Category - Dos Limones, Organic, Vineyard, Syrah
Posted - 02/28/2013 12:33am
0 Comments | Add Comment Dos Limones Vineyard
Sixteen 600 is the address of our estate Zinfandel. We use that name because our wines express the terroir of the vineyards they are grown in as specifically as an address represents a vineyard location. Most of our photographs and activity on our social media outlets comes (Facebook and Instagram) from the Sixteen 600 Estate, however it's not the only vineyard where we source our grapes.

Syrah with a View
Our Syrah and some future Zinfandel come from a vineyard on the western side of Sonoma Valley tucked into a plateau about a third of the way up the eastern slope of Sonoma Mountain. The vineyard, one of Phil's first projects for the nascent Enterprise Vineyards, is known as Dos Limones.
Let's let Phil explain why...
Dos Limones is a six and half acre vineyard at 1000' elevation, though the Syrah block is tiny, less than 3/4 of an acre of Estrella Clone Syrah. The Estrella Clone was one of the first Syrah clones to flourish in California, it is known for dark roasted flavors belied by an elegant fruit forward bouquet. As Phil said in the video, the elevation, the wind and air flow and the exposure allow for natural frost protection. The vineyard faces Southeast and sits just above the fog line, this creates cool, breezy sunny mornings and warm summer days, perfect weather to get ripe Syrah flavors. But more than being a great place to grow Syrah, Dos Limones holds a special place for Phil and Sixteen 600.

An itsy-bitsy block of Syrah
The time was the 1974. Phil Coturri had just graduated from Sonoma State University with degree in American Literature with an emphasis in poetry. With his degree and general disposition it was pretty obvious that he was never going to work for "the Man", a fact that was fine with both Phil and "the Man." So he gathered some friends and associates and started a small vineyard management company named after Enterprise Road in Glen Ellen, where Phil lived on the family vineyard. One his first clients was a man named Myron Frieberg, the original owner of the Dos Limones property. In addition to a vineyard, Myron rented a house on the property to a family raising small children. One day, in a heady fog of business ownership (and the 70's in general) Phil applied RoundUp to the vinerows, just like all the other grape growers did. This angered the tenants, worried about the health of their children and Myron told Phil to find another way. Myron challenged Phil to adapt the techniques he used in the garden and put them to work in the vineyard. With Myorn's spark and the early wisdom of the just born organic movement, Phil set out to create an organic method to farm wine grapes and changed an industry along the way.

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Let's let Phil explain why...

An itsy-bitsy block of Syrah

The Master at Work
Thirty eight years later, the vineyard still flourishes and while Myron is no longer with us, his impact is still felt by Winery Sixteen 600, Enterprise Vineyards and the wine industry at large. Dos Limones may be an exceptional vineyard with distinct terroir but more importantly it reminds us it takes vision and foresight to make great wine.


Sidenote: Longtime family friend and one of Sixteen 600's favorite photogs, Marc Evans
actually beat Phil to Dos Limones when Myron picked him up hitch-hiking
and then hired him to help clean up after the freeze of 1973. It is
unclear if Phil and Marc met there, as both are either unable or
unwilling to disclose how the met.
Marc- We'll have to get you back up there with real camera, instead of my iPhone...
Marc- We'll have to get you back up there with real camera, instead of my iPhone...
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