A hillside nobody wanted.
Thomas and Ruth Aldermoor bought a stony, west-facing bench that every neighbour said was too steep to farm. They planted four acres of Cabernet by hand and sold the fruit for a decade before making a single bottle.
Our story · Since 1987
Three generations,
one hillside.
The Aldermoor family has farmed the same stony bench in Napa Valley, California for nearly forty years.
Family-ownedDry-farmed
The estate
The estate
The Aldermoor family and estate are fictional, created for this concept website.
We have never tried to be the biggest name in the valley — only the most faithful to one small piece of it.
Four chaptersScroll
Nearly forty harvests.
Clara comes home.
After vintages in cooler climates, their granddaughter Clara returned to take over the cellar. Her first decision: smaller lots, native yeast, and far less new oak.
We turn off the water.
Every block was converted to dry farming. Yields fell; flavour deepened. The roots now reach more than twenty feet into the volcanic rock below.
Forty-two acres, one cave.
Seven blocks, eight wines, and a cave dug into the hillside where every barrel is tasted — and named — before it is bottled.
The winemaker
Clara Aldermoor.
Clara grew up running between these rows. Today she makes every Aldermoor wine with a small cellar team of four — tasting each barrel weekly, picking by flavour rather than numbers, and bottling only what she’d happily open at her own table.
“I want you to taste the year, the block, and a little of the fog.” Sample quote
Clara Aldermoor is a fictional person.
The land
Volcanic rock, morning fog.
42Acres under vine
7Distinct blocks
3Soil types
0Gallons irrigated
The blocks
Each with its own accent.
Six named blocks — and a seventh, the Old Hedge, kept for experiments. Hover a block for a glimpse.
01Upper HollowCabernet Sauvignon · 11 acres — Thin volcanic soils at the top of the bench — the backbone of Hollow Oak and Moorland.
02Clara’s BlockMerlot · 5 acres — A cool, clay-rich pocket planted in 2004 — the first vines Clara ever tended.
03East SlopeSyrah · 4 acres — The warmest block on the estate, catching the first sun of the morning.
04Lower FogChardonnay · 7 acres — Where the morning fog lingers longest — slow ripening, bright acidity.
05Creek RowsSauvignon Blanc & Sémillon · 9 acres — Gravelly loam along the seasonal creek; the source of Stillwater and Last Light.
06Terrace & GrenacheGrenache · 6 acres — Head-trained vines below the tasting terrace, picked early for First Light rosé.
