Issue date: December 08, 1999

Vintage Atherton: Ann Ramsay presents the first wine from her Atherton vineyard -- the one that turns heads on the Alameda Vintage Atherton: Ann Ramsay presents the first wine from her Atherton vineyard -- the one that turns heads on the Alameda (December 08, 1999)

By RENEE BATTI

Motorists and other passers-by on the Alameda de las Pulgas had to do a double-take some five years ago when they first noticed a new development sprouting up on a 2.5-acre, enormously valuable parcel of land in Atherton.
The stakes in the ground, it was clear, were not plotting the foundation of a new showcase mansion, nor was the fence solid rock or concrete -- the better to screen the land's new tenant from the world.
Instead, what was developing on the stakes and other supports were young, freshly planted vines -- rows and rows of them, evoking a time long ago when the rich local soil was cherished as more than just a financial investment.
And what has developed since that spring of 1994, when Ann Ramsay took the plunge and planted rows of pinot noir and sauvignon blanc grapes at the corner of the Alameda and Polhemus Avenue, can today be poured from a bottle labeled Orchard Hills Vineyard -- probably the first label ever to include the words "Atherton Vineyard."
"It's fun to see how many people catch the 'Atherton Vineyard' on the label when we bring a bottle to their table, and then say, 'but there's no vineyard in Atherton,'" laughs Murray Horton, who with his wife Charlotte owns and operates Fontana's restaurant in Menlo Park. "A lot of people think we're putting them on at first."
But while local residents may be surprised that wine grapes grow successfully in Atherton, a taste of the wines produced with grapes from the Ramsay vineyard makes it clear this operation is not just a hobby. Ms. Ramsay is as serious about the quality of her wine as she is about preserving the environment of the long-time family land she grows the grapes on -- the land known since the early 1920s as Orchard Hills.
A rural past

Ann Ramsay walks westward from her house this rainy fall day, muddying her shoes in the vineyard planted on the site where her family's horses were corralled years ago.

The leaves have turned golden and orange on the plants whose fruit was harvested about seven weeks before. Rose bushes in full flower, planted at the end of rows, provide still more color to the tranquil, fragrant landscape.

A slender, gracious woman with a sense of purpose underlying her quick laughter and ready quips, Ms. Ramsay points northward, where a large house looms: That's where the horse-riding ring was, where she and her three sisters spent so much of their time as kids, she says.

To the east, near the house in which she grew up -- built by her parents not far from the old two-story home her grandparents built -- -- were the tennis courts. Across the Alameda were orchards where now there are homes.

Ms. Ramsay, 55, recalls a past filled with long journeys on horseback to Sharon Heights, where there were no houses at the time, and Searsville Lake, where the destination there was known merely as "the shack."

The seven acres on which her home and vineyard sit were part of a 22-acre parcel bought by her grandparents, Elsa and Eli Wiel, in 1922. Ms. Ramsay's mother, Elizabeth, was 11 at the time. The Wiels named their property Orchard Hills.

As the area developed and lost much of its rural quality, Elizabeth Wiel Ramsay decided to move to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where her parents had also bought property. She and Ann's father, Malcolm Ramsay, now deceased, had divorced. Elizabeth then met and married Fred McCabe, who had just bought the local newspaper, the Jackson Hole Guide. Her three sisters married and moved away.

When Ann Ramsay, who still lives in the house on the remaining Orchard Hills property, was trying to decide what to do with the 2.5 acres fronting her home to the west, it was her stepfather who encouraged her to forge ahead with an idea she had been toying with: a vineyard. The family had sold 15 acres of Orchard Hills in the 1980s; elaborate homes now sit on that portion of the land, accessed by Orchard Hills Street.

Ms. Ramsay said she had also toyed with the idea of returning horses to the site. But questions of liability and practicality -- "Where would you ride now?" -- ruled out that option.

So, people continue to ask her, why would she put something as limited in profitability as a vineyard on some of the country's most valuable real estate? Why not sell it to Silicon Valley executives looking for a site for their showcase homes?

"This piece of property, to me, is part of my family," she says firmly. "To sell it would be like selling a part of the family.

"It doesn't represent millions of dollars to me. I love the property."

First harvest

Ms. Ramsay hired Jim Barbour of St. Helena to plant and manage the vineyard. The planting became a festive affair when Ms. Ramsay's mother, who still lives in Jackson Hole, and her stepfather, now deceased, came out to watch part of the project. Family friend Gordon Ingersoll, also now deceased, photographed the event.

Mr. Barbour managed the vineyard until July; Ms. Ramsay says she was thrilled with his work, but because he lives so far away, both agreed it would be better to find someone closer to continue working the property. That person is Mark Edgemon of the Vineyard Company in Los Gatos.

The first harvest was in 1997, and was crushed and bottled for Ms. Ramsay by a Napa Valley winemaker. This is the vintage available now in limited quantities. The pinot noir can be found at K&L Wine Merchants in Redwood City.

Murray and Charlotte Horton say they were disappointed not to be able to put the pinot noir on Fontana's wine menu, but are very pleased with the sauvignon blanc. Mr. Horton says they are trying to put more local wines on their popular Italian restaurant's menu, which already includes Thomas Fogarty and Cinnabar vineyard wines.

Things to come

New in the business of making and selling wine, Ms. Ramsay took a year off from bottling, selling her 1998 grapes after pressing, but prior to bottling. This year, she enlisted the help of Woodside winemaker Duane Cronin to harvest the crop and make the 1999 wine. Although they had never met, Ms. Ramsay, at the suggestion of Mr. Barbour, approached Mr. Cronin about helping her with this year's enterprise.

Selling his own wine with the Cronin Vineyards label since 1980, Mr. Cronin has gained a strong reputation as a winemaker, growing and bottling cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay.

When he was asked to make the Orchard Hills 1999 wine, he hesitated, Mr. Cronin says. Because the town of Woodside limits his business to producing only 5,000 gallons annually, he wasn't sure he wanted to chisel from that limit with someone else's wine. But for several reasons, he decided to produce the wine, at least for this year.

"I like Ann, and I like working in that vineyard," he explains.

So far, it looks good for the 1999 vintage, he says. The chemical numbers are good, and the juice smells good, he notes, adding those are fairly reliable early indicators.

"The grapes seem happy there; the (vineyard) is producing a decent crop," Mr. Cronin says.

The Woodside winemaker cites an old saying: "The best fertilizer is the shadow of the owner." Ann Ramsay's shadow frequently is present in the Orchard Hills vineyard, he notes. But also there are shadows of so many others, who come to look, astonished, at the vines that represent a past era.

"It's such a relief," Mr. Cronin says. When driving down Woodside Road and the Alameda, one is confronted with larger and larger homes and surrounding walls, and to see rows of vines in the midst of that "is a nice break for the eyeball," he adds.

And that's another reason he agreed to press the grapes from Orchard Hills Vineyard, he says. He'd like to see "fewer monster homes and more agriculture" in the area -- maybe not a realistic hope, he acknowledges, but an ideal kept alive by the 2.5 acres of vines in Atherton.

"I want to do what I can to keep it there."