Wirz Vineyard
Cienega Valley, California
The Wirz family vineyard can be found in the Cienega Valley, due east of Monterey. Farmed by Pat Wirz, who inherited the business from his father, this vineyard was planted over a century ago. It is here that we source our century vines Cabernet Pfeffer. It is also here that we sourced cuttings for our estate Cabernet Pfeffer plantings.
All of Wirz is dry farmed, including the Riesling (sold to Bonny Doon Winery), Zinfandel (sold to Muccigrosso Vineyards), Mataro, Carignan and Cab Pfeffer. The Pfeffer is usually harvested in Mid October. The ripening season is quite long due to fog influence from nearby Monterey Bay. In fact, Wirz sits just uphill from Hollister, California.
The soils are slightly varied throughout the vineyard. In general, they are deep, dark, valley bottom loams derived from the sedimentary rocks flanking the valley. The Cab Pfeffer comes from a block that sits at the toe of the adjoining valley slopes where the soils are thinner.
We are very fortunate to source fruit from this beautiful and unique site.





