There are days in the vineyard when the work announces itself quietly. No fanfare. No audience. Just the sound of boots on gravel, the steady pull of wire, the scrape of a shovel against rocky soil. These are the days that don’t always make it into tasting notes—but they shape the wine just the same. Cabernet Franc has always been a favored grape of Paloma Owner & Winemaker Sheldon Richards. It reflects patience, restraint, and the willingness to do things the long way. It also reflects the people who farm it—their judgment, their persistence, and, quite literally, their hands. Calloused hands that tell stories long before a bottle is opened. This is one of those stories. Why We Replanted Replanting a vineyard is not something you do lightly. It’s a decision measured in decades, not seasons. For us, it began with careful observation and an uncomfortable truth: a portion of our vineyard was impacted by Red Blotch virus. Red Blotch affects a vine’s ability to fully ripen fruit. Sugars lag. Flavors don’t quite come together. You can farm thoughtfully, adjust canopy, and make winemaking choices to compensate—but at a certain point, honesty steps in. The wine tells you what the vineyard needs. So we made a choice rooted in humility and responsibility. Rather than asking compromised vines to give more than they could, we chose to start again—block by block, decision by decision. “I may or may not see the wine that comes from this block,” Sheldon said one afternoon, standing at the edge of the deck view-point. “But my kids and their kids will”.

Napa Valley award-winning wines: Paloma's 2019 Merlot & 2021 Cabernet. Double Gold winner. Aged 20+ years. Read more about these vintages here.