Stonestreet winemaker Kristina Shideler is thinking about the soils on a southeast slope of the Mayacamas Mountains. “Christopher's Vineyard, our highest-elevation site, is almost 100 percent sedimentary volcanic soil. It’s red-purplish—and the ‘soil’ is really rock,” she says. “As you go down to Rockfall Vineyard, it becomes a blend of rocky and fine-grained soils. I consider it a pink soil because it has quartz mixed with volcanic material. I like the sparkly soil—it’s the quartz that causes it.”
At 2,000 feet, Rockfall is exquisite from start to finish, from land to glass. Kristina describes its Cabernet Sauvignon rows “cascading straight down the mountain, with vines gently and neatly displaying themselves across terrain scattered with wild chamomile and California poppies.”
Fittingly, Rockfall’s signature is pretty aromatics. “The spectrum of unique aromatics that you get from the wine really stands out. I can pick Rockfall out of a blind tasting because it's so distinctive in its aromatic profile.”
FAVORITE FERMENTATION
Fragrant details appear early in the winemaking process, making the juice stand out from the crowd in our cellar. “Because it is so expressive when I'm tasting the ferment, Rockfall is always my early favorite,” Kristina admits. “We even get exotic spices like turmeric.”
At its core, Rockfall tastes like particularly elegant Sonoma County mountain Cabernet: blackberry brambles, mineral, chocolate, plum. Time in the bottle brings out blue fruit, dark cassis, graphite, and romantic violet. “These are the pretty, perfumed, and high-toned notes you get more of as it ages, as well as savory black tea,” she adds. In colder vintages there can even be a hint of amber pine resin.
We farm two Cabernet clones here, harvest sections of the vineyard at different times, and keep the lots separate in barrel. “At the end, we have all these wonderful blending components, so we can make a very complete wine,” Kristina says. “We are working with complexity. We are embracing complexity.”
THE VERTICAL
Below are winemaker notes on three consecutive Rockfall vintages that span a character spectrum—from one of the coldest, stormiest harvests on record to a drought. These are jewels cut from the same rock, but each singularly shaped. It’s all there—the tannic backbone, the sense of wilderness, and the lovely tertiary notes that take a decade to form. Our work at Stonestreet is fueled by a mixture of restless exploration and extreme patience. When we bring bottles like these out of the library we hope you thoroughly enjoy the chance to do less waiting on your end—and more discovering.
2011: Smooth mouthfeel, intense perfume. Soulful and balanced. This was a really cold, challenging year for red grapes in California. Wines that turned out well are now sought after.
2012: Beautifully textured right now. The palate is in a very good spot, and the aromatics are fantastic.
2013: Really, really big. It has years left to evolve. It’s super structural and has the most longevity of the three vintages. Buy a few bottles, enjoy one now, then track this wine over the next 5 to 10 years or longer. It’s going to reveal even more.
This holiday set is only available until December 31, 2024, or while inventory remains.
