Martinelli Road

Russian river valley

Martinelli Road vineyard is planted at the base of Jackass Vineyard and is surrounded by redwood trees. As a six year old, Lee Sr. was helping his father, Leno, clear the land of the old redwood stumps. These stumps had deep roots that needed to come out in order to plant on this land. Back in the early 1940s people used dynamite for the clearing of redwood stumps. Leno asked one of his brothers, Bing, how much dynamite he needed to do this. Bing suggested about 6-8 sticks. Leno handed his son the sticks of dynamite, held him by the ankles, and lowered him into the center of the redwood stump. 6 year old Lee placed the dynamite as deep as possible in order to reach the roots. They then backed up about 100 or so yards to shelter behind a barn and lit the fuse. Lee Sr. remembers it rained redwood pieces for several minutes. The recommended dynamite amount far exceeded the job. Later they found pieces of redwood stump on top of Jackass Hill, a tenth of a mile away, and 500 yards higher than where the stump originated.