Wiley Vineyard
If anyone alive could claim to be the grandfather of Anderson Valley winegrowers, Brad Wiley would certainly be among them. One of the original partners of Edmeades, Brad has called Anderson Valley home for more than thirty years. He’s a bit of a contrarian. When Anderson Valley was better known as a font for religious cults (Jim Jones, Charles Mansen, the Moonies…) and as one of America’s better pot growing regions, Brad was planting pinot noir and selling wine. His home vineyard offers some of the oldest and tastiest vines in the Valley.
Brad Wiley has an oddball vineyard for Anderson Valley. When it comes to the “Deep End,” Brad’s vineyard is the deepest, closer to the Coast as the crow flies than any other. But he’s up on a ridge that stays just above the frost line in most years. It’s almost always cool but rarely too cold. Most vineyards are planted on the valley floor or on the southeast facing slopes of the Valley, but not Brad’s. His slopes run at a right angle to the rest of the hills in Anderson Valley. His vine-rows run due East-West. Standing on his back porch, overlooking the vineyard, Brad’s property looks more like a giant, elevated, vine-covered stage at the mouth of the Valley, with the remaining hillsides representing an amphitheater, and Highway 128 the exit row down the middle.
Brad grows Pinot noir, Riesling, and Pinot gris. Breggo takes all two acres of his Pinot Gris. In 2007, we also received a few tons of Pinot noir fruit and have contracted for more in years to come.
(photo:Brad Wiley - foreground - with Michel Salgue - background - on the bucket press, making sparkling wine from pinot gris, September 2006.)