KINDRED
WINDMILL RANCH

Kindred is a bond between two people. Usually, there is a Spirit thrown in the description. Kindred Spirits are two people whose interests or attitudes are similar to one's own. On the label of each of our Kindred Wines, you find another bifurcated photo of my Father and His Brother. Genetically identical people, (same parents) raised in the same home, fed the same food. Now we all know that even when you have identical twins, even though every part of them is the same, they will have different personalities. They will experience things slightly differently and that amalgamation of differences will shape them into two totally different people.
Now assign that same context to vines and location. Each of our Grenache’s come from the same clone of vine and are as identical as twins. These clones are cuttings from each other and fundamentally are identical in every way shape and form. One would expect that these identical vines would produce the same grape and hence the same wine. Well, that could not be further from the truth. The location of the vineyards these vines grow in is less than 2 miles away from each other. But those 2 miles are worlds apart.

Each of these Vineyards resides in 2 separate AVA’s
Kindred WR - resides in Windmill Ranch on Ballard Canyon in the Ballard Canyon AVA

Kindred ECR - resides in El Camino Real Vineyard on the corner of Zaca Station Road and Hwy 154 in the Santa Ynez Valley AVA

Each of these vineyards has very distinct and diverse characteristics.
Ballard Canyon is higher and cooler with a latter sunrise and sunset do to the canyon The soil is made up of mostly Adobe Clay and limestone.
And El Camino Real is 10° hotter and colder than anywhere else in the Santa Ynez Valley. And the Soil type is mostly that of a stream bed and aggregate stone.
These are just 2 of the myriad of differences that these locations have.
Thus each of these wines is different, even though their genetic makeup is identical.

Hence the bifurcated photo - two young brothers with wildly different personalities raised and treated the same by loving parents. My father and my uncle could not be more different. One is loud and gregarious, while the other is quieter and more contemplative. The photos we honor these wines by telling this story just as the differences in the wines do.

You can love them both.
It will just be for different reasons.

Who knew we would all learn more about wine by simply understanding a couple of kids.