Powicana Farm
Powicana Farm is a small, family-run vineyard in Redwood Valley, Mendocino County, California, run by Zoubida and Remi Zajac, a couple originally from France who bring deep experience in natural, organic, and biodynamic grape growing to their own land. The vineyard sits on the edge of a plateau above Mendocino Lake, surrounded by mountains, where a gentle breeze cools the vines even on the hottest days. Its name—Powicana, the Pomo word for "Red Clay Ridge"—honors the people who lived on this land before them, and describes the vineyard's signature soil: a rich, red Redvine sandy clay loam.
The farm grows a single varietal, Petite Sirah (Clone 3 on 110 rootstock, planted in 2002), a rare grape with origins in southern France and only around 10,000 acres planted worldwide, mostly in California. Farming philosophy draws inspiration from Masanobu Fukuoka's natural agriculture and biodynamic practice—the vineyard is no-till, moving toward fully dry-farmed, worked entirely by hand with no insecticides or pesticides, and certified organic by CCOF since 2019. Cover crops build soil texture and richness, and every task is approached with a minimal-intervention ethos that carries straight through into the cellar.
In the winery, that same restraint holds: wines are fermented with wild yeast native to the vineyard, aged in neutral barrels to let each vintage tell its own story, and made without any added sulfites. The result is wine the Zajacs describe as genuinely alive—unfined, unfiltered, still carrying active wild yeast, and capable of shifting character slowly over years in bottle. Beyond the vines, Powicana is a full working farm with animals, forestland, and biodiversity woven through the property, reflecting a philosophy built on pure soil, pure grapes, and pure wine—a small, sincere operation rooted in traditional practice and a genuine human touch.
Biodyna
Biodynamic
Natural
Socials
https://www.instagram.com/powicana/
Wines
Powicana Farm's range centers almost entirely on a single rare varietal—Petite Sirah—grown as their sole estate grape, expressed across still and sparkling styles that all share the same wild-fermented, low-intervention backbone. Their Pétillant Naturel Rosé, made from 100% Petite Sirah grown at 900 feet, is pressed and partially fermented in steel using wild yeasts straight from the vineyard, then kept cold through winter before finishing its fermentation naturally in bottle. It pours bright, crisp, and floral, with citrus and golden raspberry notes, soft natural bubbles, and a gentle yeasty texture from the wild ferment—a lively, genuinely "alive" wine that continues to slowly evolve in bottle since it's bottled unfined, unfiltered, and without any added sulfites.
Beyond the pét-nat, the estate produces still red wines from the same Petite Sirah fruit, aged in neutral barrels that let each vintage express its own character rather than imposing a house style—vintages going back to 2015 have been noted for remarkable vitality and purity of fruit. The farm has also made a port-style wine in the past, continuing the same dry-farmed, hand-worked, sulfite-free approach across styles.
What defines the whole range is a refusal to intervene: no sulfites at any stage, native yeast fermentation throughout, and neutral oak used purely as a vessel rather than a flavoring tool. Because Petite Sirah itself is a rare grape—barely 10,000 acres planted worldwide—Powicana's wines offer an unusually direct, single-varietal window into how a naturally farmed, dry-grown vineyard on red clay above Mendocino Lake expresses itself, vintage after vintage, without dilution or polish.
