The Pool Block
A 1.5 acre vineyard at the northwestern corner of the property adjacent to the Heitz ranch.
Replanted to Cabernet Sauvignon in 1997, the Pool Block sits at the northwest corner of the property, facing west across the Napa Valley toward Zinfandel Lane.
When we bought the ranch in 1955, this block was planted to Petit Sirah. Two of those original vines still stand at the eastern edge of the vineyard — by the time the Cabernet Sauvignon is ready to pick, the Petit Sirah has dried to raisins on the vine, so none has ever made it into a picking bin; they're a remembrance more than a crop. The block was unfenced when we arrived, and most of the original vines were lost to deer within a decade — likely a sign of less deer-conscious vineyard management by the farmers before us. We later fenced the area, which includes the site of the original ranch house, and in 1997 replanted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Clone 8 on 110-R rootstock. At 600 to 650 feet elevation, with predominantly volcanic rhyolite soils, the Pool Block has usually been included in our Ranch Cabernet.