The Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard is located on Orcutt Road in the Edna Valley AVA in San Luis Obispo.  About forty acres are under cultivation on an 80-acre ranch.  The vines were planted in 2005 on rolling hillsides.  The vineyard is an upper region I on the UC Davis Heat Summation Scale which translates into a long, cool growing season.  During the summer the marine layer rolls in during the evening and burns off in the late morning.  Average daytime high temperatures in the summer are in the mid 70’s, lows are in the low 50’s.  It is this cool climate and long growing season that produces grapes with naturally high acidity and a broad spectrum of flavors.

The soils at the Sawyer Lindquist vineyard are composed of gravelly clay loam with mudstone and the pH is low.  The vineyard is hilly with some steep hillsides.  All the grapes are hand picked during harvest.

The vineyard has three large ‘beneficial plant gardens’ which are located in different areas of the vineyard.  The gardens are filled with low maintenance native plants that have been proven to attract bees, butterflies, ladybugs and other helpful insects.  There are six owl boxes located throughout the vineyard.  These boxes are where owls nest and live.  The owls are natural predators to gophers and ground squirrels and their residence on the vineyard help us reduce the overall population of these pests.  During the vines dormant months, we have a flock of about 150 sheep grazing through out the vineyard to help with the weeding and fertilizing of the ground between the vines.

The planted grape varieties are:  Tempranillo, Albariño, Grenache,  Pinot Noir, Marsanne and Syrah.  The vines were planted on raw land and the vineyard has been farmed using biodynamic farming practices from the very beginning.   Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard was Demeter certified biodynamic in 2009.  Also in 2009 the wines from this vineyard were made according to the Demeter biodynamic standards and certified.

2008 was the first vintage from the Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard.  The wines made from this vintage and 2009 have lovely balance and vibrant flavors that bode well for great wines to come.