Duncan Peak

Since 1980, Duncan Peak Vineyards has specialized in growing Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah grapes and producing excellent Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah wines in this estate grown and produced wine property known as Duncan Ranch, at the base of Duncan Peak on the edge of the Sanel Valley near Hopland, California. The grapes are grown with as many sustainable and organic farming techinques as possible. The wines are made with minimal winemaker intervention, as a true expression of the soil, the vines and the fruit.

Poet Ezra Pound once said, “With one day’s reading a man may have the key in his hands.” Ezra Pound would have liked Hubert Lenczowski. Though it took more than a day’s worth of hitting the books, his self-guided tour of the fundamentals of enology and viticulture proved key to Hubert’s success as proprietor and winemaker of Duncan Peak Vineyards---and his Cabernet Sauvignon is evidence in a bottle.

At the winery in Hopland, California, the scene around the property is nearly textbook itself. While wife Resa’s horses graze near the eight-acre Cabernet vineyard, chickens patrol the rows of grapevines, dedicated to round-the-clock pest control. The Lenczowskis’ two children, perched on a trailer pulled by the ranch ATV, contribute to the farming endeavor by seeding red clover into the vineyard rows as they slowly pass by.

If this sketch of life seems routine for a family of the winemaking persuasion, one need only learn the whole truth behind Resa and Hubert’s viticultural endeavor to understand the uniqueness and passion behind their story. Since 1980, the Lenczowskis have been crafting a limited supply of estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignon from rich, mature hillside vineyards just south of the small village of Hopland. Those in the know have learned that Duncan Peak wine holds its own with some of California’s best Cabernets, and have become loyal patrons of each vintage.