Viticulturist bought this entire wine appellation in Northern California for $2.7 million
Mike Lucia owns an entire Northern California wine appellation.
The owner of Rootdown Wine Cellars recently bought the 150-acre Cole Ranch Appellation for $2.7 million. The unique parcel of land, located near Ukiah, was listed by California Outdoor Properties for $3.3 million, the Sacramento Bee reported last year.
The Land Report named the transaction a Farmland Deal of the Year in its Spring 2020 quarterly publication.
Cole Ranch is the smallest American Viticultural Area (AVA) in the country. The AVA has 55 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon (26.5 acres), Pinot Noir (10.2 acres), Merlot (7 acres) and Riesling (11.5 acres) vines in Mendocino County. Chardonnay grapes also are grown there.
Ohio native John Cole began planting vines in AVA’s microclimate between the Pacific Ocean and the coastal mountains in the 1970s. In 1983, “Cole Ranch became the only vineyard in the newly minted Ukiah AVA,” according to The Land Report.
Lucia will be bottling his own wine and plans to “take advantage of the unique appellation,” listing agent Todd Renfrew said.
“The plan for the land is to give it sort of a rebirth,” Lucia told The Bee in an email. “We are focusing on true organics and adding life back to the soil with the hopes of being biodynamic in the future. We are also addressing some of the older blocks that were kind of ‘giving up’ and replanting with new root stock and fresh organic compost.”
He’s got an eye to the future, and has laid out several far-reaching plans for the land.
“In 2021, we will graft over to alpine-inspired varieties to those young root stocks. Examples of what will be planted would be Savagnin, Trousseau, Poulsard, Chardonnay, Gamay, Mondeuse, Mollard, Persan, Jacquere, Roussanne, Aligote and a few others. As a grower, we want to keep as much of the Cab and Merlot as possible but understand that they are getting old, and may not be able to sell them in the future, so we hope we can find a consistent buyer for these.
“There’s also an opportunity for like-minded winemakers to put their influence up at Cole Ranch if they have a specific alpine variety they’d like to plant or graft over,” Lucia added. “My goal is not to make wine from the whole ranch but to start a community and conversation of this genre of grapes and winemaking styles.”
The winemaker called owning an entire appellation “crazy” but not overwhelming.
“If I didn’t say crazy, then I’d be crazy. I thought I’d feel completely overwhelmed but with the support we have from colleagues and the excitement our vineyard team has, I’m feeling pretty good about the whole project, but definitely nervous about the responsibility. We’re basically starting fresh and using our experience, travel and instinct to plant a bunch of unknowns for this appellation. We feel that this site wants these varieties, and by putting vines into the ground that can last longer than I will is a new feeling for me. I’m not trying to make a flash in the pan with what we are doing, but rather doing what is correct. So I guess we’ll all learn along the way together.”
In addition to Rootdown and Cole Ranch, Lucia owns and operates Es Okay wine brand. His wine-making experience began in the early 1990s, when as a teenager he began working in the cellar. He studied in the Fresno State Enology program.
This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 8:20 AM.
