Occidental
Occidental is a family winemaking project from father and daughter team - Steve and Catherine Kistler. Founded by Steve in 2011, the project is dedicated solely to Pinot Noir, expressing the unique Freestone-Occidental terroir in multiple single-vineyard expressions.
After finishing his studies at Stanford and U.C. Davis, Steve Kistler went on to work at Ridge Vineyards. It was here that he developed an appreciation for Zinfandel grown at Ridge’s most coastal site “Occidental Vineyard”. Steve then embarked on his own project Kistler Vineyards in 1978. At first Steve pioneered Burgundian-style Chardonnay winemaking in Sonoma and over time his focus shifted to Pinot Noir.
Occidental’s vineyard holdings are split in two (Bodega Ridge and Bodega Headlands) along a ridge top adjacent to the town of Bodega at the western limit of where Pinot Noir can be grown on the Sonoma Coast, just 5 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Catherine Kistler joined her father in 2017, and they produce fresh and energetic, cool-climate Pinots using carefully destemmed fruit, gentle punchdowns and exclusively free run wine - Occidental doesn’t own a press!