Long before it was vineyard, this mountain above Sonoma belonged to the Gehricke family, then to the Bruscheras and Paganis as Milani Ranch — hard, rocky ground most had written off as unplantable.
In 1973, Peter Haywood drove up Gehricke Road and bought it. He named it Los Chamizal, Spanish for the thickets of hardwood that dotted the land, and spent the next years clearing slopes by hand, terracing for minimal erosion and maximum beauty, and planting vines where others saw only stone.
The first vines went in the ground in 1976. Today the estate's terraced blocks climb the southern Mayacamas — the Moon Mountain District — farmed sustainably with cover crops and compost and no insecticides, coaxing small crops of intensely flavored fruit from fractured basalt and sandy loam.
He laid out the vineyards for minimal erosion and maximum beauty — then waited for the mountain to answer.
It enters a new chapter now under new stewardship — same mountain, same vines, a fresh hand on the work. Tended carefully, made in small lots, and poured for the people who make the climb to find us.
Four varietals farmed on the mountain since 1976 — Zinfandel above all, with small estate plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Malbec. A new label is in development; the inaugural vintage will be poured here first.
Head-trained vines grafted from budwood that predates Prohibition, farmed by hand on the terraced mountain blocks — intense, brambly, mountain-spiced.
Small plantings on the upper terraces. Structured and slow to give themselves up — built for the cellar, rewarding for the patient.
A small but devoted following — blackberry, graphite, and bay leaf over a gently peppery finish. Made in vanishingly small lots.
A handful of rows on the warmer faces of the estate — dark, plush, and floral, finished with a touch of mountain savor.
We also sell fruit. Allocations for Estate-grown Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Malbec available to a small number of partner winemakers each harvest.
Taste With Us →Head-trained Zinfandel, grafted from budwood that predates Prohibition — still farmed by hand on terraces carved from the mountain.
The estate's hand-built stone house will open as a private farmstay among the vines — operated as its own brand, with its own dedicated site.
Vaulted, timbered ceilings. Great arched French doors. A fireplace big enough to stand in. Wake to mist on the terraces, coffee on the balcony above the pool, and the whole quiet mountain to yourselves.
18000 Gehricke Road, Sonoma, California 95476 · Moon Mountain District AVA
Tasting rooms, the historic Sonoma Plaza, and a short drive to Glen Ellen and the rest of the valley.