Vineyards
The Estate Vineyards Of Michel-Schlumberger
On a rare bit of level ground in Wine Creek Canyon sits the white-clad winery of Michel-Schlumberger. On three sides, vineyards are stitched across rolling foothills, and the mission-style structure is nestled comfortably in its surroundings. Wine Creek flows out of the hills and quietly runs by the front of the winery. To one side is a broad shoulder of a bench, ridged along the top and fanning out down to the road. There are nearly twenty blocks of vineyards (and an olive orchard) on this shoulder with different exposures and elevations. To the other side of the waterway are a series of knolls surrounding a lake above the winery. Each knoll has its peculiarities, hence its own selection of grapes, rootstock, and spacing. Below the lake is another broad shoulder fanning down to the road. The soil here is "river conglomerate," a particularly rocky soil unique to Dry Creek with superb drainage. Above the lake is the terraced upland vineyard, rising steeply to a saddle on the hill. This vineyard grows in the red volcanic soil of Dry Creek Valley's hinterlands, long prized for premium vineyards.
In these red volcanic soils grow our Jackson clones of cabernet sauvignon. This species of cabernet (prosaically known as #6) takes its name from a long lost vineyard in the Sierra foothills. In the 19th century UC Berkeley maintained it as an index vineyard. Lore has it that the vineyard lay utterly abandoned after Prohibition, only to be re-discovered by a graduate student researching available plant material in the mid-1960s. The really exciting thing about this wild vineyard is that its vines are pre-phylloxera selections, dating from the mid-19th century. They are free of disease and have never had to undergo modern horticultural remedies such as sterilizing heat treatments.
These vines also yield meager amounts of grapes, which almost certainly accounts for their lack of acceptance by the grape growers of yesteryear. But while the quantity of grapes may be paltry, the quality of flavor is exceptional, which is why today the Jackson clones are embraced by California's best estate wineries. The Jackson signature is rich varietal spice and earthy minerality with unusually concentrated, lavish, mouth-filling fruitiness, coupled with surprising clarity and elegance- achieved without numbing levels of alcohol. The various Jackson clones of cabernet, petit verdot, and pinot noir are especially promising, and our vineyards include clones of all three varieties. 
Over the years Michel-Schlumberger has garnered a reputation for its structured and aromatic merlot. Many of our most recently planted merlot clones grow on Riperia Gloria rootstock. Highly regarded in Bordeaux, this rootstock is quite rare in Sonoma County because it is the most vigor-limiting rootstock available-again, meager grapes with exceptional flavors. As in the past, small amounts of cabernet and cabernet franc are blended with the merlot. To add to this complexity, we have planted petit verdot and malbec to blend for color and spice.
The syrah vines consist of several clones planted on both the benchlands and on Bradford Mountain, where these vines share our steep slope with five other varieties. Grapes from the mountain have excellent acidities coupled with depth and intensity of flavor; grapes from the benchlands have broader flavors, more generous and less etched in profile.
Small amounts of zinfandel and viognier are blended into the syrah. Much the same as grenache in southern France, Dry Creek zinfandel gives broad, spicy flavors to syrah's deep dark density. Viognier lifts the aromatics into a lovely perfume.
We are making a small amount of pinot noir from two Jackson clones and four Dijon clones recently made available from France. Ours has none of the green flavors and high alcohol that commonly mar new world pinot noir. Rather, it is a wine of fragrance, filled with flavors of pure black cherry fruit, and finishing with length and elegance.
Our chardonnay program has been completely renewed. Gone are the old plantings of the Wente clone, long the mainstay of California chardonnay; replacing them are several Dijon clones and the famous Robert Young clone. In the years to come, we will introduce at least one (possibly two, should distinctions merit) vineyard-designated chardonnay. We hope that it will show the real potential of Dry Creek Valley for this variety.
Lastly, we will continue to make authentic pinot blanc from Alsatian clones. Jacques Schlumberger's family comes from Alsace and this variety is a natural one for us. Our rendition has always been crisp and spry, redolent of fresh melon. The high-density plantings, growing in some of our coolest terroirs, or growing areas, soon will add a further dimension of flavor to this wine.
Terroir, a simple concept of place, is not some marketing idea to which we pay lip service. It is a defining idea for Michel-Schlumberger. We have gone to great lengths to match plant material, spacing, and trellising to specific sites in order to best take advantage of each site's characteristics. We farm these parcels conscientiously and ecologically in order to nourish the ground and their vines. The nuance of a great wine, its heart and soul and individuality, comes from the soil and its vines. One can nudge a wine here and there in the cellar, but the quality and personality come from the vineyard.