The Scribe Winery tale begins with a charming young entrepreneur named Andrew Mariani and a storied piece of land—home, most recently, to a turkey farm—located about three miles east of the Sonoma town square. A mile-long driveway lined with palm trees leads to a decrepit hacienda built a century ago by two bootlegger brothers from Germany. Acres and acres of brush and cactus surround impeccably trellised grapevines. In the distance are vast expanses of conserved mountainside, where foxes and mountain lions roam beneath California bay laurel, oak and madrone trees.Scribe founder Andrew Mariani and his brother Adam grew up in a farming family in the Santa Clara Valley. Andrew and Adam see themselves as scribes of their land, and the Scribe winery is the result of their labor. One of their primary goals is to help revive their property, while making sure not to overpower nature's patterns in the process. This goal is embodied in what they call “Forever Wild Farming,†which works to integrate their harvest into the existing ecosystem of the land. Together with winemakers Kristof Anderson (Nils Venge’s protegé) and Andrew Avellar, the Mariani brothers have chosen to ban the use of chemicals on the property, and instead solely participate in natural methods of vinification. The team works to increase the biodiversity of their land by encouraging natural species to thrive alongside the vines. Andrew reiterates that the outcome of these choices includes wines that are faithful representations of their origins and a sustainable model that enriches rather than depletes the land.
