I want to begin with a line from Wendell Berry that has stayed with me:
“For the true measure of agriculture is not the sophistication of its equipment, the size of its income, or even the statistics of its productivity, but the good health of the land.”
There are plenty of days when our mountain reminds us that our equipment is anything but sophisticated. When we apply micronutrients, we carry four-gallon backpacks and walk every vine, every row, up and down the hill. By midmorning, it feels like a marathon.
But I've come to appreciate what that slower, harder way of working has taught me. When you walk every row, you pay attention. You learn which vines behave differently, where disease appears, where the soil holds water, and where it doesn't. Over time, the vineyard becomes less like a collection of vines and more like a conversation.
Sometimes that conversation tells you to do less.
When we had a leafhopper problem, we could have used a systemic pesticide and eliminated them. Instead, we waited and watched. Eventually, the natural predators seemed to find their balance. We also noticed the leafhoppers preferred the basal leaves of our most vigorous vines, effectively doing some of our leafing for us.
That experience gets to the heart of what regeneration means to me. It isn't a list of practices. It is having affection for a place and doing what is best for it, even when it is harder. A little like raising children, you care for what they need today while always keeping their future in mind.
When I became responsible for farming Alta Orsa, I took that responsibility seriously. There are easier ways to farm, but their consequences extend beyond the vines, to our workers, our neighbors, the watershed, and the life of the ecosystem itself.
So we keep walking. We keep watching. We keep learning.
And somehow, that work finds its way into the wines.
A Mountain, Three Expressions
When Kate and I sat down to taste our Fall 2026 release, I found myself reaching for a different vocabulary. A club member once described one of our wines to me as a room, imagining mahogany shelves, leather chairs, dim light, and the feeling of being somewhere peaceful but full of possibility.
I loved that.
It reminded me that wine is not always about identifying aromas or describing structure. Sometimes it is about the places it takes us, the memories it brings back, or simply how it makes us feel.
As I thought about the three wines in this release, I found myself returning to that idea. The 2021 Alta Orsa Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2022 Alta Orsa Estate Soil Series Cabernet Sauvignon, and the 2024 Alta Orsa Estate Syrah each tell a different story. The Soil Series, which we are sharing exclusively with our club members this year, offers another expression of the mountain and the character of its oldest vines. The Reserve Cabernet reflects a different perspective on our hillside, while the Syrah brings its own personality and rhythm to the table.
Three vintages. Three very different seasons. Three expressions of the same mountain.
Each wine carries something of the place it came from, the season that shaped it, and the decisions made along the way. We can guide that process, but ultimately, the vineyard and the growing season have a say in what ends up in the bottle.
Perhaps that is one of the things I appreciate most about farming and making wine. You can put in the work, pay attention, and make the best decisions you can, but you also have to leave room for things beyond your control.
A Shared Affection
And then there is you.
Your enthusiasm for the wines, your questions about how we farm, your visits to the mountain, and the friendships that have grown along the way are what make this more than a vineyard and a winery.
Berry wrote that “the primary motive for good care and good use of the land-community is always going to be affection.”
I think that is what we are building here: affection for a place, for the work, and for the people who choose to share in it.
Thank you for being part of it.
With gratitude,
Martin Bernal-Hafner
Winemaker | Alta Orsa Winery