State Ranch is located northeast of the town of Yountville. The 23-acre vineyard is divided into two parcels by State Lane Road and consists of both older and younger vines. Many excellent wines are produced from this area, in part due to the rocky, loam soil which has excellent drainage throughout the year. The vines, as well as the clusters, are moderate in size and the vineyard gets full sun throughout the day. Nickel & Nickel selects fruit from 14.5 acres of the vineyard.

This cooler Yountville site experienced a growing season similar to 2014, with budbreak in March and bloom in May. During the warm summer months, light leaf pulling around each cluster gave the fruit just the right amount of sun exposure, and the September heat quickly and evenly ripened fruit in all of our blocks. We night-harvested all four blocks on the same day—a rare occurrence!—to ensure the Cabernet came in at peak maturity.