| Planted
by Steve and Pam Lock in 1998 on approximately
30 Acres of gently rolling hillside terrain of
Westside Paso Robles, Lock Vineyard offers
exposures to the northeast, the southeast and
south and our plantings of Zinfandel, Syrah
and Cabernet Sauvignon take advantage of the
varied sun and wind patterns of those
exposures. Soils in our vineyard are quite
varied ranging from calcareous limestone on
the hill tops to areas with clay and loam near
the bottoms of the hills. |
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©Kathy
Hollis Cooper
All
of our vines are planted with 1103 Paulsen
rootstock, a rootstock that can withstand
higher drought levels by forcing their roots
to greater depths. We opted to plant two
clones in the Cabernet Sauvignon block to give
us some differences in fruit coloring and have
08 and 337. The Syrah is planted to the
Estrella 01 clone and the entire Zinfandel
block is planted to the 1A clone which has
been popular in the Westside area. |
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Knowing
that the best wines begin in the vineyard a
great deal of time is spent in vineyard every
year. During the course of a full growing
season we are able to pay individual attention
to the nearly 25,000 vines that make up the
vineyard. From the beginning of the growing
season in January when we begin pruning,
through shoot thinning, cluster thinning and
harvest in October, the vines are pampered and
stressed when necessary to produce the highest
quality of fruit possible given the nature of
the terrain and the microclimate we are given.
While
we are not certified as organic at the present
time we use a minimum of herbicides and
pesticides, opting for both natural and
mechanical means to control weeds and pests
normally found in a vineyard. The use of cover crops consisting
of both annual and perennial grasses provide a
constant source of beneficial insects to help
control those that are not so friendly. In row
tilling is used judiciously over the course of
the growing season to control the weeds in the
vine rows.
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Proprietor
Steve Lock |
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©Kathy
Hollis Cooper |
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Our
first harvest produced an exemplary Syrah and
we received "Vineyard Designation"
for the Jory 2000 Syrah. "Vineyard
Designation" is given when only the fruit
from one vineyard is used in the wine and it
is determined by the winemaker to be a
"stand alone" wine worthy of special
labeling and bottling. It is extremely rare
for a first harvest to receive "vineyard
designation". Presently we have received
"vineyard designation" on wines
produced by many superb Paso Robles wineries
including Jory Winery, Four Vines Winery,
SummerWood Winery, Vina Robles Winery and
Chateau Margene. The SummerWood label on the
vineyard designated 2001 Lock Vineyard Syrah
describes us as follows: |
| "Located
roughly 1.5 miles from SummerWood on the
northern fringe of the Templeton Gap's coastal
influence rests Lock Vineyard. An East facing
vineyard producing fruit with incredible
aromatic intensity of smoke, blueberry, and
passion fruit. so intense we couldn't resist
holding four barrels aside for this special
limited bottling."
In
addition to providing us with fruit to make Écluse
Wines we also sell our grapes to other
prestigious wineries including Talley Vineyard
and Winery for their Bishop's Peak label,
SummerWood Winery, Chateau Margene, Linne
Calodo Cellars, Four Vines Cellars, Norman
Winery and Vina Robles Winery, |
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