This wine was made from very old head-trained Carignane vines on Buchignani Ranch. Hot summer weather is typical of this part of northern Sonoma County; the grapes ripen quickly, usually leading to an early-September harvest. As usual, fruit was picked and fermented from five vineyard parcels separately. From the winery: "Stan Buchignani's ranch is located on Dutcher Creek Road, in the hills on the far western edge of the Alexander Valley appellation. The majority of the vineyard's carignane was planted in the 1940s. Stan's grandfather, Dominico Cerruti, planted the first block in 1927; his father, Dino, planted the last in the early 1950s. The vineyard's climate bears a strong resemblance to that of upper Dry Creek Valley three miles to the south, where days are warm. Fog, which tends to hang low in the valley, burns off sooner in the hills. Carignane from Buchignani is complex, its fine structure much like that of a field-blend zinfandel.