Hirsch Winery

David Hirsch planted a sheep ranch above Fort Ross in 1980, three miles from the ocean, and the soils changed so fast he ended up farming sixty-odd separate parcels.4

Why go

Hirsch bought the 1,000-acre ranch near Fort Ross in 1978 for $425,000, and not to plant it.4 His daughter Jasmine says he bought the land so he could hear himself think.4 On his friend Jim Beauregard's advice he put in one acre of Pinot Noir and two of Riesling in 1980.4 The ranch sits less than a mile from the San Andreas Fault, and he called the result earthquake terroir.4 Jasmine Hirsch puts the arithmetic of it plainly: People look at Hirsch like it's a single vineyard, but it's actually super-fragmented like a village in Burgundy. We have 28ha of Pinot Noir in 60 parcels with 30 different soil combinations.1 Each block is vinified on its own. The vines sit between 485 and 650 metres, which puts most of them above the fog line, and Jamie Goode was told the temperature can differ by 15F from one end of the property to the other on a single day.1 2

Building the winery in 2002 was harder than planting. There was no public water, no septic, limited power and only dirt roads, so Hirsch ran a 10-mile power line to reach PG&E.4 Ted Lemon of Littorai, who has bought this fruit since 1994, persuaded David Hirsch to farm Block 6 organically for him; Hirsch liked what it did to vigour and ripening and started converting the rest.2 Conversion began in 2011, every vineyard, orchard and garden has been farmed biodynamically since 2014, and the estate is not certified.1 Jasmine Hirsch took the winemaking with the 2019 vintage, after Vanessa Wong, Ross Cobb and Anthony Filiberti, and she pours the parcels against each other in Healdsburg.1 5

In the cellar she works in small open-top stainless fermenters on ambient yeasts, with cold soaks of three to seven days and about 30% whole stems. The wines then sit an extra year in bottle before release, because the tannins want it. Jasmine Hirsch: We feel the tannins are part of the character of the site.1

Order this / avoid

Order: the Beyond the Fault Line tasting, 60 minutes and $75, which lines up the San Andreas Fault, West Ridge, Reserve and Block 8 Pinot Noirs beside the estate Chardonnay.5
Order: Discover Hirsch instead if you want the shorter read, 45 minutes and $45 for four wines including the rosé of Pinot Noir.5
Order: Bohan-Dillon, the bottling named after the road that climbs to the ranch.5
Avoid: planning a visit to the vineyard itself. The ranch is not open.5

What locals & experts say

Jess Lander, San Francisco Chronicle (29 July 2026), on where the label landed: it is now regarded in the same company as its vineyard clients for a fresh, elegant and restrained wine style that's increasingly in vogue.4
Matthew Luczy, Decanter (5 February 2021), on whether you can buy this label without checking: There are only a few vineyards in California where a wine lover can 'buy blind' and feel confident they are getting what they pay for. Hirsch Vineyards certainly belongs in that select group.1
Wine & Spirits put it on the Top 100 Wineries of 2021, a list the magazine builds from a two-step blind tasting.3
Jon Bonné, writing in 2009 and quoted by Lander: Though it may have been dumb luck that Hirsch settled here, his neighborhood has grown up to be the Gold Coast for California Pinot Noir: Flowers, Marcassin, Martinelli's famous Blue Slide Ridge were all planted nearby.4
Ross Cobb, who made the wine here from 2010 to 2015: We made such incredible wines. He also called Hirsch brilliant, extremely intense and strong-headed.4

Good to know

David Hirsch died on 28 July 2026, aged 81. He was born in the Bronx in 1944, dropped out of Columbia after a year, and fell for Pinot Noir on train trips to Burgundy while working in the garment trade.4
The tasting room is in Healdsburg, open daily by appointment and booked through Tock. Marie Hirsch designed the room.5
Most tastings include an older vintage so you can see how the parcels age.5
Thirty wineries have bought this fruit, Rochioli, Siduri and Flowers among them, which is why the vineyard name turns up on other people's labels.2
The wines got lighter. Chardonnay came in near 15% alcohol and Pinot Noir at 14.5% in 2008; Goode was told they now run around 13%.2
A 15-minute wine shop visit is bookable on its own if you only want to buy.5

Verdict

must-visit — Kistler, Williams Selyem and Littorai have bought this fruit since 1994, and Littorai's is the longest-running contract of the three. You do not taste at the ranch. Jasmine Hirsch pours the parcels against each other in Healdsburg, $75 for sixty minutes and $45 for the shorter flight, both by appointment. Her father bought the land in 1978 for $425,000, ran a ten-mile power line to reach PG&E, and died on 28 July 2026 at 81.

Hirsch Winery.