When virgin land is prepared, brush is torn out by a bulldozer and later burned. Greater sized boulders are piled by the 'dozer, but groups of men gather the "tinier" rocks into small piles hither and yon, and later walk through with tractors to take them pile them. We can't help but build rock walls. Here's a 1985 photo of Jim's "Wheels Wall" in the Old Zin vineyard. Here's a view from the east and a view from the west and another of the wheels. 300 daffodils were planted here in 2009. Rocks "grow" in the vineyard -- mowing and other activities sometimes surface hidden rocks. We place these rocks inside of the spray strip or bring them to the end of a row. Nearly all of the rocks are granite in various stages of decomposition (there are also quartz veins & river rocks.) When you visit our tasting room, you'll see two more rock walls by Mike & Jim in the picnic area! Jim has built over ten rock walls. Mike helps when that extra bit of leverage is needed to place a 500-lb. biggie. Here's the "Cactus Wall" near Jim's Primitivo Vineyard. Check out the North Side - built mostly by Mike, and the South Side built by Jim. Also see the unfinished view from 2001 and 'halfway there' in 2003. Here's Angel's Wall (formerly "Spud's wall") on the west face of the Old Zin vineyard - view the east side, too. These pics from 2001 show an old sleigh that was 25 years old then and still carries rocks just fine. There's a giant spiral staircase in it that's not visible. Eventually, there will be 8 or 9 kinds of nopali cactus here - each for a different use foodwise. Atop the wall are rock pedestals still waiting for three sculptures to be built that were part of one of Mike's college art projects -- one day soon, promise. Click here to see the Secret Circle built by Mike and Jes from old classmates' ceramics projects, quartz, and shoes. At first, everyone else thought it was an archaeological find. Jesús and Moses built the greenstone rock walls at the tasting room's entrance. These walls are mortared while the granite walls are freestanding. Frank Alviso (HFH Ranch), Kenny Deaver, and others in Shenandoah Valley have walls built by these men. Notice their hard work when you're winetasting! This wall appears in the April 2010 Sierra Heritage Magazine on page 42 in the artcle, Shenandoah Valley: So Much More Then Wine Country. Story and Photos by Carolyn Fox. Click here to see a portion of the photo above. Permission to use... More pages with rock walls... The Agave (Maguey) Blooms A rock wall with a century plant on it. Snow!! Neat pictures of vines and walls in the snow. Butterfly Garden Concrete block & rock walls Mike built. Rock Walls Cactus Wall, Wheels Walls, Mike's Wall, Winery Walls New Rock Walls '09 A new page Art from the Vines Rock Wall paintings. Our Picnic Grounds Picnic near rock walls! Order - Wine - Library - Art - Framing - Events - Tour - Map/Hours - Grapes - Bulk Wine - Español Charles Spinetta Winery, Spinetta Family Vineyards, Zinetta, and the CSW Logo are registered trademarks of Charles J. Spinetta. Unless otherwise specified, all images and copy contained within the charlesspinettawinery.com domain are Copyright 1984-2019 Charles J. Spinetta. All rights reserved. Charles Spinetta Winery and Wildlife Art Gallery 12557 Steiner Road, Plymouth, California 95669, USA, telephone: (209) 245-3384, facsimile: (209) 245-3386