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 .
Mt. Veeder Geology and climate
Last Updated 9/8/08 M.H.