Rockpile Archives - Wine Country Getaways

Rugged Rockpile – where grapes struggle, but thrive

Rugged Rockpile – Above Lake Sonoma

Rockpile is a small wine appellation (AVA) above Lake Sonoma in the Dry Creek Valley. By the looks of it, you would hardly expect any vines to grow here. Yet, in Rockpile the vines are stressed to the max and produce big, full-flavored and complex wines. One can drive through the Rockpile area, but there are no wineries to visit. If you are a wine country geek, it is worth the drive through the area. There are only eight growers in Rockpile.

How to get to Rockpile

image of Rockpile — These Rockpile vineyards belong to the Mauritson Family – about 40 acres of vines

Rockpile AVA features

Rockpile received its AVA status in 2002. What sets this small AVA apart as a wine region is its elevation, climate, steep terrain, and soil. All the vines are from 800 feet to 2000 feet elevation. During the summer months, the Pacific Ocean brings in a daily dose of fog far inland, but it rarely tops the 800-foot elevation. During the growing season, Rockpile enjoys sunshine from morning to dusk.

The Pacific Ocean provides windy conditions in the afternoon to Rockpile. This cools the vines. The soil is mostly rocky and the vines grow on steep terrains. The wind factor and the soil factors stress the vines. This reduces the crop yields and intensifies the flavors in the small number of grape clusters.

Rockpile Wines

Most of the vineyards in Rockpile are Zinfandel grapes. Other red grapes in Rockpile vineyards include Petite Sirah, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petite Verdot. Winemaker Clay Mauritson, of Rockpile Vineyards and Mauritson Vinyards, makes a Port from a small acreage of grapes that are traditional Porto grapes: 25% Tinto Cao, 25% Tinta Madeira, 25% Touriga Nacional, 25% Sousão.

Because the Mauritson Family owns the most Rockpile vines, it produces the most cases of Rockpile wines. Other well-known wineries producing Rockpile wines are Carol Shelton, J.C. Cellars, Rosenblum, Rock Wall Wines, and Segheseo. These producers contract with Rockpile growers. The grape production is small; therefore, the Rockpile wines are in limited amounts.

Once the wine country is again open to travelers, visit one of these wineries to taste the unique style of Rockpile. Mauritson is on Dry Creek Valley Road and has an excellent tasting room and staff.

Rockpile wines are also available at fine wine shops. Use Wine-Search.com and the Keyword “Rockpile” to search for these wines selling near you. Here is a full list of wineries producing Rockpile wines.

rugged rockpile — Rockpile Zinfandel from produces Mauritson and Rosenblum

We met Clay Mauritson, owner and winemaker of Mauritson Winery, early on Saturday morning at the Mauritson winery and followed him up to his family vineyards in the Rockpile AVA. Rockpile is a small AVA that is situated high above Lake Sonoma. This is a chaparral environment, dry and rocky, with steep hillsides. By the looks of it, you would hardly expect any vineyards to grow here. Yet, at Rockpile there are roughly 148 acres of vines that are stressed to the max and produce big, full-flavored and complex wines. The Mauritson Family owns 40 plus acres of vineyards at Rockpile.

This is not a normal morning at Rockpile. The air is thick with fog and you can barely see more than 100 yards. What makes this area so special is the fact that Rockpile is 800 feet to 2000 feet in elevation. With Lake Sonoma below, an inversion layer is created so it always has sunshine while the rest of the Russian River wine region is in fog. On most days, the afternoon brings strong winds from the Pacific Ocean that stress the vines and causes them to lose water. Yet all the vines look amazingly healthy at this time of the year.