Dark Horse Vineyards is a Demeter-certified estate vineyard and winery overlooking the town of Ukiah in Mendocino County in the North Coast of California. It is listed as Dark Horse Farming Company.

Owner: Paul Dolan. He was born on 16th July 1950 in Oakland in the Bay Area. Degree in business and finance from Santa Clara Uni, California. Three years in the US army. Masters Degree in Oenology, Fresno State University. Three generations of winemakers on his mother’s side and one on his father’s. Dolan joined Fetzer Vineyards when it was owned by the Fetzer family in 1977 in his late twenties, as a winemaker, initially to improve the quality of the white wines. He met and married Diana Fetzer whilst working there. Dolan spent 25 years at Fetzer, ‘the first company winemaker not named Fetzer [who] is credited with the development of several very successful brands, including Sundial Chardonnay, Eagle Peak Merlot and and Bonterra. Only Bonterra has built a brand image based on organic farming and has been more successful in the export market than in the U.S.’, says Larry Walker (2003).

Mendocino Wine Co.: In 2004 Paul Dolan was a co-founder of the Mendocino Wine Co. with brothers Tom and Tim Thornhill. In 2012 he was asked to leave the business which he did in 2014 after a lawsuits. One of MWC’s brands is Paul Dolan Vineyards. This now belongs to MWC, meaning Paul Dolan now has no connection with the brand that bears his name and to which he supplied grapes (with other growers).

Vineyards: Dark Horse has 65 hectares (160 acres) of land of which 28 hectares (70 acres) are vineyards. Also 170 olive trees.

Biodynamic certification: 2004 First vintage with full Demeter Biodynamic certification.

Red wines

Dark Horse Vineyard GPS: 2015 Made from ‘GPS’ or Grenache Noir, Syrah and Petite Syrah (around one third each).

Sweet wines

White Blend Estate: 2016 Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc. 150 cases.

Contact

Dark Horse Vineyards

5341 Old River Road

Ukiah, CA 95482

Tel+001 707 391 7554 | Website: www.darkhorsewine.com

Bibliography

International Biodynamic Wine Conference, San Francisco 6-7th May 2018.

Larry Walker, ‘Green Politics,’ Harpers 12 September 2003, p.13.