Established in 2014 by Kindra and Scott Sampson, Cinque Capre Vineyards sits in the heart of beautiful Rheem Valley in Moraga, CA. Having moved from Connecticut in July 2014, our family of four quickly adapted to life in Lamorinda, enjoying all the unique “amenities” of our new home, which included not only a vineyard, but a barn housing 5 pygmy goats. It seemed only fitting that we name the vineyard after our beloved new pets, the “Five Goats.” (Photo Below from Left to Right: Oreo (white & black), Pablo, Billy (standing in the tree), Shadow (black) and Jasper). Cinque Capre means Five Goats in Italian. Our vineyard sits on a gentle up-slope overlooking the house and consists of 350 Petit Syrah vines that love the warm days and cool nights in Rheem Valley. Like several different Lamorinda wineries, we grow our own grapes and produce and age our wine on the premises. The first of our vintages (2014) is currently aging in French oak and is big and bold. It will have aged more than two years in oak, as we expect to bottle it sometime in 2016. The 2015 harvest yielded 40% fewer grapes, but luckily the decreased production did not impact the quality of the grapes. Boasting the same beautiful deep purple color, the 2015 vintage is also aging in French Oak and will be ready for bottling in 2017. We’ve come to appreciate both the work and art of wine making. We’ve now grown accustom to the rush around harvest, the nights of plunging the cap as must is fermenting, and the weekly sampling of wine to ensure it is aging the right way. Our family is loving life in Moraga and has enjoyed learning about the winegrowing and production. We felt fortunate to meet the Captain family and Sal and Susan Captain have been tremendously helpful in teaching us the basics of wine making. Rheem Valley has a long history of agriculture and we are proud to carry on that tradition. We hope to expand our vineyard in 2016-2017 by planting some additional white varietals on our ten acre property. We are excited by the prospects that Lamorinda may boast its own AVA designation in the coming months. We hope that it presents our community with the unique opportunity to further fuel the area into a legitimate wine-growing region. We were blessed to have family and friends here to help with our 2015 harvest, which we know will continue to be a big part of the reason we will continue to love making wine.
