Vineyards
Russian River Valley
The Russian River Valley climate is sculpted by the regular intrusion of cooling fog from the Pacific Ocean a few miles
to the west. Much like the tide, it ebbs and flows through the Petaluma Wind Gap and the channel cut by the Russian River.
The fog usually arrives in the evening, often dropping the temperature 35 to 40 degrees from its daytime high. The fog
retreats to the ocean the following morning. This natural air-conditioning allows the grapes to develop full flavor
maturity over an extended growing season — often 15 to 20 percent longer than neighboring areas — while retaining their
life-giving natural acidity.
Water flowing off of the Sonoma Mountain range carried with it eroded volcanic material, creating soils with large
amounts of clay in the central portion of the appellation. Then, in what remains a major mystery to geologists, the
Russian River, which once flowed south to what is now San Francisco Bay, changed course and headed west through the
coastal foothills. Along its course it deposited large amounts of alluvial materials that are now river benchlands.
Each of these different soils has a profound effect on wine produced from grapes grown in this soil.
Source: Russian River Valley Winegrowers
Anderson Valley
Anderson Valley, located in Mendocino County approximately 100 miles north of San Francisco, is blessed with an
exceptional and unique viticultural climate. The combination of warm, sunny days and cool, foggy nights allows the
grapes from this region to develop to the height of their varietal character. While Anderson Valley is ideally suited
for cool season varietals, the existence of a series of unique meso-climates surrounding the valley allows for a
diversity of conditions for grape growing.
Beginning in the mid 1800s and continuing to the present day, Anderson Valley's wine industry has enjoyed a quiet,
gradual evolution. Originating with the small plantings of European immigrants, it has today become an appellation of
its own, producing wines of distinctive character.
Source: Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association
Single Vineyard Designate Wines
In our search to make compelling single-vineyard offerings, Neil personally traveled up and down the coast, visiting more than 40 of the finest cool-climate Chardonnay vineyards. In the end, three made the cut.
Our 2009 Migration Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay – Dierberg Vineyard comes from a unique site on an exposed mesa on the southwestern side of the Santa Maria River. Within view of the Pacific Ocean, Dierberg's windswept vines are grown in sandy soils and produced a wine that is notable for its steely minerality. Unlike Migration's other Chardonnays, which saw partial or full malolactic fermentation, Dierberg did not go through ML, a factor that accentuates the wine's natural bright acidity. Other than this significant difference, all three of Migration's vineyard-designate Chardonnays were crafted using essentially the same winemaking techniques—a decision made to preserve the terroir-inspired character of each.
The 2009 Migration Anderson Valley Chardonnay – Split Rail Vineyard builds on our many years of experience making small, test lots of Chardonnay from Anderson Valley grapes. Located on the bank of the Navarro River, Split Rail has extremely interesting gravel soils that produce small berries and small clusters of Robert Young clone Chardonnay. Like the Russian River Valley Chardonnay, this wine went through 75 percent ML. In contrast to Dierberg's sleek minerality, Split Rail offers more texture and palate-weight.
Though its Green Valley home still clearly marks Charles Heintz Vineyard as a cool-climate winegrowing location, our 2009 Migration Sonoma Coast Chardonnay – Charles Heintz Vineyard is certainly the most voluptuous and fruit-forward of our single-vineyard Chardonnays. The vineyard's older, heritage clone vines were planted in 1982, and grow at an elevation of 900 feet on the second ridge inland from the Pacific. These vines are meticulously farmed by Charlie, who drives the tractor and oversees everything, ensuring the utmost care and quality at every stage in the viticultural process.