vision and magical vineyards.

More than thirty years ago, Gary and Marian Conway purchased land in Adelaida, west of Paso Robles, and six miles from the art colony of Cambria at the foot of Big Sur. Gary first beheld the idyllic beauty of the area aboard a helicopter moments before it crashed. Emerging from the wreckage, Gary exclaimed to the still stunned real estate broker, “I'm going to buy this place!” This is the stuff of legends; and, indeed, in the ensuing years the land and its supersoils and textbook microclimates are fast becoming legendary.

Adding to the legend, Carmody McKnight Estate Vineyards has been chosen as the only vineyard in the United States to be the subject of an extraordinary joint effort between John Deere Global Ag. Services; Motorola, Inc.; Earth Information Technologies, Inc.; and Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo. This project is destined to usher in a new age in agriculture, agronomics, and earth science technologies.

Previously, the Carmody McKnight Vineyards have been the subject of extensive university program research with Cal Poly University due to the rarity of the soils derived from calcareous shale, limestone and igneous (volcanic) rocks as well as montmorillonite -- "the wonder soil." As this confluence of soil constituents are found nowhere else, the Carmody McKnight vineyards are particularly suitable for these innovative technological investigations and agricultural applications. For the first time, the centuries-long quest to understand “terroir” is at hand!

Three Carmody McKnight wines, in combination, create the “Cadenza” Meritage which won against all California wines in 2002's most prestigious of competitions – the California State Fair Wine Competition. The winery itself was voted number one on the Central Coast. Yes, supreme quality is ultimately about the soils and the climate; greatness is born in the vineyard. It is an astonishing fact that in the history of the vineyard there has never been the necessity to fertilize (a common regularity in all vineyards); yet the wine, as analyzed in the extensive Cal Poly University study, has been found to be the most mineral and nutrient rich in the world -- a “natural” phenomenon and the ultimate expression of “terroir” or...“vineyard magic!”

In 1995, the Conways produced their first wine in the cellar of their 130-year old farmhouse, following the planting of grapes in 1985. Carmody McKnight, from its beginning, embraced a personal vision and pursuit of the land and its gifts, not bound by commercial restraints, as exemplified in their hand-crafted, 100% estate blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc along with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and a one-of-a-kind dessert wine, Kathleen.