Scribe’s new SYLVANER vineyard

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“We love Sylvaner on the Scribe farm
and are planting it again…1 more acre.”

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Sylvaner was first planted on the Scribe Farm in the 1850’s.  The Dresel family, original landholders of what is now the Scribe farm, had moved to California from their vineyard in Germany to plant the first german wine varietals in California soil.

Sylvaner is a white German varietal, sistered alongside Riesling and Gewurtztraminer.  However, Sylvaner is less aromatic than these other german white grapes, and therefore allowing a vineyard site to sometimes show it’s terroir more clearly.  Scribe’s vineyard, on Arrowhead Mountain’s volcanic and clay soils, shows its lively mineral sharpness and waxy textured body – one of those rare white wines to be both freshly crisp and weighted…think lemon cucumber and beeswax.

We planted 1 acre (about 300 cases) of Sylvaner in 2008; an homage to the Dresel’s 1850s planting, and doubling the total California Sylvaner.  Other than our 1 acre, there is another small Sylvaner vineyard in the Santa Maria area, and assumed a few Sylvaner plants in historic white field blend vineyards around Sonoma County.  We love Sylvaner on the Scribe farm and are planting it again…1 more acre.

Like we did in 2008, we are replanting portions of the Scribe farm to grape vines for the first time since pre-prohibition.  This time, we are planting on our steep hillside terrain; a more difficult task to plant and to farm, but hoping for a deeper expression of our terroir.

Planting in 2016 means we will get our first harvest from this new Sylvaner vineyard in 2020, and open the first bottles not until 2021.  A long, patient process.

-Adam Mariani