Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard was planted in 1890 — old-vine Zinfandel dry-farmed in sandy loam soil near the town of Fulton in the Russian River Valley. These vines have been here for over 130 years. They have outlasted Prohibition, phylloxera scares, and every trend that has moved through California wine in the decades since.
The Fanucchi family has hand-tended the roughly seven-acre vineyard for nearly three decades. The vines are head-trained and have been gradually raised from just above ground level to chest height — a modification that improved sun exposure and air circulation, and appears to have reinvigorated the old wood. The soil is sandy loam of low pH and low fertility, which is exactly what old Zinfandel wants: stress, drainage, and not much else to rely on. The vineyard is also interplanted with small percentages of Alicante Bouchet and Petite Sirah, as was common in plantings of this era.
Williams Selyem began producing a single-vineyard Zinfandel from Fanucchi-Wood Road with the 2016 vintage. In 2021, the vineyard celebrated its 50th harvest under the Fanucchi family’s stewardship. For a block planted before the automobile existed, it is producing at a remarkably high level.
