“California Grapes” focuses first and foremost on the eponymous Pisoni Vineyards. After attempting to describe the cave built into the hillside, rushing waterfalls, and carefully-laid stonework, Good Vitis ultimately proclaims that “the totality of the site is far more than its parts.” This is a point the Pisonis are happy to echo. Spending time alongside vineyard manager Mark Pisoni on the spectacular slopes the family farms, Editor-in-Chief Aaron Menenberg came away impressed with the “strong sense of admiration” for our land and our deep “obligation to ensure its health.” Describing the ways we work toward ensuring the health of our acreage, Menenberg identifies the way we compost on site and the way we plant cover crop to increase biodiversity and reduce erosion. His article also gives a nod to our thriving insectary and beehives, as well as to the fact that “we leave most of our property to its own devices,” as Mark explains.

“California Grapes” sums up Pisoni Vineyards with the following accolade: “As humans they’re good people. As farmers they’re experienced and talented. As winemakers, they know their vineyards and their fruit and how to convert them into great wine.” We are thrilled with this acclaim, as well as for the accolades Good Vitis offers our Lucia Soberanes in particular. It “knocked my socks off,” Menenberg writes, after naming the Soberanes Vineyard “a jewel in the crown of SLH Grand Cru sites.”

With its energetic voice and the jazzy, Day-Glo colors of its illustrations, the article feels like a stand-out. We’re honored to have our land called a “highly cared-for thriving parcel of the planet” and delighted at Good Vitis’ appreciation for our Lucy and Lucia wines. And we’re deeply gratified that Good Vitis understands both our admiration for the land and the people who help us work it by letting readers know that we provide housing for our staff and that we like to honor specific employees—many of whom have been working alongside us for decades—by naming vineyard blocks after them. Thanks to Good Vitis for seeing that our wines “are evidence of a place and a family and a team almost impossible to separate.”