Mourvedre of the Monster
The Monster Mourvedre Vineyard
At the heart of every vigneron is the desire to watch the soil and grapevines express themselves together in a way that has a voice , an expression like no other . of farming the region ; he crafts grapes into art that can be molded by the right vintners into memorable wine . In another artistic metaphor , he ’ s “ growing ” the marble that wineries can use to sculpt .
A singular example is a sculptable grape variety , Mourvèdre , growing at the very crest of WeatherEye ’ s mountain in the “ Monster ” parcel . Each one of these 130 or so vines shelters behind a hand-built shield — its very own 3 ’ by 6 ’ basalt rock barrier against the Mistral-ish wind that whips over the top of the ridge there . It ’ s a ton of work , literally … a ton of work that ensures the vine has a chance to make its bold wine in this thin soil .
At other places throughout the site , Syrah is grown on stakes as in the Northern Rhône valley of France . Other parcels use trellises as in the Southern Rhône , same for Grenache . In one plot it is grown this way , in another plot that way . Turns out they are also each different clones of Grenache or Syrah Cinsault or Cabernet Franc . Ryan keeps this complexity in his head and turns it to building a healthy community of flavor .
Part of Cam and Ryan ’ s community is Todd Alexander . Todd made powerful Rhône-
January | February 2023 39