where excellence grows in small clusters

Located 150 miles north of San Francisco and seven miles from the Pacific, Alder Springs Vineyard is a 140-acre patchwork of 31 farflung blocks growing 29 grape varieties on 15 rootstocks. Alder Springs Vineyard isn’t one vineyard – it is many vineyards. The hilly terrain offers different sun exposures, elevations, microclimates, and soils, allowing Stu Bewley and his team to produce a variety of delicious grapes, from Pinot Noir and Viognier to Cabernet Sauvignon.

The weather and soil – well-drained decayed sandstone – are superb, but what truly distinguishes Alder Springs is Bewley’s painstaking and perfectionistic approach to growing grapes. Each of the vineyard’s 315,000 vines is tended 13 times each year by a member of Bewley’s meticulously trained, permanent crew. While most growers try to maximize the tonnage of grapes they produce, Bewley strictly limits what a vine bears in order to concentrate the exquisite flavor in each grape. At Alder Springs a vine produces just 2½ pounds of grapes, enough for a single, spectacular bottle of wine. By contrast, most California growers expect every vine to yield between 10 and 50 pounds of fruit.

To ensure that none but the choicest grapes ripen, the crew at Alder Springs take a bonsai approach to many of the vines, plucking roughly three quarters of the fruit off of each cluster. It’s a painstaking process than can take up to ten minutes of work on a single plant. This finical attention to detail continues up until the day before harvest, when the crew makes a final pass through the vineyard and culls all but the most perfect grapes. “By that time it usually doesn’t amount to a large amount of fruit, but it makes a huge difference” says Bewley.

“Legend has it that owner Stu Bewley can sometimes be seen using tweezers to remove lesser quality berries from individual bunches – the attention to detail is unsurpassed. We are humbled and grateful to be able use the fruit from this amazing source to produce our wines.”– Covered Bridge Cellars