Hardesty Cellars was founded in 2006 by organic grower and natural winemaker Chad Hardesty. Chad was born in southern CA, but headed north to work on an organic fruit and vegetable farm, producing for local restaurants and farmers markets. With his passion for organic agriculture and being a firm believer in the natural production of foods. Chad set out to grow and produce high quality wines that are true to the idea of terroir and not manipulated in any way.
Hardesty Cellars sources grapes from Winnett Vineyards in which Chad has tended the vines for each vintage released, the first of which was 2008. Winnett Vineyard is a small organic family vineyard in Willow Creek, Humboldt County’s only AVA. It includes the westernmost planted vineyards in the contiguous US, over 250 miles north of San Francisco. Willow Creek is a small community in the Trinity River Valley, a wild and mountainous region. Warm inland air during the day and cool ocean breezes at night coupled with a long growing season provide optimum ripening of lush, full fruit flavors while maintaining good, crisp acidity. The vineyard itself is perched on a south/southwest facing hillside at 900 feet in elevation.
Chad learned winemaking and vineyard management from Tony Coturri, one of California’s all-time natural wine greats, so of course Chad uses indigenous yeasts, and no extraneous chemicals to create a true expression of terroir, vineyard, varietal and vintage. All the wines are made from certified organic grapes, and are unfined and unfiltered with no added sulfites. His personal style relies on harvesting at moderate Brix and eschewing new oak (the older, the better, in fact). Situated at California’s geographic extreme, he crafts fresh, unvarnished wines with a classical sense of balance.
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