Arriving from France for college, in the early seventies, I got caught up in the back to the land movement. Armed only with degree in philosophy, I bought 40 acres of some of the rockiest land on Atlas Peak. I experimented with organic and bio-dynamic farming before it was fashionable.

In 1979, I found my dream parcel of land at the top of Atlas Peak and began clearing the land with a 1953 International bulldozer. We removed boulders the size of cars to make way for the first vineyard. For the first year I lived in a teepee and dreamt of the vineyards, the lake and even the rammed earth home and winery which now sit on the original camp site.

- Patrick Elliott-Smith