About:

Burning Bench Cellars produces a single-vineyard Pinot Noir from the Moon Hill Vineyard in Marin County, California.  Originally planted in 2002, the 3-acre vineyard of Dijon clones 115, 667, 777, and 828, sits high on the steep, south facing slopes of the ridge separating the Nicasio and San Geronimo valleys. A shallow layer of clay loam soil overlays a fractured sandstone substrate resulting in an extremely low vigor site.  The steep slopes, close vine spacing and narrow terracing all combine to require that our vineyards be tended completely by hand. The Moon Hill vines produce extremely small berries and intense, concentrated fruit of great complexity and minerality. Our Pinot Noir is hand crafted using low intervention methods in the traditional Burgundian style. We are an off-grid, solar-powered vineyard and winery dedicated to producing estate-grown Pinot Noir wines of maximum terroir expression and distinction.

Winemaking

With only a single vineyard and just over 3 acres to farm, Burning Bench Cellars takes a focused, hands-on approach that one might even call intimate because we know our vines so well. Our crew is dedicated to a single vineyard which we have tended and pampered for more than a decade and a half.  We use hands-on cultivation, composting to build soil health and natural pest-control.  With all of our vines planted in narrow rows on steep slopes, we also hand mow, hand prune and hand harvest. This intensely personal approach continues in the winery.