It makes sense to start at the beginning, not in 2006 when my son Brian first approached me about making wine from the family vineyard. Our story really begins in the early 1950’s when I lived on a farm in northern California near the small town of Kelseyville. We had prunes and pears mostly, but in 1961 dad purchased a vineyard from his aunt. Not just any vineyard, an ancient Zinfandel vineyard on a raised lake bed with vines so old that the historical record ends in the mid 1880’s. They were mature and producing then, so there’s no knowing when they were planted or how long they’d actually been growing there.

Like most children of the 60’s our future called us off the farms and into the cities. When you’re knee deep in mud holding 20-foot lengths of drippy aluminum sprinkler pipe over your head for hours each day, the call of bright lights is as clear and compelling as the Siren’s song. Now forty years later, those vines are still there as is my father and brother Rodney. Dad still putters around stressing about each and every vine, while Rodney, the Zen master, has come to understand the ebbs and flows of vineyard life after years of long walks down each row.

The fruit is still wonderfully sweet, the soil just as rich, the breezes just as refreshing, especially on the top of a slight knoll where the really old vines live. And the old sprinkler system is now permanent and underground. You will see only head pruned vines, a few too many weeds, and many skips where some of the old souls have finally given up.

Brian had worked in the restaurant and wine industry for many years. It was Brian who knew that it was time to go home and suggested we talk to Dad about obtaining grapes from the family farm. We met with winemakers, looked at winery operations and found a wonderful place to take our fruit outside of St. Helena in the heart of the Napa Valley. French oak barrels were ordered, supplies purchased and labels designed.

In the spring of 2008 Brian packed all his belongings in a U-Haul and, along with his wife Lindsay, moved to Calistoga leaving Orange County behind. 2008 was Brian Arden Wines first vintage, we began with Zinfandel from the family vineyard; some old hillside dry-farmed Syrah from Mendocino; and hand picked Cabernet from a small plot owned by a wonderful retired couple on Limerick Lane near Healdsburg in Sonoma. Our hope was to expand our production in 2009, but that was dependent upon our success in finding and obtaining fruit from only the finest vineyards. We were very fortunate for two of the wine countries best growers invited us to harvest from selected blocks in their vineyards. Our 2009 Syrah came from Kick Ranch, which is located on a gently rolling hillside near Highway 12 in Sonoma. Our Napa cabernet was harvested from the Clark_Claudon Vineyard on Howell Mountain. All of these vineyards produce wonderful, intense and vibrant fruit.

Looking ahead to 2010 our goal remains the same, to create great wines of clarity and varietal distinction. Then as now the limiting factor, the critical path, runs through those vineyards, and so our success and our future is bound to the land, the vines, and those that care for them.