'cause I'm not the tease Dan is...

The Eel river, Humboldt County, California

We traveled up to Fruitland Ridge (along with Jenne, Terry and the newly shorn Calvin) to meet with Alan Estrada of Elk Prairie and see the pinot noir grapes the we will be soon converting to wine. Fruitland Ridge sits high above The Avenue of the Giants in The Redwood Forests of California's Humboldt County. This is a small growing region that is just starting to make a name for itself for producing some incredible Pinot Noir grapes. To get an idea of what kinds of wines can be produced from this region see what has been said about Nikolai Stez's Woodenhead Pinot Noirs sourced from Fruitland Ridge fruit.

Fruitland Ridge

I think the pictures will speak for beauty of the environment and the specialness of the grapes that we are going to be soon working with. What the pictures won't speak to is what a great guy Alan is. We are more than excited to be working with Alan and feel fortunate to be working with his grapes.

Alan, Dan and I amongst the grapes

To say that this is a dramatic and beautiful landscape is a complete understatement. We were on a steep ridge looking across at the hills that lead to the Pacific and down to the grapes that Alan planted some 15 years ago.

The Three of us doing our best to make it back up the steep vineyards of Elk Prairie
Alan showing Dan the vineyards

And 'cause we did drink something this trip. The standouts were an incredible 2002 Woodenhead Pinot Noir sourced from Elk Prairie Grapes, a 2006 Briceland Pinot Noir from Fruitland Ridge grapes and Alan's own 2004 Elk Prairie Pinot Noir. The first two were enjoyed with Alan, the Briceland was enjoyed at Persimmons (1055 Redway Dr. Redway, CA) which is a garden gallery and newly open Humboldt focused wine tasting room in Redway - we recommend stopping by to drink some great Humboldt county wines.