Since 2017, Skye and Sarah Lyons have tended their 10-acre wine farm and orchard in the heart of the Los Olivos District AVA, dedicated to the vine cultivars of the Rhône Valley.
Lyons Vineyard is a 10-acre property in Santa Ynez, California, planted to grapevines and orchards. It was first planted in 2009 with one acre each of Grenache and Viognier, and expanded in 2017 to nearly 6 acres, adding Syrah and Mourvèdre.
Syrah, planted in 2017, is primarily clone 470 (a low-yielder that is widely planted in Hermitage), with some Durell Clone 8 as well, a late-ripener that is said to have come to California from Victoria, Australia. Grenache is head-trained clone 362, which is treasured in Châteauneuf-du-Pape for its small berries and clusters, exotic aromas, and dark color. The vineyard also sports Grenache clone 515, notable for its low vigor and beautiful red fruit in the wines. Mourvèdre is the American clone 4, which originated from a vineyard in Lodi in the 1960s and buds, flowers, and ripens late—even for Mourvèdre—and when it’s pruned hard, produces beautifully elegant, long clusters that hang down like chandelier earrings. Its wines are packed with blackberry and boysenberry fruit, and finish with lilting tea leaf and white pepper tones. The origin of the Viognier clone is currently unknown, but what is known is that the wine that emerges from it is intensely aromatic—full of stone fruit—and full-bodied.
“Huge diurnal swings and high winds both encourage Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre to develop small, thick-skinned berries that retain their acidity. The grapes fully ripen without excessive sugar, lending itself to our house style of elegant and balanced wines.”
The vineyard is situated on a riverbench, at an elevation of 700 feet, with about 18 inches of sandy loam overlaying another 18 inches of sandy clay. Below this scant three feet of topsoil is pure alluvial riverbed: perfect drainage for grapevines.
Because Santa Ynez is the only stretch of land in the Western Hemisphere constituting a true east-west traverse valley, the corridor created by these mountain ranges—the Santa Ynez Mountains to the south and San Rafael Mountains to the north—allows cool fog and ocean breezes to moderate temperatures. As a result, the site experiences large diurnal swings, with a typical 30-degree difference between day and night. It’s very windy here, all of which encourages Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre to develop small, thick-skinned berries that retain their acidity in the key ripening period of the growing season.
This is so key: Here the grapes fully ripen without excessive sugar levels, which lends itself to a house style of elegant and balanced wines.
Lyons Vineyard is located in the Los Olivos District, an AVA established in 2016, in Santa Barbara County. It is a sub-region of the Santa Ynez Valley AVA. It is slightly warmer than its western neighbor, Ballard Canyon, and cooler than its eastern neighbor, Happy Canyon. The AVA is located on a broad bench composed of well-drained—and, importantly, rather uniform—alluvial soils. The gently to moderately sloping terrain encompasses the towns of Solvang, Los Olivos, Ballard and Santa Ynez.
Wines from Los Olivos AVA typically strike a harmonious balance between freshness and acidity, full body, and tannic structure: perfect attributes for the kind of wine Sarah and Skye want to make.
Organic farming is a personal affair at Lyons Vineyard. Skye’s father Stephen Lyons was a lifelong farmer and passed away from lung cancer, but the family has always suspected that it had to do with the sprays he had to use at the end of his career at a vineyard in North Carolina. Therefore it’s important for them to be not just ecologically responsible, but to keep their own workers and family away from toxins.
As a practicing—though not certified—organic farm, biodiversity is a major goal for Sarah and Skye, and to do this they plant cover crops in between vine rows, and they compost in the vineyard to build up the health of the soil and biome.
They planted an orchard to promote crop diversification and healthy insects, which themselves help with integrated pest management. Owl boxes & raptor perches help control the rodent population, and the installation of Western Bluebird boxes has led to the settlement of five bluebird families, who help control bad insects.
Organic farming is a way of life for Sarah and Skye. For their health, for the planet, for future generations. Everything is an ecosystem, and by promoting organic farming they are also helping wild flora and fauna, especially a family of jackrabbits living in the vineyard. And in the end, they believe this organic approach and a bio-diverse farm makes for better quality wines.