Columnist
Caruncho started resurrecting the four-acre vineyard in 2018 and opened Arquils Winery (arquils.com) in 2019. He farms organically, intending to morph into farming biodynamically and refers to himself as a non-interventionist winemaker.
Provided photo
Carlos Caruncho believes that with the proper care in the vineyard the grapes arrive in the winery with everything they need: add nothing; take nothing away.
Provided photo
I have had occasions over the years to be in big rooms filled with lots of wine people. In my experience, winemakers, while seldom the flashiest, are usually the most interesting, often the most talented people in those rooms.
Ruins
California’s strangest vineyard is in the tiny Yuba County town of Oregon House, 70 miles northeast of Sacramento, at an elevation of 2,250 feet in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is called Renaissance.
The view from Slope 19, the vineyard’s highest point, is so vast and varied that it feels as if you were looking down on all of California. The mountains of the coastal range sprawl to the west, guarding the Pacific. To the east, the Sierra tower, and the sparkling blue of Lake Tahoe peeks out in the distance.
But that’s not what makes Renaissance so singular. No: Look downhill from Slope 19. There, below the vineyard, sits a faux Roman amphitheater. Baroque bronze statues surrounding decorative fountains. Lavish gardens. Date palm trees. Replicas of Michelangelo’s “David,” herds of water buffalo, camels in a pen.