Anomaly Vineyards is located at the base of the Mayacamas Mountains in California's Napa Valley in the small historic town of St. Helena (current population 6,000). Anomaly specializes in the production of the highest-quality Cabernet Sauvignon. The first vintage of Anomaly was harvested in 1997 and made by us, "budding garagists." Buoyed by the praise of our 1997 vintage (mostly by our friends!), we embarked on the journey of obtaining a permit to produce Cabernet Sauvignon by building a small winery adjacent to our small vineyard. And what a "journey" it was! In the fall of 2000, a hard-fought battle with the City was won, and we secured a permit to build a stone winery replete with a 2,000 square foot underground cave. Construction commenced in Spring 2001 and was completed in time for harvest in 2002.
Our first release consisted of 300 cases and sold out immediately. As the vineyards matured, the increased availability of grapes allowed us to gradually produce more wine. Of course, weather conditions played a large factor in the amount of fruit the vines produced. Hence, our current release (the 2006 vintage) is 888 cases. There are days we forget, but truth be told, we are all farmers and at the mercy of Mother Nature.
Anomaly consists of three vineyards that surround the winery. The 2001 vintage was made entirely from the grapes grown on the two small vineyards immediately adjacent to the winery. In October 2000, five more acres of prime cabernet land were purchased adjacent to Anomaly's existing vineyards. Vineyard manager, Doug Wight, oversaw the planting of Cabernet, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot vines in the Spring of 2001. We named the new vineyard "Indee's Vineyard" in honor of our husky-shepherd who passed away in the fall of 1999. She is also represented by the image on our label. We began harvesting fruit from Indee's Vineyard in Fall 2004.
In 2005, we purchased an additional two acres to add to Indee's Vineyard. This parcel was planted to Petit Verdot, Clone 4 and Clone 6 Cabernet Sauvignon vines (check the blog for details!!) When these final two acres are in production (anticipated to occur in 2010), Anomaly Vineyards will harvest grapes from a total of eight acres representing four different Cabernet clones, 2 Petit Verdot clones and one variety of Cabernet Franc.
The 2006 vintage was released to our mailing list customers in late February 2009. We are about to enter our seventh vintage, and we're proud to say that all previous vintages have sold out!!
Steve & Linda
Anomaly Vineyards
Post Office Box 741
St. Helena, California 94574
Office (707)967--8448
Fax (707)967-8449
Email:info@anomalyvineyards.com
Winery blog (check it out - it's fun!) www.anomalyvineyards.blogspot.com
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