California > Sierra Foothills AVA > Calaveras County Subdistrict > Rorick Heritage Vineyard
Located in Calaveras County, just outside of the town of Murphys in the center of the Sierra Foothills Viticultural Area, the site was first ranched by the Shaw family in 1844. The property was purchased by Barden Stevenot in the 1960s; he became the godfather of the modern Calaveras County winegrowers when he planted own-rooted Wente Chardonnay from 1974-76. Several acres of these original heritage plantings still remain - they are a direct link to the first person who recognized the potential of this site's soil and climate for wine grape cultivation. Barden eventually expanded the vineyard to its current 75 acres in 2000. Matthew Rorick purchased the property in 2013 and converted the farming to organic practices. At an elevation of 2000′, it is situated on limestone soils beneath a top layer of schist. The alpine growing season combined with limestone soils leave an indelible mark on the wines grown at RHV: beautiful aromatics, textural presence, and bright natural acidity are all hallmarks of the site.
The sub-alpine, more Continental-style climate here allows the AVA to work with a wide range of varietals not typically seen in California, from Spanish Albarino and Tempranillo to Portuguese Loureiro and Touriga Nacional, to Italian Barbara and French Syrah. And of course, Zinfandel, the most widely-planted grape in the AVA.
The jumbled geology of decomposed granite, limestone, schists and alluvial deposits allows growers to pick the perfect site. This is not Cab and Merlot country as much as it is wild and woolly Syrah, Viognier, Barbera and of course Zinfandel country.
Sierra Foothills ava
The biggest American Viticultural Area (AVA) you’ve never heard of, the delineated AVA is vast. It includes eight counties* that stretch 120 miles roughly north to south along scenic Highway 49, set 80 miles inland from San Francisco. Most of the top wines come from Amador County, Calaveras County and El Dorado County, including the sub AVAs of Fair Play, Fiddletown and California Shenandoah Valley. There are 203 bonded wineries here, yet of the whopping 2.6 million acres of land within the AVA, only 6,000 acres of vines are planted. Most growers in the region are far too small to be offered by national distributors, so the wines are generally available either through boutique distributors or via the wineries’ own on-premise sales or via their email lists.
* The Sierra Foothills AVA includes parts of the following counties, from north to south, Yuba, Nevada, Plaer, El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, Tuolmne and Mariposa.
