Camalie Vineyards is a family owned retreat on Mt. Veeder, six miles northwest of Napa. Purchased as a getaway from the hustle and bustle of the peninsula it has become an adventure in grape growing, winemaking and sustainable living. The name Camalie which rhymes with "family" comes from the names of our children Cameron and Natalie.
Construction is in the home stretch with only a little rework of the upstairs wood floors before we can move in, less than 2 weeks.
Green Home by Arkin-Tilt Architects
Wines and Vines just published
a great article,
Wireless Network Monitors H2O
about our success in using wireless soil moisture sensing in 2007 written by Tom
Ulrich. On June 19, 2008 Mark presented a
technical poster,
High Density Wireless Soil Moisture Monitoring for Deficit Irrigation Management
at the ASEV conference in Portland Oregon showing that less labor intensive
soil moisture sensing can substitute for manual leaf water potential
measurements. Crossbow
Technology introduced in April a commercial version of the sensor network we
used which they call eKo Pro.
At the same time we started up a new company, Camalie
Networks LLC to sell this product
and associated irrigation management services.
Meanwhile the grapes are growing very well in spite of some wild weather,
rainless April, cold May, perfect conditions for mildew for the whole month of
June and two days of 100 degree weather in the first weeks of
July.
Since then smooth sailing.
Our family's best friend RUSTY died unexpectedly on July 15. He was the best dog you can imagine. We are deeply saddened.
Most of our grapes, 90%, go to our great winery customers at Sherwin Family Vineyards and Charter Oak Winery. They received their first grapes from us in 2006 which means you should begin seeing Camalie Vineyards' grapes in their wines released in 2009 and after.
Our home made wine is mostly 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, but as of 2007 we have started making some blends with Carmenere and Merlot all grown on the Camalie Vineyards estate. One block of 200 original Cabernet Sauvignon vines is now 32 years old with their St. George rootstock going down 6 feet into the deep clay soil. Camalie wines are vinted and aged on the estate.
Our Cabernet Sauvignon vines planted in the Spring of 2003 are the best ENTAV French clones, types 337,338 and 191. See the Cultivar Map for their locations. The total vine count is now 4200 vines including the 200 "old gentlemen" vines. At this point we have decided not to go into the commercial winemaking business. Grape growing and informal home winemaking with some of our friends is as far as we plan to go. The scale of our home winemaking is ~200 gallons/year -- about 80 cases.
The quality of the grapes from Camalie Vineyards is world class based on numerous blind tastings we have done in the process of making our first 7 vintages. See my Winemaker's Blogs on the vintages 2007, 2006 2005, 2005N 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 . Some pictures of Winemaking 2007. The Bacchus Cave was completed in April 2008 and is currently aging the 2005 and 2007 vintages.
Camalie Vineyards just replanted in 2003. More Panorama's. 
Our Story. Every Winery and Vineyard has one.
The Vineyards, views of the grapes and infrastructure. Maps
Wireless Sensors; MoteExplorer2; EkoView Mt.Veeder Co-op; Mark's Monitors Napa County MonitorsNaked Acres
Recognition for our wine. Wine Making 2004, 2005
Other Events in the past; Topping Tasting, Barrel
Mix Tasting, Harvest etc. 
Topping wine tasting; Gary, Tim and Mark.
Gary's Website for the Forest Ave. Wine Coop Lots of pictures of the process and the fun.
More Pictures of the vineyard, A little older content. Good picture of the old vines.
Mount Veeder Appellation Web Site
Homewine.com where we are listed along with many other Napa home winemakers.
Napa Valley Vintner's Association which we are a member of.
If you are interested in learning more or in getting a taste send me some e-mail at mholler@pacbell.net or give me a call at 650-799-6571. I and my wife Cindy own Camalie Vineyards. Expert Grower Ramon Pulido manages the vineyard for us. I am the lead winemaker but, I do get a lot of help from my family and friends. Camalie Vineyards is a private estate with winemaking still at the home winemaking scale. It is not open to the general public.
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Last updated 7/18/08. Webmaster mholler@pacbell.net MboxII Polka Joe W&Varticle
