Vineyard Archipelago
Murder Ridge and our estate Perli Vineyards...
… Five vineyard islands in a sea of forest. We’re a vineyard archipelago stretched out along three miles of rugged mountain terrain on Mendocino County's south coast in the Mendocino Ridge AVA.
Off the grid and dry farmed. Our coastal ridges are cooled by the nearby Pacific Ocean, 1200 feet and more below. Our vines are hand-worked and hand-harvested, with minimal equipment used to manage the permanent natural cover.
Perli Homestead Block
Originally planted by Santo and Rosie Perli, Italian homesteaders, in the late-1800s. A lone cider apple tree stands near where their barn once stood at the edge of this planting. We still find mule shoes and pieces of pottery left by the Perli’s.
1400-1600 feet above sea level.
Slopes up to 60% planted to Zinfandel.
Murder Ridge Block
Surrounded by redwood and fir forest, this was once the homestead of Pete Gianoli. In 1910 he murdered Joe Cooper here. And that's where it got its name.
1650 feet above sea level.
Slopes up to 30% planted to Pinot Noir.
Steve’s Ridge Block
Directly across Fish Rock Road from the Murder Ridge Block. I drove my mother to this site in the 1980s. She'd never been up to this spot before, so she began calling it Steve's Ridge. The name stuck. Homesteaded by the Gianoli family, immigrants from Lombardy in Italy.
1710 feet above sea level.
Slopes averaging 15% planted to Pinot Noir.
Potato Patch Block
This was a communal garden area used by homesteaders to grow potatoes in the late-1800s and early-1900s.
2215 feet above sea level.
Slopes up to 30% planted Syrah, Chardonnay, Zinfandel and Pinot Noir.
Hog Pen Block
This (relatively) low elevation ridge was the location of a homesteader's hog pen. Most of the place names here are quite literal. Many wild pigs have made this ridge their home over the years.
The vineyard ranges from 1350 to 1550 feet above sea level (the lower end, often under the fog layer rising from the Garcia River).
Planted to Chardonnay.
“Working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system."
-Bill Mollison, father of Permaculture