After months looking for a cool climate vineyard in Northern California where we could have sourced the Pinot Noir of our dreams, our journey ended when we encountered Dan Dooling of Mariah Vineyards.

The lifetime dream of two native San Franciscan, Dan and Vicki Dooling to grow grapes, from an untouched piece of mountain land became true in the mid 70’s when they established Mariah Vineyards after looking tirelessly for a south exposed mountain top, with relatively mellow slopes in a cool climate location within Northern California.

Mariah Vineyards resides about 5 miles from the pacific coast and at 2,600 feet of altitude, rests above the fog line, creating seemingly islands in the sky. The vineyard presents mainly black loam soils and belongs to the Mendocino County AVA and Mendocino Ridge sub-AVA, where all vineyards must be 1,200 feet in elevation or higher to be included. With only 75 planted acres in the entire wine growing region, Mendocino Ridge is one of the most exclusive cool climate AVAs in California. The property is conducted following organic methods and is now transitioning to regenerative farming. Irrigation is not performed at any stage. Yes, the property is dry farmed!

Working with Mariah Vineyards means for us a great excitement. This is one of the few real cool climate areas in Northern California, producing exceptionally expressive grapes, with pure aromatic, outstanding freshness, depth and complexity. Today Mariah Vineyards sees planted Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel and Chardonnay.