High above the fogline, on a rocky crest of Mount Veeder, surfer-poet-farmer Bill Hawley of Random Ridge Winery grows vines of vibrant character for his top-flight, high-altitude wines.
After building a house with recycled lumber, Hawley cleared and planted a 10-acre vineyard on the Napa-Sonoma County ridgeline where, amid views of Mount Tamalpais and the San Francisco Bay, the sun sets over Sonoma Mountain.
The rarefied site yields fjust enough vibrant fruit for a limited production of intense, well-extracted wines including Old Wave Zinfandel, a field-blend that inclues 9% Carignane, and 6% Petit Sirah., which Hawley describes as “High-Octane, Robust, and Bodacious“.
His Single Vineyard Cabernet, which Hawley tempers with 7% Cabernet Franc, offers up big, bold flavors of cherry, licorice, and red currant. Long cellaring will help integrate and harmonize the fruit and promises the patient mountain wine enthusiast a truly momentous experience in years to come.
