May 29, 2018 – Under vine since 1849: now that’s a great tagline. It brings to mind the Gold Rush days of the Golden State, and the importance of vines and the stories they bring with them. And then, there’s the name: Eden Rift. It’s as packed with innuendo as they come. Certainly it harkens back to Steinbeck and East of Eden, but also to the original glorious garden of Eden, before a certain snake ruined the party.
Mike Kohne, Director of Marketing for Eden Rift explains that at the same time, it also refers to the San Andreas Fault —a fault is also called a rift — which runs right along Cienega Road through San Benito County.
He points to evidence of the geological upheaval particularly evident here in the rather desolate Cienega Valley, where views stretch from here to eternity. From our spot on what would make a great homesite, we can clearly see the great uplift of crinkled mountains called the Swanson Bluff, just to the east, a dramatic white cliff of crumpled rock visible from the wind-whipped hillside vineyards that ring the Eden Rift estate.
This 230-acre jewel lies in the shadow of the Gavilan Mountain Range, just 20 miles from the Pacific, and south of Hollister by about lonely 10 miles. The vineyard and winery estate was most recently known as Pietra Santa, but in 2017, was rescued from a declining fate by Christian Pillsbury, a San Francisco native whose love of history converged with his love of wine in a rather fortuitous manner.
Working in a wine shop with access to rare vintages, he eventually became head of Asia Pacific for Coravin, a wine preservation system. Coravin lets you take small amounts out of a bottle without uncorking it, allowing the bottle to be kept for as long as wine remains in it. Many of the world’s top wine lists now have a Coravin Section, allowing guests to access bottles that would otherwise be prohibitively costly.
In partnership with Cory Waller, formerly assistant winemaker at Calera (and before that Stags’ Leap and Etude), and Mike Kohne (Mercy Cellars, Benziger), Pillsbury set about to restore this place not just to its former glory, but to further embellish the already gilded reputation of the Cienega Valley, made famous by Calera, as well as Enz Vineyard and DeRose Winery. A region becomes viable as a destination when there are more than two or three wineries with tasting rooms, and Eden Rift now joins Calera and DeRose to make the pilgrimage here worthwhile.
Although the site was previously planted mostly to varieties ill-suited to the weather conditions, like Merlot and Sangiovese, it was grafted to Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris over the past few years as Pillsbury began the acquisition. With its decomposed granite, sandy topsoil and patches of limestone, along with its good drainage, this spot is truly perfect for Pinot, of which there are now nearly 90 acres, along with 22 acres of Chardonnay, 3.3 of Pinot Gris, 1.1 of Grenache and less than an acre of old head-trained Zinfandel, planted in 1906.
Waller is especially excited about the progress the Calera clone of Pinot is making at this site, praising its dark energy, yet silky mouthfeel. Barrel sampling of the 2017 wines reveals Waller’s ongoing experimentation with how best to treat this vineyard’s many clones and blocks. After only two vintages, he’s figuring it out. Give him some time. This property has seen plenty of stewards come and go. The vineyard is patient, and, it has some deep roots.
Sitting atop the Terraces vineyard in the well-positioned Adirondack chairs, staring out at the Swanson Bluff and the winery and pond below, Kohne, Waller and I tasted through the current Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, acknowledging each block as we did so. The 2016 Pinot Gris from the steep Terraces vineyard shows stony minerality, juicy stone fruit with a pleasingly bitter edge. They weren’t sure how it would perform, but it’s a winner. “It’s no longer on probation!” declares Waller.
The 2016 Estate Chardonnay from a vineyard that used to be Merlot, shows apple pie with nutmeg. “ML didn’t finish on this until August!” Waller remarks. “We do battonage for mouthfeel, but it also helps ML to finish. Why this one wouldn’t finish is mysterious. The 2017 Chard from this same block is still going through ML!”
Everything about the 2016 Pinot denotes promise. The gorgeous aromas of roasting tomatoes, underbrush and baked ham, lead to flavors of cranberry apple cider, raspberry tea and persistently showy high-toned red fruit. Waller attributes this to the 115, 777 and 828 clones he refers to as “Barbie Clones,” for their “dolled up prettiness.” The use of whole cluster here adds a depth and mouthfeel that anchors it firmly. Pinot from this site clearly has enormous potential, especially in the hands of a Pinot master.
Waller pointed out a hillside to the southwest, just below the slopes of a limestone mine, so white in the gleaming sun you could mistake it for snow. In the process of being cleared for new vineyard plantings, it’s yet another of Pillsbury’s ongoing projects. “It’s a constant state of activity here,” he says, showing me where trees have been cut down to give the lower lying vineyards a better shot at ripening.
Touring the impressive winery facility, Waller points out all the massive equipment he no longer needs to produce the small lot, handheld wines he is making. They plan to provide custom crush services. He’s adding more appropriate production gear, better suited to the Eden Rift product, including an amphora.
Kohne points to the upper balcony where the Pietra Santa tasting room once forced visitors to walk up and down a perilous set of stairs. “Our lawyer said we’d be better off building a new tasting room downstairs than deal with a potential lawsuit,” he explains. The cavernous structure with its leaded windows will make a handsome tasting room, indeed.
For now, though, tasting is conducted in the stunning Dickenson House, with its magnificent wooden floors, mahogany trim, comfortable furnishings, plentiful historic photos and artwork, not to mention the matchless views. Here, you can be transported back in time while you sip on Waller’s latest creations.
Wine Tasting is available to the public Friday – Mondays, 11am – 4pm, and is $15 per person.
Do visit them, in this piece of paradise, somewhat east of Eden, 15 minutes south of the township of Hollister. Your cell service and GPS will probably peter out, but you’ll know you’re almost there when you see the DeRose tasting room on your right. Take the next right and follow the signs to the house by the palm trees on your right. Doubtless, Pillsbury’s dog will greet you, as she awaits her master’s return from yet another journey.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF EDEN RIFT
In 1849, a French immigrant, Theophile Vache, began the first vineyard planting in Cienega Valley. He began with Mission grapes. Then in 1861,Vache brought cuttings from France and added more blocks of Black Pinot Noir, Trousseau and Trousseau Gris. By 1880, he was producing 15,000 gallons of wine per year. In 1883, the property purchased by William Palmtag, then Mayor of Hollister and owner of the local bank etc., who planted more vines and expanded the winery.Under the name Palmtag Mountain Vineyard, the wines won many accolades and medals at competitions in the United States and Europe.
In 1906, Palmtag was acquired by a partnership headed by John Dickinson, a grain broker from New York. Eventually, Dickenson bought out his partners, purchased adjacent land, bringing the estate to 1000 acres. The same year, he planted an additional 100 acres of vineyards, expanded the winery and built the main house, designed by Walter Burley Griffin, a devotee of Frank Lloyd Wright. By 1916, Dickenson was producing 100,000 gallons of wine yearly.
And then, like a speed bump shaped like a giant middle finger, Prohibition was enacted in 1920, bringing an end to all onsite winemaking activity. Until the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, a small percentage of estate grapes were sold to the Church for production of sacramental wine. Around this time, Edwin Valliant and son Edwin Valliant Jr., purchased the site, renaming it Valliant & Son.
In 1943, the Valliant family sold the property to W.A. Taylor, a subsidiary of Hiram Walker & Sons, who upgraded the winery and replanted much of the vineyard. Wines continued to be produced under the brand name Valliant Vineyards, for which a series of fetching magazine ads for their products were created, copies of which can be seen today in the Dickinson House. It’s like an earlier version of the days of Mad Men.
In the 1950s, Almaden Vineyards purchased the property, filing a successful petition to establish the Cienega Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area) in 1982. When Heublein subsequently acquired the property in 1986 as part of the major purchase of Almaden Vineyards, they shut down the winery, operating only the vineyard.
In 1989, Joseph Gimelli purchased the 455 acres surrounding the Dickenson house, renaming the estate “Pietra Santa” (Italian for “sacred stone”). He planted nearly 100 acres to Merlot, Sangiovese and Dolcetto, preserving a one-acre block of Zinfandel and 25 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon from previous plantings. Pietra Santa’s first harvest occurs three years later. In 2000, the current winery building, that includes a Frantoio olive press from Italy, was constructed on-site.
The Blackburn family purchased all the existing property of Pietra Santa Winery in 2005, continuing its operation, until selling it to Christian Pillsbury in 2017. He subsequently renamed the estate Eden Rift Vineyard and proceeded to graft thirty acres of grapes – at a remarkable 95% success rate, by the way —while replanting another 27 acres to heritage clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. They’re also going to plant some Syrah and perhaps some Trousseau Gris, in an homage to the property’s first vintner, Vache.
Eden Rift Vineyards, 10034 Cienega Road, Hollister, CA 95023 • www.edenrift.com
About the author
Laura Ness is a longtime wine journalist, columnist and judge who contributes regularly to Edible Monterey Bay, Spirited, WineOh.Tv, Los Gatos Magazine and Wine Industry Network, and a variety of consumer publications. Her passion is telling stories about the intriguing characters who inhabit the fascinating world of wine and food.
