|
Click Here for Video Interview with Bill Weir
Bill and Susan Weir
Weir Vineyard is an experiment in Mother Nature's winemaking. This vineyard is distinctive in that its terroir is unmistakably pronounced in the high quality grapes, overflowing with the minerals and forests of the Yorkville Highlands in Mendocino County. The result is a rich earthy Pinot Noir. For 8 years Williams Selyem Winery has produced some of its best vineyard designate Pinot Noir from Weir Vineyard grapes, giving it essences that only Mother Nature could lend.
Vineyard Bio
The vineyards' location plays an important role in the ripening process. Like many Pinot Noir vineyards, Weir's proximity to the coast provides an ideal cool climate in which the grapes grow. The Old Vineyards, containing both clones Romanee-Conti and Wadenswil 2A, are located on a slope, rising 980 feet at the peak and tumbling to 850 feet the base, and the New Vineyard with clones of New Pommard Rochioli Riverblock is on a slope at elevations 900 feet to 1000 feet, allowing for much needed warm days and cool nights.
Both the Old and New of the Weir Vineyards are characterized by rocky hill soils, consisting of gravel and old brittle rock. The soil lends deeply to the distinctive mineral quality of the wine that the grapes produce. Each vine is stressed using various pruning, irrigation, and trellising techniques, in concert with soil mechanics, to encourage the vine to draw into itself the earth. By monitoring the crops to ensure low yields, all the rich nutrients and organic character will intensify and concentrate in what few clusters are produced, the result being a richer and more intense fruit, and thus a richer and more intense wine.
Personal Bio
Bill and Susan Weir are not the typical grape growers. Bill has been practicing law, from civil to real estate and commercial law, in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 30 years and Susan is a corporate executive for a pharmaceutical company. But you do not have to be a fifth generation grape grower to want to be one. It seems that a deep passion for wine, an unquenchable thirst for knowledge about grapes is what drives a great grape grower. Bill had a particular love for Pinot Noir and had pursued home winemaking in San Francisco twenty years ago. He is quoted to have said " 'I figured if Pinot Noir was the choice of French Kings, who could have anything they wanted, that was something I should look into.'" They purchased their land 18 years ago, but planted only 14 years ago, for they had not planned on growing the regal grape.
A world apart from business and academia, raising grapes was indeed a difficult challenge that has enriched both of their lives and the lives of their families. Bill and Susan have four children and five grandchildren.
Bill and Susan stress quality over quantity, growing a few clusters of fruit that express their respect for the vines' symbiosis with the earth and their incredible knack for growing such a finicky grape. Understanding the vines allows a grower to work more intimately with the crop. Vines are a lot like people; they draw in their surroundings, take all the inferences and create their own personality. Learn from the vine. Respect the vine. Use that knowledge to make the vine better.
Varietal:
Pinot Noir
Clones:
Romanee-Conti, Wadenswil 2-A, Pommard Rochioli
Rootstock:
5-C
Number of Acres:
Old Vineyard RC clone: 2.5 acres
Old Vineyard 2-A clone: 2.5 acres
New Pommard: 1.9
Positioning:
Old Vineyard RC clone: North-South
Old Vineyard 2-A clone: North-South
New Pommard: North-South
Topography:
Old Vineyard RC clone: Rocky hillside, south facing slope
Old Vineyard 2-A clone: Rocky hillside, south facing slope
New Pommard: Rocky hillside, south-west facing slope
Elevation:
Old Vineyard: 850-980 feet
New Pommard: 900-1000 feet
Soil Types:
Old Vineyard: Mélange of soils; Yorkville Highlands, gravel and old brittle rock
New Pommard: Yorkville Highlands
Trellising:
Old Vineyard: Cane
New Pommard: Cane
Irrigated:
Old Vineyard: Yes
New Pommard: Yes
Cover Crop:
Old Vineyard: Mix of 5 types of clover
New Pommard: Mix of 5 types of clover
|
