How Well Witchers Cast a (Positive) Spell on our SF Bay Estate Vineyard

December 15, 2008

Founder John Kontrabecki recently shared the origin of Foggy Bridge Winery’s estate San Francisco Bay vineyard in Livermore Valley – complete with the vital role of local well witchers. Below is John’s personal account of how the Las Positas Ranch came to life.

Las Positas Ranch is a 132-acre vineyard located in the Livermore Valley, and the origin of the fruit grown for our G.E.O. wines. Las Positas Ranch is a small part of one of the original Ranchos created by land grants from the King of Spain to the original Spanish settlers of California. Since time immemorial our land had been used only for grazing cattle. It was never tilled or developed for any other use.

I purchased the ranch in 1998, and shortly after buying the property, I was approached by Phil Wente of Wente Family Vineyards who asked me if I had ever considered developing the ranch as a vineyard property. Phil’s family had been growing wine grapes in the Valley for 150 years (five generations), and he thought the ranch would make a fine vineyard.

Phil explained to me that the previous owner of the property had asked him to conduct a study to determine whether the ranch would be suitable for vineyard development. After examining the soils, microclimate and orientation of the hillsides, he concluded that it would make a fine vineyard property, provided a reliable water source could be found.

I told Phil that I would conduct my own investigation and get back to him after I had made an independent evaluation. I then called an old friend, Roger Stuhlmuller, who owns a vineyard in the Alexander Valley, and asked him how to evaluate whether a property is suitable for vineyard development. Roger said, like everything else in life, you hire an expert consultant. He then recommended a consultant who had worked for him in the past who I then hired to study the site. The consultant’s report confirmed what Phil Wente had told me.

Next, I contacted Phil and told him my independent consultant agreed with his assessment, and I asked Phil if he knew of an engineer who could help me sort out the water problem. Phil told me that vineyard people do not use engineers. They use well witchers. I thought he was joking with me, but I quickly learned he was serious when he gave me the names of two well witchers he had used successfully in the past.

I contacted the well witchers and hired them to conduct a site survey and make a recommendation on where to drill for water. On separate days, I met them at the property and watched in utter amazement as they well witched. It was right out of a Frank Capra movie! Both were older men (in their late 70’s) who wore blue jeans, work shirts, cowboy boots and hats and belts with big silver buckles. Both had divining rods made from some secret wood. One had another tool he called a crystal, which appeared to me to be glass cut into a sphere and attached to string. They wandered around the property for a long time with very serious looks on their faces and from time to time stopped to set a marker on the ground. I marked on a map the locations they recommended as potential well locations. When they were finished I asked each to pin point the best locations for drilling test wells.

I compared the two reports and noted the locations where they agreed. I then asked a well drilling company to drill in the prime location selected by both of my well witchers. Much to my delight, they were absolutely accurate in their selections and in the amount of water they predicted I would find. We hit a gusher deep below the Livermore Valley that produces 500 gallons per minute of the sweetest water you can find. We had the water tested, and it is as pure as mountain snow.

With the water problem resolved, I then hired Wente to plant a vineyard. We selected six varieties, five red and one white, and in the spring of 2002 planted the vineyard. Today we are growing Merlot, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Petite Sirah and Chardonnay. We have additional land available to plant and we are considering planting Albarino, a Spanish variety that does well in hot dry climates.

When we started the vineyard, my niece, Sara, was the farming manager. After several years, she married and moved to West Virginia. I then hired our current farming manager, David Login, who has been doing a great job bringing our vineyard into full production. David’s background is in organic farming, and he has been guiding us as we transition from conventional farming to organic farming practices. More to come in a later post on David’s organic farming philosophy and its results in our vineyard…

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