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formally began operations with the first harvest
from their estate vineyards in the Russian River Valley in 1993. Ten years earlier, Philip and his wife Pamela began searching for a Northern Sonoma County vineyard with climate, soil and exposure conditions similar to those of the Mediterranean regions of France, Spain, and Italy. In 1988, after five years of looking at scores of properties, they found a piece of virgin land in the hills above the river, and purchased it that same morning. The site had rolling terrain, gravely loam soil, and full sun exposure. These conditions, along with the direct climatic influence of a coastal river, made it ideal for the Rhone varietals they wanted to work with.
The Staleys were not newcomers to the wine business.
Philip was a founding partner in Alderbrook Winery in the Dry Creek Valley and had served as its winemaker for thirteen years. With the impending first harvest of their new vineyard, the Staleys decided it was time to focus their efforts on the new Philip Staley Vineyards and Winery. No longer interested in being part of a constantly growing winery, they joined a unique class of California winery, the small grower-producer. In doing so, they committed to the development of carefully planned and limited production vineyards, and to using these exceptional grapes for the production of small lots of hand crafted wines.
Staley Vineyards produced small lots of Syrah,
Mourvedre, and Grenache from that 1993 harvest. As new blocks of the vineyard came into production, one new clone of Syrah and Viognier were added to the line of wines. Philip has developed a close working relationship with four exceptional growers: Judy and George of Somers Vineyards, Kent Richie of Poplar Vineyards, Hallie and Paul of Beacham/Downey Vineyards, and Rich Rued of Rued Vineyards. That fruit, added to production of the estate vineyard, will give the winery a maximum production capacity of 6,500 cases by the turn of the century.
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