Random Ridge Winery

wines from the mount veeder appellation, napa, california

                                                                                                                                     photo by Chris Clemente

         Winegrower/ poet/ surfer Bill Hawley pioneered Random Ridge in 1980 at the end of a remote fire road at 2200 feet on California's stunning Mount Veeder. He built a house for his young family with recycled lumber and cleared and planted the 10-acre vineyard right on the Napa-Sonoma County ridgeline. Views of Mount Tamalpais in Marin and the San Francisco Bay dazzle the southern horizon and the sun sets over Sonoma Mountain. The vineyard's intense fruit now yields a limited production of exceptional wines that are spicy, extracted, and rich: "wines with atti-dude."  


        Emile (with machete), Zane, and Bill Hawley 1985

                 

                                                      a few decades later

                                                         northeast vineyard view w/tepee


the latest news @ random


late may: change in the weather

very very dry early season

started irrigating the vineyard in april instead of june 

never expect frost after may 15th

but -- with vines in full bloom -- frost hit the bottom of the vineyard 21 may

about 20 vines were affected, they'll survive but without fruit this year 

a change in the weather

is known to be extreme

but what's the sense of changing horses in midstream?

and I'm going out of my mind


oh, with a pain that stops and starts

like a corkscrew to my heart

      Dylan's "You're a Big Girl Now" 

vine in full bloom

frosted vine one row up

vineyard view; frosted area in foreground


view from tepee site



it's may

branch broken in the wind

may flowers



april in the vineyard

 


scarlet frittilaria / mission bells


more random news & events

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