For close to four decades, the Pisoni family has worked in concert rather than competition with the land. That Wine Spectator featured their Lucia Garys’ Vineyard Pinot Noir amongst its top 100 wines and the San Francisco Chronicle’s Jon Bonné praised their Lucia Garys’ Vineyard as “sublime”— “California Syrah at its best”—testifies to the superior quality of this single vineyard site.

Old-school farmers, they also continue to innovate. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay succeed in the rocky soils and wind-swept slopes of the highlands. But in 1999, Pisoni began growing Syrah alongside such Burgundian varietals. Some oenophiles might wonder at this novel practice, but the Pisonis do not let the dictates of popular opinion inform their earth-minded viticulture.

“Our vines have to work hard and we work hard right next to them, helping them face the foggy mornings and cold winds that rush down our valley every day,” Jeff explains. The Syrah at Garys’ Vineyard that is cultivated in partnership with Gary Franscioni, does well in decomposed granite and gravelly loam not unlike the soils of the Cote-Rotie and Cornas in the Rhône. In the highlands, where four-fifths of the acreage is planted in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and a mere 2.8% given over to Syrah, the cold climate makes for a riskier proposition when it comes to this varietal’s chances of fully ripening. The Pisonis’ own Syrah is as exceptional as is it serendipitous, coaxed into being by the family’s willingness to listen to what the long growing season enables. From the hardy soils and cool climate fostered by the Pacific Ocean, their Syrahs and Pinots mature slowly and steadily. The sumptuous results bear out the promise of this close alliance with the vines.

We hope you enjoy these two expressions of Garys’ Vineyard,

The Pisoni Family