Chardonnay 'Martinelli Road'

This vineyard is planted at the base of Jackass vineyard. It is surrounded by redwood trees. As a 6 year old, Lee Sr was helping his father, Leno clear the land of the old redwood stumps. These stumps had deep roots that needed to come out in order to plant on this land. Back in the early 1940’s people used dynamite for the clearing of redwood stumps. Leno asked one of his brothers, Bing, how much dynamite he needed to do this. Bing suggested about 6-8 sticks. Leno handed his son Lee, a 6 year old, the sticks of dynamite, held him by the ankles, and lowered him into the center of the redwood stump….so he could place the dynamite as deep as possible to reach the roots. They then backed up about 100 or so yards to shelter behind a barn, then lit the fuse. Lee Sr remembers it rained redwood pieces for several minutes. The recommended dynamite amount far exceeded the job. Later they found pieces of redwood stump on top of Jackass Hill, a 1/10 of a mile away, and 500 yards higher than where the stump originated.

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