Our Vineyards

Monte De Oro is proud of our clone and root­stock selec­tions (which are ideal for Temec­ula Val­ley); our aggres­sive canopy man­age­ment; and our abil­ity to con­trol yields to deliver grapes of the high­est quality.

Monte De Oro uti­lizes a ver­ti­cal trel­lis, 6 foot by 9 foot vine matrix farm­ing sys­tem for grow­ing and cul­ti­vat­ing grapes. Each vine­yard con­tains approx­i­mately 805 grape vines per acre.

Monte De Oro’s first vine­yard – Vista Del Monte (18 acres) – is located about 2 miles south­west from the win­ery on a ridge on the north­ern side of the Temec­ula Val­ley. It was planted in 2002 with Caber­net Sauvi­gnon and Syrah grapes. (Monte De Oro’s 68 fam­ily mem­bers have a strong pas­sion for Caber­net Sauvi­gnon, and Temec­ula is ideal weather for grow­ing top qual­ity Rhone type grapes such as Syrah.)

Approx­i­mately 2 miles due east of Monte De Oro are DePor­tola (18 acres) and Gal­way (23 acres) vine­yards, which are adja­cent to each other on the bot­tom of the moun­tain­side on the east­ern side of the Valley.

These vine­yards were planted in 2003 with 8 grape vari­etals, includ­ing Caber­net Franc, Mer­lot, Viog­nier, Zin­fan­del, Pinot Gris, Chardon­nay, Sauvi­gnon Blanc, and Mus­cat Canelli.

Our first har­vest — 26 tons — was in 2004. The Syrah from the Vista Del Monte Vine­yard was ter­rific fruit. Orig­i­nally Monte De Oro retained its Syrah grapes mak­ing its first wine in a tra­di­tional French-barrel aging process. This wine was sold to another win­ery, which used it in a sin­gle Vista del Monte bot­tling. The result­ing wine — exclu­sively from Vista Del Monte’s grapes — pro­duced a “90 score” from Wine Enthu­si­ast magazine.

The first year all three Monte De Oro vine­yards were har­vested was 2005. In 2006, Monte De Oro’s 68 fam­ily mem­bers com­menced their win­ery ven­ture and began retain­ing all the red grapes from its vine­yards, custom-crushing them in order to start build­ing a wine sup­ply for Monte De Oro Win­ery. Com­mit­ting to a French-oak bar­rel regime, OGB’s part­ners pro­duced an array of qual­ity wines as a result.

In the spring of 2008, Monte De Oro planted its fourth vine­yard – at the win­ery (12 acres). This vine­yard con­sists of Tem­pranillo, Petite Ver­dot, Mal­bec, Petite Syrah, Grenache, Mourve­dre, and Cinsault.

In all, Monte De Oro Win­ery has a total of 72 acres of vine­yards, which are the sole source of estate-grown grapes for wine production.

Sixty-six per­cent of Monte De Oro’s grapes are red with the remain­der being white. This pro­vides a broad array of qual­ity wines for Monte De Oro Win­ery while also reflect­ing the group’s per­sonal preference.