Medlock Ames – Historic Healdsburg Tasting Room

Organically farming our vineyard at Bell Mountain Ranch in Alexander Valley for over 20 years with a mindful commitment to regenerative agriculture.

The grapes we grow at Bell Mountain are full of personality. We’ve loved the flavors that the soils in this special spot in the world impart into the grapes.

Most of our soils are a heavy clay loam, and quite shallow. This type of soil creates muscular, deeply colored Cabernet. We have a few portions of the vineyard with a much higher proportion of gravel in the soil. The higher gravel content allows for faster drainage and provides more fruit aromas in the wine.

Throughout the growing season, we focus on proper tannin maturity by making sure we have the right crop load, manipulating the canopy so that each cluster has dappled sunlight, and harvesting when the tannins are ripe, which we determine by evaluating the pH and tasting the grapes.