A Destination Unrivaled
Fritz Underground Winery is unlike any place you've ever visited. A visionary wonder built ahead of its time by namesake Mr. Jay Arthur Fritz in the late 1970's, this monumental Gaudi style masterpiece represents a viticultural passion for sustainability, quality, and tradition. Today, Jay's son Clayton runs the winery with the same dedication and enthusiasm to these core values.
A Natural Wonder
Built into the side of a picturesque hill atop the northernmost region of the famed Dry Creek Valley, the Fritz Winery operates with a modern sensibility for efficiency and awareness by utilizing the unique attributes of its subterranean design. Naturally cool temperatures, ideal for wine making and cellaring, are maintained without any use of expensive or carbon-heavy devices common to most modern wine production. What's more, as a three-tiered structure, we're able to further cut down on energy usage by capitalizing on the always plentiful presence of gravity. By harnessing gravity to move our juice from the crush pad down to the tanks and barrels, we're not only saving energy by forgoing pumps, we're also saving our precious juice from the detrimental effects of excessive pulsation and buffeting. It's in this way that the delicate nuances present in our Pinot Noir and other prized Estate fruit is maintained and the nurtured by our winemaker Brad Longton.
