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EnglandCrest Vineyard
Sonoma Valley
The EnglandCrest vineyard is located just off Highway 12 in the heart of the Sonoma Valley and is also the home of the Loxton winery. Surrounded by the historic Pagani Ranch and the Wellington vineyard, both planted in the late 1880’s and 1890’s, this region has grown outstanding Zinfandel for more than a century. Bruce and Judy England bought this property in 1998 and promptly set about planting some Zinfandel, but chose to concentrate mostly upon Syrah. The vineyard is up against the southern edge of the Valley and is on a gentle slope, but contains a large number of different soil types and drainage, and has been planted to both French and Australian clones of Syrah (877 and 1 respectively) on a mix of 4 different rootstocks to take advantage of the different conditions. Despite being planted just a few hundred yards apart, these blocks are all harvested separately, taking place over a span of up to 4 weeks! Syrah is used by Loxton Cellars, as well as sold to another winery, and the Zinfandel on the steepest southern edge of the vineyard goes to Loxton. This Zinfandel is planted to the Primitivo selection that seems to be making very concentrated wines in the experiences at other sites. Zinfandel is grafted onto the traditional St. George rootstock as used by our neighbours.
Syrah from this vineyard has tended to be extremely dark in color, has great Syrah blackberry and gamey notes and a great tannic backbone. I am convinced that in the same way that Zinfandel has led the area for the last 100 years, Syrah can match as we move into this new century. It will be interesting to watch both wines from this vineyard as the vines mature. Syrah has been used in the 2002 Loxton Reserve Syrah (still in barrel) and grapes grown along the driveway (French clone ) were used to produce the Gold medal and best of class Loxton Port in the 2003 Sonoma County Harvest Fair.
