About Us

KÆRSKOV Vineyard is situated in the heart of the Santa Ynez Valley in the Los Olivos District AVA. The vineyard sits partially on top of an ancient riverbank high above the Alamo Pintado creek bed. The land is a nice mix of limestone hillsides and river stone flatlands along Alamo Pintado Creek which creates great drainage with rich nutrients.

Warm air flows from the San Rafael range to the east and cool air from the Pacific Ocean in the west, making it an ideal climate for our Rhone varietals. 

KÆRSKOV Vineyard aim to grow some of the best grapes in the Santa Ynes Valley for our winery clients. Grower and winemaker Ryan Carr planted the vineyard in 2013 with 6’x3’ making it 2420 vines per acre “high-density”. We have planted this vineyard with 3 clones of Syrah, 2 clones of Grenache, Mourvèdre 04, and Viognier 01. KÆRSKOV Vineyard has become the new source for the CrossHatch Rhone Blend “Shading” as well as a single vineyard Syrah and Grenache for Carr Winery. The Viognier was planted with a late harvest sweet wine in mind.

The name KÆRSKOV originates from the Kærskov estate in Northern Denmark. KÆR means “Dear” and SKOV means “wood” in Danish. The name is first mentioned already in 1499 as a forest and again in the 1600s as one of the larger farms in the area.

The great-great-grandfather of the current owner of KÆRSKOV Vineyard bought the Kærskov farm in 1855 and in 1905 the family changed their name to Kærskov. The family remained farmers of various types of crops, pigs, cattle and mink up until the 1970s. 

René Gross Kærskov, owner of KÆRSKOV Vineyard blended his first wine in 2012 together with Monsieur Eric Boissenot, wine and vineyard consultant to four of Bordeaux's five First Growths “Premiers Cru” and Château Lynch-Bages in Bordeaux and also named “World’s most influential wine consultant” by The Drinks Business in 2013. It is a blend of: 65% Cabernet Sauvignon from 35 years old wines from Grande Cathelie, Pauillac; 30% Merlot from 34 years old wines from Pey Labrie, Canon-Fronsac located on a hilltop overlooking the Dordogne and Isle rivers and; 5% Cabernet Franc from more than forty years old wines from Labrie, Saint-Émilion. The following year, KÆRSKOV Vineyard, assisted His Royal Highness Prince Henrik of Denmark bringing the Prince’s wines from Chateau de Cayx in Cahors, France to the United States.

In 2013, René Gross Kærskov continued the family tradition of farming when establishing KÆRSKOV Vineyard on the lands of the Stonecrest Estate, an organic vegetable farm in Solvang in the Santa Ynez Valley.