Stoneboat's Name

A Stoneboat is a flat sledge for carrying stones; originally used to clear our home vineyard of its abundant river rocks. We named our vineyards as a tribute to the original caretakers of our Home Vineyard, who had to clear the land of its rocks in order to cultivate it. We believe that a stoneboat is representative of qualities that we value: hard work and tradition.

The Role of the Rocks

Rocks retain the heat of the day and radiate it towards the plants during the night- much like hot water bottles. This is especially important in the Oliver area with its desert climate that involves particularly hot days and cool nights.

The large differential between evening and daytime temperatures imparts distinct flavours in the grapes that are not present in more temperate climates.

All our properties are fairly rocky; it’s the nature of our part of the Black Sage region. Though our original home property was cleared of its river stones (with a stoneboat), new rocks are always working their way up to the surface, making rock-picking a fairly common event.

What rocks don’t fit under the plants get piled on the edges of the vineyards. We are fortunate to have tractors and buckets in helping us do this work, but it largely remains the same as 75 years ago; a good shovel and some shoulder muscles are a necessity.