Technical Notes - 04 Fanucchi Old Vine Zinfandel

The 100+ year old Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard is located on about 20 acres along a slight rise on Wood Road in the Russian River Valley appellation of Sonoma County. It has been hand-tended by Peter Fanucchi for over 37 vintage seasons. The Old Vine Zinfandel vineyard was planted over 100 years ago (long believed 1906 but recent discovery indicates it could easily have been 15 years old by 1906!).

The vines are head trained and have been raised from just above ground level to shoulder height. This modification provides greater sun exposure and air circulation and has reinvigorated the old vines, enhancing the production of incredibly high-quality, truly, old-vine fruit.

About Fanucchi Vineyards

For Peter Fanucchi it all began in 1972 at the ripe old age of 9 years working beside his father Arcangelo, a new vineyard owner at the time, who purchased a very old vineyard property in Sonoma Countys Russian River Valley on Wood Road in Fulton, California. Peter and his father quickly became friends with their veteran wine grape growing neighbors who very graciously taught them traditional viticulture methods which they rigorously employed on the circa 1906 Zinfandel vineyard. They took their lessons very seriously and they studied the art of wine grape growing intensely. As a result of their studies, they began integrating modern viticultural methodologies gathered from a wide array of periodicals to experts into the vineyard along with the astute lessons learned from their legendary neighbors and most importantly observing how it the cultural practices effected the vines in their specific environment on Wood Road.

To this very day, Peter continues to personally attend to the entire Fanucchi Wood Road Vineyard vine by vine. He constantly adapts his farming practices to the current vine & environmental conditions sometimes doing things that even he would previously have thought were absurd all because the conditions require it.

Peters motto is growing in harmony with nature which, simply put, means growing incredible wine grapes in the most earth friendly enviroment. This phrase resides on each and every bottle of wine he produces and his entire being is zeroed in on living this motto. Peter is not a certified organic grower but virtually the only thing lacking is the completion of the reams of paperwork (and money!) required to gain the certification.