About Us

Vino Noceto is a family-run vineyard and wine business founded in 1987 by Suzy and Jim Gullett of Shenandoah Valley, Plymouth, California. We are Sangiovese specialists, currently producing over 9,000 cases annually of Sangiovese from estate and nearby small vineyards. We additionally produce Moscato Bianco, Barbera, and Zinfandel. We have twenty-four acres of producing Sangiovese and one acre of Syrah.

It All Started in the Seventies

Vino Noceto's story is different from other Sangiovese producers, but is similar to many, small, "boutique" operations. Jim got started with California wine as a teenager visiting Napa wineries with family friends. Later, a favorite outing during Jim & Suzy's courtship in the early seventies was a weekend afternoon of leisurely wine tasting and picnicking in Napa or Sonoma. Jim took several courses at the UC Extension in San Francisco with Jim Olsen and Mel Knox. These broadened his wine horizons beyond the Franco-Californian Cabernet-Chardonnay axis.

A "Noble" Dream and the Shenandoah Valley

In 1984, Jim & Suzy began pursuit of their dream with a vague, but well-researched, idea of growing grapes. They purchased 21 acres in Amador County’s Shenandoah Valley, in the Sierra foothills' gold country. They added another 18.5 adjacent acres with an 1887 ranch house several years later. "Our objective became to grow a noble grape variety and make it into a distinctive, accessible table wine," asserted Jim.

Jim understood that Shenandoah Valley required warm weather grapes. Candidates were the Rhone varieties, central Italian varieties, and Zinfandel. Jim noted, "We have a predisposition toward being different. That, the seeming glut of Zinfandel, and market confusion about Syrah led us to Sangiovese or Aglianico." After much discussion with the folks at UC Davis, acquiring quality Aglianico budwood seemed beyond their capabilities. They had located Sangiovese Grosso at Montevina and three Sangiovese clones of uncertain parentage at UC Davis. Dave Caparone already had an acre of the Montevina Sangiovese Grosso planted in Paso Robles.

Tuscany Tastes

In September 1985, Jim & Suzy spent two weeks in Tuscany visiting wine estates. They stayed at Monte Vertine and visited Santa Cristina (Antinori), Isole e Olena, Badia e Passignano, Castello dei Rampolla, Badia e Coltibouno, Argiano, Col d'Orca, Mastroberardino in Naples, and several others. The trip convinced them that Sangiovese met their criteria and could produce high quality wine in the Shenandoah Valley. With information from the trip they began to define their grape growing and winemaking practices. Darrell Corti, their consultant throughout the project, lent a pragmatic and marketing view to this process.

With rootings from Montevina, Caparone, and Davis sources, they planted the first two-thirds of an acre in 1987. Over the next eight years, the estate vineyard grew to twelve acres, including three selections of Sangiovese and a smattering of traditional, Tuscan whites. In 1999, they replaced ten acres of walnut trees with more Sangiovese and some Syrah. Today, the estate includes three Brunello selections, a Chianti Classico selection, and one true clone, R-19 from the Abruzzi, plus small amounts of Syrah, Canaiolo Nero, Trebbiano, and Malvasia.

Most of the Sangiovese is grown on 5-C, a resistant rootstock of moderate vigor. Vine spacing varies, with the newer sections planted 3x9. The vineyard has evolved to unilateral cordon pruning with a cordon wire and two pairs of catch wires. A vertical canopy exposes the ripening fruit to good light and air movement while shading for the hottest part of the day. This approach represents a compromise of Tuscan and Californian practices, Jim's own ideas, and economics. Every vine is on a drip irrigation system. "As the vines mature we irrigate less and less," states Jim. "We are not organic in farming, but do believe mother nature knows best and try to practice low interference methods."

Our First Vintage!

Beginning with their first, 1990 vintage, Noceto wines have been 100% Sangiovese, targeted at a Chianti Classico style. This style emphasizes the delicate and complex fruitiness of the Sangiovese grape. More recently, the Riserva Sangiovese has sometimes been blended with a small amount of Barbera or Syrah.

The Sierra Foothill soil and climate has enabled Vino Noceto to display these unique attributes while achieving a medium or slightly fuller wine. Neutral and large format oak aging allows a slow, gentle maturing of the young wine and adds a little spice to an already intriguing wine.

The last key step is bottle aging – at Vino Noceto, we endeavor to bottle the wine at least six months before release. At this point its various flavor components are coming together, leading to a distinctive red wine which complements a wide range of foods and represents good value for the consumer.

The Vineyard Today

Vino Noceto has grown steadily from its first vintage of 110 cases to over 9,000 cases production, including 3,500 cases of Normale Sangiovese, 1,700 cases of Riserva Sangiovese and block-designated wines, 1,000 cases of Sangiovese table wine, 1,600 cases of a frizzante Moscato Bianco (Frivolo), 400 cases of Rosato, and three grappas made for us by St. George Spirits (Sangiovese, OGP Zinfandel and Moscato). With the 2002 vintage, they added a Linsteadt Barbera and Zinfandel from the Original Grandpere Vineyard. Renwood/Santino made the first five vintages, Amador Foothill Winery the next two, Folie à Deux Winery the next two, and the winemaking operation moved in-house with the 1999 harvest. Vino Noceto's winemaker is Rusty Folena, formerly of Renwood/Santino Winery, assisted by Stacey Gregersen, consulting winemaker.

If you have questions or seek additional information about our winery, please contact Suzy or Jim. We welcome visitors and enjoy talking about Sangiovese and our project with anyone interested in listening. We also appreciate your comments and opinions about our wine.