Some wine club members sitting at our bar told us they were farming a vineyard on the roof of the Santa Cruz Mountains. This happens a lot. Vineyard owners come into our tasting room hoping to win a new fruit client. We always listen, but the vast majority of these opportunities are not a good fit. These two hopefuls at our bar kept hitting the right notes though. "Farming it all by-hand...lived on site at the vineyard...entire ranch was organic...a rare clone of Sauvignon Blanc smuggled in from the Italian alps... soil so depleted weeds would barely grow...cooled by ocean winds." We drove down to take a look at Ascona a few days later. As soon as we got out of the car we could smell the sea. And not long after that, we were selecting our vineyard blocks. Ken & Abby Swegles would soon become friends—real bon vivants with whom we‘d break bread and open many epic bottles. Not surprisingly, the wines we later bottled from Ascona became cellar-favorites. Different than the vineyards down below in foggy Aptos, but equally "fringey" at 2,500 feet facing the Pacific Ocean. Ken offered a poignant comment on the subject, "the most challenging sites—offset with strident farming—produce the most interesting wines."