Cold soak and native fermentation
Fruit is sorted by hand and guided into open-top fermenters where a deliberate cold soak gives way to native yeast fermentation.
Marin County, California
Pinot Noir from the ridge above the fog.
Burning Bench Cellars is a tiny, off-grid winery devoted to one site only: Moon Hill Vineyard, a hand-farmed slope where forest, sandstone, clay loam, and coastal air shape every bottle.
The estate
A singular place with no filler around it.
Inspired by the confidence and restraint of leading Napa winery sites, this new direction puts the vineyard first. The focus is not on a large portfolio or a long catalog. It is on one dramatic hillside, one exacting farming practice, and one Pinot Noir made with patience.
Moon Hill Vineyard sits on the ridge between the Nicasio and San Geronimo valleys. The steep grades, narrow terraces, low-vigor soils, and cool mornings create fruit with natural concentration, lift, and mineral tension.
Moon Hill Vineyard
South-facing slopes, cool fog, and vines that have to work for everything.
Dijon clones 115, 667, 777, and 828 are planted in tight spacing across a steep, hand-tended site. Morning fog lingers below the ridge while the vineyard rises into sun, giving the fruit a long, measured arc toward ripeness.
Soil
Clay loam over fractured sandstone
Elevation
620 to 680 feet
Farming
Hand mowed, hand pruned, hand harvested
Seasonality
Every vintage starts in the details.
Harvest
Manual work, exact timing, no shortcuts.
Character
A fiercely personal estate with its own point of view.
Winemaking
Low intervention, Burgundian instincts, and gravity doing the heavy lifting.
Hands-on extraction
Punch-downs are done by hand, preserving texture and nuance while keeping the wine expressive rather than overworked.
French oak and time
The wine rests for 12 to 14 months in French oak, then is finished with a light hand to protect the site's individual character.
Off-grid cellar
A solar-powered winery tucked just beyond the vines keeps the operation elemental, direct, and unusually close to the source.
Estate Pinot Noir
Concentrated fruit, mineral drive, and a long, savory finish.
Burning Bench is built around a single expression: estate-grown Pinot Noir shaped by low yields, tiny berries, and the tension that comes from a site perched above the coastal valleys.
Single-vineyard
Estate grown
Marin County
Pinot Noir
Request current releases
Visit the estate
Private tastings rooted in place.
Visit Burning Bench Cellars and Moon Hill Vineyard in Nicasio for a closer look at the site, the cellar, and the philosophy behind this tiny estate.