Growers and Vineyards

  Map of Sonoma Valley Viticultural Areas PDF

The Insider program is carefully crafted from grapes grown by a notorious producer with vineyards in the Petaluma Gap area of the Sonoma Coast. The grapes are harvested at night under the lights and hand picked. At the winery the grapes are destemmed and transferred to open top fermenters where the grapes are cold soaked for 48 hours prior to commencing fermentation. The fermenters are pumped over 3 times per day and once per day with a tub and screen and remained on the skins for 14 days afterwhich it drained and gently pressed to 1.6 bars. Chardonnay comes from grapes grown by the Sangiacomo family - a forth generation grower in Sonoma’s Carneros district within the Sonoma Coast and sourced specifically out of their Kaiser ranch block. 
The name "The Insider" in this case comes from the fact that we cannot use the Sangiacomo designation on the labels because the suggested retail price is well below the famous vineyard family’s requirement to do so. With our insider connections and knowledge we are able to offer you a wine of exceptional quality and pedigree at an amazing price.

  Map of Napa Valley Viticultural Areas PDF

"The Goldbud Philosophy"

Calistoga is the Northern most Napa Valley appellation and is synonymous with World class Cabernet Sauvignon. Jim Frediani is a 3rd generation Italian grower and has probably forgotten more about growing grapes then most people know. Our cabernet comes from dry-farmed, old vines which express flavorful red fruit and powerful tannins. To make the red wine super concentrated, we remove some of the pink juice in the early stages after crushing. We then ferment this portion cold (like white wine) to make our groovy Rosé - It’s Okay!

  Map of Napa Valley Viticultural Areas PDF

Longhorn Ridge Vineyard is located in the eastern hills of the Napa Valley. Vinum Cellars has made wine from these grapes since 2005 and it is now estate owned. This wine is made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes grown on the original 8 acre hillside block called Hoffman. The vineyard is riddled with granite deposits and known for low yielding, small berried clusters ideal for producing wines of maximum  concentration.

  Map of Clarksburg Viticultural Areas PDF

Clarksburg is a special North Sacramento Delta wine grape appellation, although the soils are generally clay loam, the location of these vineyards is situated near the Sierra Mountains where it receives cool afternoon breezes that moderate the warm daytime temperatures. Our chenin blanc is grown by maximizing sunlight into the canopy, while this cooling trend helps to preserve natural acidity. Long hang time is how we are able to get our Petite Sirah rich, extracted and inky black.

Wilson Farms is a 3rd generation family farming operation that began in the early 1920's. Wilson Farms was strictly a row crop operation until 1971 when the first 15 acres of Zinfandel grapes were planted. Eventually 32 acres of Chenin Blanc were planted in 1978. Today they grow over 750 acres of white and red grapes in the Clarksburg Appellation on the Sacramento River, known as District 17. Their Chenin Blanc acreage has grown to over 110 acres supplying 600-750 tons of fruit to six north coast wineries, including Vinum Cellars. Of the 110 acres of Chenin Blanc, 30 acres were planted to keep up with the increased demand and has yet to come into production. Clarksburg is the ideal climate for Chenin Blanc due to the warm days and the cool evenings, from the marine influences of the Sacramento River and its tributaries. During the springtime, they are busy leaf-pulling which allows air movement through the canopy, increasing fruit character. Fruit and shoot removal are part of their cultural practice to enhance the quality and desired character foreach individual winemaker. Wilson Farms also grows other white grapes that include Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Symphony, Viognier, Roussanne and rich, full bodied reds such as Petite Sirah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

  Map of El Dorado Viticultural Areas PDF

"The Goldbud Philosophy"

The main feature of our El Dorado Vineyards is the high elevation, mountain fruit. The soils are volcanic red with good drainage and are farmed by Ron Mansfield, who has a degree from our Alma Matter UC Davis in Renewable Agriculture. He is a “sunlight into the canopy” guru owns and operates the very successful Goldenbud Farms - a fresh market produce company. Ron knows how to grow fruit, but most importantly when it’s ripe! Our fruit is always delivered as cosmetically stunning as the fruit is expressive. Our Red Dirt Red is our shout out to Chateauneuf du Pape, while our Cabernet Franc a salute to Chinon.

  Map of Monterey County Viticultural Areas PDF

The grapes for our coastal program come from cool climate grapes grown at the Arroyo Loma Vineyard in King City within Monterey by famed Central Coast grower Steve McIntyre. The vineyard is sustainable and farmed organically, but not certified. Mornings are dotted with coastal fog which balance the days with cold mornings. We pick the grapes when very ripe. When fully developed, we pick the grapes in the morning when the vineyard is cool and the grapes are cold. This makes it a little challenging to sort them at 7am on the crush pad, but worth the effort. We go direct to press with the grapes and press right away with minimal skin contact. The Chardonnay grapes are picked cool at night, whole cluster pressed and barrel fermented on the natural lees and put through 100% malo-lactic. The Pinot is comprised of three Dijon Clones: 115, 667 and Pomard 4.

  Map of Paso Robles Viticultural Areas PDF

Our Paso Robles wines are carefully crafted from grapes grown within 4 subdistricts in the Paso Robles AVA: Adelaida, Templeton Gap, Creston and Santa Margarita Ranch. We vinify each of these vineyards separately and process and ferment each independently to bring the best out of each vineyard. After a 3-4 day cold soak we ferment each Cabernet lot over 3 daily pumpovers prolonging the skin contact until 14 days have elapsed. We then rack each onto French oak and put the wines through Malo-Lactic fermentation. Once the wine is racked, sulfured and laid to rest in 2 year old French oak for a period of 15 months it is then transferred into brand new French oak barrels for an additional 3 months. During its life in the cellar it is racked 4 times.