Fiddlehead Cellars - fiddlestix in sta. rita hills

Fiddlestix in Sta. Rita Hills

SIP Certified under Fiddlehead Cellars Ownership Vintages 2013-2021
Click HERE to read more about SIP Certification

Our winery is called Fiddlehead, so why not have a little fun and call the vineyard we planted in 1998 Fiddlestix?! We bought the dirt in 1996 and passed the torch to new buyers after the 2021 Harvest.

Fiddlestix is the quintessential Pinot noir dream vineyard, located at the western end of the transverse-oriented Santa Ynez Valley, AVA. In 1996, Kathy took a leap of faith and purchased what was a 133 acre “flower farm” (Sta. Rita Hills AVA granted in 2001). We can‘t help but be proud of her intuitive investment.

Located in a narrow slot of the cool climate Santa Rita Hills AVA (located mostly within the SYV AVA), at mile marker 7.28 on Santa Rosa Road, Fiddlestix is where perfect Pinot noir elements of soil and Region I climate pull together.

click the picture to view our fiddlestix vineyard photo gallery

On the north side of this tight east-west running valley, fog hangs over the vines until mid-morning, the temperature barely rises above 75, and the coastal breeze blows through the Santa Rita Hills, ensuring cool grapes throughout a lengthy day of sunshine. The soil is well-drained Gazos and Botella clay loam, loaded with chirt and Monterey shale. Under our rein, there are 96 planted acres, with an ideal spacing of 1556 vines per acre. With the intent to maximize variety, the vineyard is designed to 32 mini-blocks, representing unique combinations of our six clones, three rootstocks, and various elevation, exposures, and soil combinations.

In the vineyard we customized our farming in response to each vintage’s demands. We conscientiously and meticulously farmed to produce grapes of distinction, and yields were carefully controlled to produce unsurpassed Pinot noir quality. Fiddlestix was nurtured by hand many times over again; including thinning, leaf pulllling, and crop thinning to ensure ideal cluster exposure to the suns ripening rays, leaving only goodness on the vines.

From Fiddlestix we crafted three distinct bottlings of Fiddlestix Pinot Noir. Cuvees Lollapalooza, Seven Twenty Eight and Doyle. You will also find some of this precious fruit in wines of other highly respected, discriminating and dedicated winemakers.

Map of Fiddlestix 1998-2021