The philosophy of Emeritus Vineyards is influenced by our founding winemaker, McDonald Don Blackburn. Don, born in Virginia, studied and worked in Burgundy for many years before returning to the United States. Emeritus is committed to expressing the unique character of Gold ridge soil. All vineyard sites that Emeritus farms are on this soil, which is one to four feet of a sandy-clay loam. All the vineyards are planted at "close spacing" as in Burgundy, about 2023 vines per acre, and are trained
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\nand pruned according to the Burgundy AOC model, Guyot-a single cane of about six to eight buds, producing in the end, about 14-16 clusters per vine.
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