Trinite Estate Acaibo 2016

The vineyard covers 24 acres, equivalent to 10 hectares. The soil is composed of clayey silt resting on a bedrock of compacted volcanic ash.

Nestled in the heart of Chalk Hill, in the Sonoma region, the 24-acre vineyard is located at the crossroads of California's greatest appellations: Russian River, Knight's Valley and Alexander Valley. Combining the excellence of Bordeaux know-how with the generosity of California's clay and volcanic soils, Acaibo, the iconic wine, is made from the Bordeaux grape varieties Cabernet-Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet-Franc.

Claire and Gonzague Lurton have chosen to bring their own style to the land of Sonoma. They combined their French winemaking experience with the challenge of adapting the ancestral techniques of Bordeaux to the arid environment of Chalk Hill, and set out to discover all the specificities of this vineyard and climate.

On the hills of Chalk-Hill, the soils are particularly hard and the viticulture very different from the experience of the Medoc terroir. The climate varies over a wide range of temperatures (very cool nights and very sunny, hot days). The arid summer conditions have led most Californian vineyards to use irrigation on a very regular basis. The Lurtons have chosen to be very careful and only irrigate their vines once or twice a year with water from ponds on the property. A connected system allows them to control and regulate the water supply, taking into account the real needs of the vines.

Finally, following the example of their Bordeaux practice, the Lurtons have of course chosen to manage the vineyard according to organic farming methods. The notion of agro-ecology, that is to say, of living soils, has been present in the United States for longer than in France and the practice of using plant cover crops has been in place from the start. These plant coverings also help to fix the morning humidity in the form of very abundant dew caused by the strong temperature contrasts between the nights and the days.

"Adapting ancestral Bordeaux viticultural techniques to the arid environment and volcanic, sloping soils of Chalk Hill" - Claire & Gonzague Lurton