Garbro Ranch Inaugural Release
One hundred years ago the Garcia Brothers (The “Gar-Bros”) founded a headquarters in Sebastopol for their fruit packing empire and used their large orchard holdings at the Garbro Ranch on Vine Hill Road as a source of apples for their product lines. The Garbro Ranch name lingered in local memory even as the owners and the agriculture changed over the decades.
Years after, while growing up on my family’s vineyard on Vine Hill Road, I would take a daily walk down a long driveway called Garbro Ranch Road to reach the school bus stop. On the south side of the lane lay my family’s vineyard and to the north were the Chardonnay vines of our neighbor, Mr. Don Stiling. A large red barn on Don’s ranch was visible from the road with its hand-painted white letters proclaiming the date of the ranch’s founding: GARBRO 1919. On occasion I would visit this neighboring farm with my father. It was enchanting, with its striking historical buildings, surrounded by large vines, occasional apple trees, and spring fed creek. From a young age, the Garbro Ranch attracted me in its mystery and its beauty.
Twenty five years later, in 2017, my family and I purchased the Garbro Ranch from our neighbors, connecting our home property with this adjacent one. We are grateful to the Stiling family for entrusting ours to care for this historic ranch and continue its agricultural legacy into the future.
These last two years since the purchase of the property has been a viticultural journey of discovery. We have engaged in exploring the land in more detail by digging soil pits and learning the idiosyncrasies of each of the vineyard blocks, making our first batches of wine, and collaborating with vineyard grape clients —many of whom have made wine from the existing vines for several years and whom we continue to supply.
In parallel it has also been a journey of discovery of the property’s history and artifacts: GARBRO picking boxes, old apple packing labels, vintage farm equipment, keys and bottles from another era. There are former fruit processing buildings, remnants of an old brick apple drying kiln, and hundred-year-old apple trees on the outskirts of the vineyards. Dialogues with the Stiling family, past ranch hands, and generations of viticulturists who have worked with the vines have given dimension to our understanding of this special place. Take a moment to study the historical timeline of the Garbro Ranch below and take in the stories of the ranch’s past.
Today, the vineyard at Garbro Ranch is planted to 25 acres of Chardonnay and 10 acres of Pinot noir on sandy goldridge soil, and is flanked by Dehlinger’s home ranch to the south and Kistler Vineyards to the north, making this site a classic for Russian River Valley viticulture. Three heritage Chardonnay clones are planted on the old Chardonnay vines: Curtis, See’s and Rued. The hillside Pinot noir vines were planted using cuttings of Swan clone Pinot noir from the Dehlinger vineyard, a lineage which enhances our connection and appreciation of the old vine Pinot block.
In addition to supplying grape clients, we are vinifying a portion of the grapes into wine. We selected the best lots from for the inaugural release. Our vision for the wine from the Garbro Ranch is to offer you a delicious pair of wines originating from a property that has an authentic and rich history. We are using the same classical traditional cellar techniques of small barrel fermentation and evolution consistent with the Dehlinger style.
Because the Garbro Ranch has a history distinct from our home ranch, we felt it most appropriate that the Garbro Ranch wines have their own identity and distinguishing look: We worked closely with label artist Chuck House to create the labels and drew inspiration from the promotional material and fruit packing labels of the era of the founding Garcia Brothers. Our hope it that that the label captures the history and heritage of the property that is so palpable to us and the excitement we feel to offer these wines to you for the very first time, at the 100 year mark from the founding of the GARBRO RANCH.
