Holman Ranch Vineyard & Winery

Located at the northeastern edge of the Carmel Valley AVA, the family-owned Holman Ranch produces a line of estate grown varietals planted on 19 acres. The vineyard is home to Pinot Noir (heritage and Dijon clones), Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc.

The Holman Ranch has a long and colorful history dating to when California was part of Mexico. The story is told on the winery's website. Thomas and Jarman Lowder bought Holman Ranch in 2006 to pursue their lifelong dream of making estate grown wine and olive oil. The original guest ranch and hacienda, built in 1928, were carefully restored in 2009 and now sere as an event venue for weddings, reunions and other celebrations. An all-cave winery was completed in August 2012.

The Lowders enlisted vineyard consultant Todd Kenyon and winemaker Greg Vita, who spent many years with Spring Mountain Vineyards in Napa Valley before becoming a consulting winemaker in California's Monterey and Santa Cruz Mountains areas.

The vineyards are CCOF certified. There are seven clones of Pinot Noir and the winery makes one barrel of each from six of them: Dijon 777, 115 and "828," Swan, Pommard 4 and the ranch's proprietary Hacienda clone (vines planted by a previous owner in 1989).

The winery's tasting room is open daily. A Pinot Noir tasting experience collection of six single clone Pinot Noirs and the Hacienda blend of all clones is available. The six clone designated Pinot Noirs are sold as a unique six-pack. Production is about 5,000 cases per year of estate grown Pinot Noir (blends including Hunter's Cuvée and Holman Ranch Estate, and single clone bottles as well as single-vineyard bottlings (Heather's Hill), a Pinot Noir Rosé, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.