Earl Stephens grew up in Forestville, here in Sonoma County. The farm was originally planted to hops—in fact there are some hops still growing on the property today. Like many farms in the Russian River Valley, it was later replanted to apples until Earl and Charlie Chenoweth planted the vineyard to four different clones in 1999.
The Earl Stephens Vineyard is an example of an ideal combination of site and clonal selection and is located in the Green Valley sub-appellation of the Russian River Valley. This will be a fun time to be in the vineyard, as nearly all the fruit will have changed colors. Join us to taste the vertical of nearly every vintage that we have produced from the Stephens vineyard.