Recipe for Lemon Marinade:
- 1/2 Cup Olive Oil
- Lemon Peel
- Fresh Bay Leaf
- Clove Garlic (Add or delete to taste)
- Rosemary to taste
- Thyme to taste
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- Coariander to taste
Mix and muddle to release oil. Rub over Lamb and marinade over night.
Kuleto Estate Winery
2470 Sage Canyan Road
St. Helena, CA 94574
707-963-9750
www.kuletoestate.com
About Kuleto Estate:
In 1992, culinary entrepreneur Pat Kuleto assembled five parcels from cattle ranchers to create a 761-acre ranch of wild hillside land on the eastern edge of the Napa Valley. Marrying the eye of a master designer and the heart of a vintner, Pat perceived the vast potential for a world-class vineyard on this mountainous land overlooking Lake Hennessey, Pritchard Hill and the towns of Rutherford and St. Helena. For Pat, the building of his rustically elegant Tuscan-style home, Villa Cucina, and the planting of the surrounding Kuleto Estate vineyards represented the next step in the evolution of a life committed to gracious living and excellence.
Deemed unplantable by many due to the steep mountainous conditions, Pat was undeterred and applied his years of design, gardening and building experience to the challenging proposition of hillside farming. What he found as he began gently sculpting a small portion of the property only served to reinforce his assessment of the Hennessey Basin of Napa Valley. Underneath the manzanita scrub, fragrant chaparral and madrone saplings was a collage of distinct soil types and unique environments suited to a truly remarkable range of varietals.
Interpreting the land, Pat made bold site-specific planting decisions for each terraced virgin vineyard block, carefully choosing the rootstocks and clones that best suited each varietal. Working with the natural topography, the individually terraced lots are not oriented to one central direction, but instead are planted varietal specific to work in concert with the contours of the property. Begun in 1993, the first wave of plantings included cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese, pinot noir and chardonnay. In the years that followed syrah, zinfandel and muscat, as well as several other small lot blending varietals were added, planted at elevations ranging from 800 to 1450 feet.
With the ongoing cultivation of the vineyards underway, the next step for Kuleto Estate was clear to Pat. In order to meet his meticulous standards of quality and excellence, he knew that every aspect of the winemaking process needed to occur on the property. In 1997, he committed to building a winery onsite to complete the vineyard estate that had grown to include extensive orchards, gardens, and a working ranch with sheep, fowl, cattle and fish from the property's Lake Brunello. Construction of the state-of-the-art Kuleto-designed facility began in 1999 and was completed in 2001.
