day to remember.
We even saw a bald eagle, circling high in the sky, with two (much smaller) hawks. A long way from a major body of water.
Ridge Vineyards and the Committee for Green Foothills: two institutions that continue to contribute to the Bay Area. They have a long and productive working relationship -- also with the Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District.
