Scenic and Sustainable Vineyards
The pride of Budge Brown is his Pope Valley Vineyard. Pope Valley is a scenic half-hour drive east of St. Helena via Deer Park/Howell Mountain Road 20-30 minutes past the town of Angwin. This valley has a colorful history of frontier living and quicksilver mining, with neighboring wineries established as early as 1897. The Pope Valley climate is very similar to the classic climate of the Mediterranean, boasting a growing season that has slightly hotter daytime temperatures and cooler nights than those on the Napa Valley floor. The summer landscape seems arid at first glance, but the scenery is like that of a classic painted vineyard scene with tawny slopes, craggy valley oaks studding hills topped with patches of vibrant green vineyards interlaced.

 

This hillside vineyard is approximately 20 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and a new Zinfandel clone. The hillsides are facing north east to greet the morning sun and are cooled by the shadow of the mountain.

Budge and his vineyard manager, Alejandro Maldonado, are ahead of the curve. They have been at the forefront of "sustainable" or "green" farming since 1952. Some of the practices are quite innovative. Goats along with newly added Barbarossa sheep for ground cleaning and underbrush management are the most recent additions. The goats and sheep minimize the use of herbicides and eliminate the need to till or disrupt the soil composition. New vineyards have been planted using a technique which Budge invented to preserve the rainfall for each vine. Organic material in the soil is replenished with a chicken manure, worm castings and compost. This ensures rich, fertile growing conditions for the grapes that make award winning wines. When you see the Napa Valley appellation on our labels, this is the vineyard from which the grapes were hand harvested.

Mikael Gulyash, Our Winemaker's 411 on Pope Valley
Viola, more musings from the compound! Pope Valley soil is a mix of rock and clay loam with areas of thin topsoil, but more than adequate for good wine grape development. The valley is quite warm, not dissimilar to the Calistoga area just over the hill to the north. The vineyard is largely east facing and does get some relief from direct heating in the late afternoon during the summer.

Hillside vineyards often give small berries of intense flavors which is the case here. The focus every year is to get the canopy development oriented to protect the fruit from burning yet still have good sunlight on the berries over the course of the day. The vineyard is presently farmed at low production levels offering up fruit with excellent color, aroma, and flavor development with good tannins.

Alejandro Maldonado, Vineyard Manager
Alejandro has been working with Budge on the Pope Valley vineyard for the last 9 years, but has over 25 years of vineyard experience in Calistoga and Pope Valley. This background of excellence shows in the well tended vines. Alejandro works very closely with Budge walking the vineyards, tasting the fruit and discussing the next harvest. Alejandro is pursuing sustainable farming practices including the use of goats to help clear the land. He is making a serious effort to grow excellent fruit to produce the finest wines for our labels.

He has been a worker since he was about 14 and he's 41 now. He has been married 15 years and has a daughter and a son. Alejandro loves spending time with his family and rides horses with his son. He is well known in the community for his willingness to volunteer his time to help any of his neighbors and the school.