By THE UKIAH DAILY JOURNAL | udj@ukiahdj.com |
Dan Dooling always knew he”d be a farmer, he just had to log over 2.5 million miles as a trucker before he could do it full-time. With a hearty laugh Dan shared the story that a friend jokes Dan started growing grapes just so he”d have something to haul in the vintage 1965 Peterbilt truck and trailer that he restored himself.
Years after ending a full-time career hauling beer, wine, meat and other products across country, Dan is just as passionate about trucking as he is about his Mariah vineyard located in the Mendocino Ridge appellation that he helped establish.
A third generation San Franciscan, Dan”s family was well-established in the trucking business. As a young man he naturally found himself working as a teamster on the waterfront. But, as Dan tells it with a wide and warm grin “I always, always wanted to have a vineyard.”
Today his dream is a full-on reality. Sixteen miles up Mountain View Road about one hour from Ukiah sits a vineyard in the clouds.
Set amongst pepperwoods and Douglas fir trees, just above the fog, amidst uninterrupted sunshine, are what Dan calls “Islands in the Sky” where he and his wife Vicki have grown a variety of grapes since the late 1980s. His vineyard and winery covers 91 acres, two and half miles off the grid and is run completely on solar power.
Along with his dream vineyard he also helped create a distinctive appellation that will leave a lasting legacy in Mendocino County.
Mendocino Ridge is the first and only non-contiguous American Viticultural Area in the country. He and fellow grape grower Steve Alden spent three-and-a- half-years working the system to create an appellation that describes the unique growing conditions at vineyards that are 1,200 feet and higher from Highway 128 to the county line to the ocean.
Zinfandel is the local specialty, as it has been since the late 1800s when many of the ridge-top vineyards in the appellation were first planted. The legacy of the early Italian mountain vignerons is honored today, as Mendocino Ridge is recognized for producing some of the very best, most distinctive Zins anywhere.
Set amongst pepperwoods and Douglas fir trees, just above the fog, amidst uninterrupted sunshine, are what Dan calls “Islands in the Sky” where he and his wife Vicki have grown a variety of grapes since the late 1980s. His vineyard and winery covers 91 acres, two and half miles off the grid and is run completely on solar power.
Along with his dream vineyard he also helped create a distinctive appellation that will leave a lasting legacy in Mendocino County.
Mendocino Ridge is the first and only non-contiguous American Viticultural Area in the country. He and fellow grape grower Steve Alden spent three-and-a- half-years working the system to create an appellation that describes the unique growing conditions at vineyards that are 1,200 feet and higher from Highway 128 to the county line to the ocean.
Zinfandel is the local specialty, as it has been since the late 1800s when many of the ridge-top vineyards in the appellation were first planted. The legacy of the early Italian mountain vignerons is honored today, as Mendocino Ridge is recognized for producing some of the very best, most distinctive Zins anywhere.