Welcome To Duncan Peak Winery in Hopland, California

DUNCAN PEAK VINEYARDS

“In vino veritas.” By Robyn Bullard*

Poet Ezra Pound once said, “With one day’s reading a man may have the key in his hands.” Ezra Pound would have liked Hubert Lenczowski. Though it took more than a day’s worth of hitting the books, his self-guided tour of the fundamentals of enology and viticulture proved key to Hubert’s success as proprietor and winemaker of Duncan Peak Vineyards---and his Cabernet Sauvignon is evidence in a bottle.

At the winery in Hopland, California, the scene around the property is nearly textbook itself. While wife Resa’s horses graze near the eight-acre Cabernet vineyard, chickens patrol the rows of grapevines, dedicated to round-the-clock pest control. The Lenczowskis’ two children, perched on a trailer pulled by the ranch ATV, contribute to the farming endeavor by seeding red clover into the vineyard rows as they slowly pass by.

If this sketch of life seems routine for a family of the winemaking persuasion, one need only learn the whole truth behind Resa and Hubert’s viticultural endeavor to understand the uniqueness and passion behind their story. Since 1980, the Lenczowskis have been crafting a limited supply of estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignon from rich, mature hillside vineyards just south of the small village of Hopland. Those in the know have learned that Duncan Peak wine holds its own with some of California’s best Cabernets, and have become loyal patrons of each vintage.

What they may not know, however, is the meticulous lengths to which Hubert and Resa have gone to make exceptional wines. Hubert and Resa began a romance with the land that would evolve into the business of growing grapes and transforming them into great wine --a genuine interest that led them to turn out their first handcrafted vintage in 1986. That is to say the least and an understatement. All of Duncan Peak’s Cabernet grapes are hand harvested and fermented under the watchful eyes of Duncan Peak's Cellar Master, Marc Ayers. The wines are unfiltered and unfined, aged in small French and American oak barrels.

Duncan Peak’s Cabernets are born of rich hillside grapes, all estate-grown - and managed by Hubert and Resa, who is a Master Gardener. Dry, gravelly benchland loam at a 400 ft. elevation is a Cabernet growers dream, and temperatures in the summers topping 90 to 100 degrees don’t hurt either. The hillside vineyards, however, have not been terraced, which makes driving the tractor through the vineyards a bit hairy. “You have to lean and hang on for your life so you don’t fall off,” says Marc Ayers, who also manages the vineyard.

Crafting a great wine requires that you sell at least some of it, and Resa markets the couple’s product with enthusiasm. Multiple duties require that she sometimes bring the children along for the ride. “These kids have been inside some of the best restaurants around, met some of the great chefs and have seen quite a few remarkable cellars, as well,” says Resa. And the children aren’t strangers to cellar work, either. “When we are racking the wine, one of them works the pump and the other spots the barrel. They could probably make their own wine by now.”

When they’re not busy crafting great wine together, the family hikes the property, works in the garden or is cooking up something delicious for their friends who love coming up to experience the country life and one of Resa’s gourmet meals. As for Duncan Peak’s somewhat limited production, Hubert says he will grow it carefully, and estimates never topping more than a few thousand cases a year. Currently the winery’s annual production hovers around 1,000 cases, depending on the crop. The ranch has plenty more acres to plant, but growth will be planned and orderly.

“Increasing production is technically very challenging,” says Hubert. “When you make a quantum leap by doubling or quadrupling production, it can impact your quality tremendously.” Although Hubert says he could purchase grapes to bump up production, he says the resulting product would not be worthwhile. “We couldn’t replicate our quality and character,” says Hubert. “It is very unique to the soils, the sunlight and the Cabernet clones - everything.”

In a winemaking book that Hubert read recently, he says he found a passage that to him was right on point. “It had a wonderful preface, a kind of rationale for Duncan Peak. This passage observed that the vast majority of wineries around the world are small, and that small wineries lead in individuality and quality. And, I really believe that that is the truth.”

*Robyn Bullard is a wine writer whose articles have appeared in The Wine Spectator

Duncan Peak Vineyards Box 358 Hopland, CA 95449 (925) 283-3632