Our Vineyard
There is something quite amazing about being in the vineyard on a sun-drenched day. We carefully watch over our vines, through wind, rain, frost and scorching sun. Each block is harvested by hand at the most perfect time for creating exceptional wine from the resulting grapes. The 9-acre vineyards are split precisely in to 7 varietal blocks. The eldest of the two plantings are the front hillside and top hillsides, planted with Chardonnay, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The newest addition, our back slope is planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec.
The carved roads though each vineyard make for an amazing afternoon hike among the vines, wildlife and fruit bearing trees and plants. This estate vineyard must be meticulously farmed, and because of this we are rewarded with grapes that display distinctive and intense varietal characters. Our wines are of distinction from an extremely unique appellation.
We are located in Riverside County (seen in pink below) in the historic Los Angeles Basin District of winemaking. In the 1970’s Riverside only had 4 wine cellars, and we are proud be be part of Californias’s great wine tradition.
Sunset Magazine 1975
ter·roir
/terˈwär/
the characteristic taste and flavor imparted to a wine by the environment in which it is produced.
the complete natural environment in which a particular wine is produced, including factors such as the soil, topography, and climate.
By definition Terroir /terˈwär/ is the complete natural environment in which a particular wine is produced, including factors such as the soil, topography, and climate. Château de Rêve wines are a true interpretation of this definition, to start the warm growing days and cool nights help to contribute to the rich texture and complexity of the fruit flavors in this wine.
Nestled only 20 miles, as the crow flies, from the Southern California coast, the Santa Ana Mountains on the eastern side has inland heat influence coming from the Temecula Valley and the western facing side has the cool Oceanside breeze that cools the afternoon heat allowing the fruit to relax and cool down, preserving the natural acid in the fruit.
The Valley is mainly consisting of Clay, Red Volcanic, and Sandy Loam. Each of these play a strong role in allowing the vine to naturally stress, yet able to produce award winning fruit on the vine, naturally the soil will in fact act as a natural tea bag allowing some flavor ingress to the fruit allowing to build on the existing complexity by adding a minerality to each of the Estate wines. Soil drainage is also a key factor to help push nutrients and minerals through the soil and past the capillaries in the root system.
At roughly 2100’ these wines can be considered high elevation wines. This elevation has a huge factor on the sometimes large diurnal temperature swings which also help in warning the fruit up during the day to increase concentrate in the tannins and sugars (brix) while the cool coastal breeze nights help in preserving the natural acid in the wine that creates the nice balance between fruit flavors, acid, and alcohol.
Microbial flora in the soils also help to contribute to the terroir by assisting in breaking down the carbon cycle which in turn help the vine with producing premium fruit. Local chaparral and local flora influence some of the herbal and spice notes in our wine, whether it’s the wild sage, pine, eucalyptus, and Peruvian pepper, they all have a hand in the subtle nuances in the flavors of Château de Rêve wines.
volcanic clay
volcanic soils share richness in physical and mineral complexity as limestone, and wines grown on volcanic soils often have high acidity, salinity and a savory character. Minerality and volcanic wines walk hand-in-hand. Typically, Murrieta soils have dark red, medium acid, stony clay. Lava flows left behind volcanic basalt more than 7 million years ago on the Santa Rosa Plateau here in Murrieta.
