Wine Column

Maple Creek Winery

Art, Wine and More. Art and wine are the main inspirations at Maple Creek Winery, home of Artevino and Maple Creek brands. You’ll also find baseball, western chic and a love of food blended into the tastefully rustic Maple Creek Winery off Highway 128 near Yorkville. Proprietors Linda Stutz and Tom Rodrigues have transformed what was once a goat farm… Read the rest
Wine Column

Londer Vineyards

From Eye Doc to Winemaker. When Larry and Shirlee Londer decided to make a midlife move into winemaking they developed a business plan. They soon discovered that the best plans can be sidelined by unexpected circumstances. After moving from New Mexico to Anderson Valley a fortuitous meeting with the perfect consultant meant moving up their timeline and plan. It also… Read the rest
Wine Column

LeVin Winery & Vineyards

Talented Duo Share Organic Farm He’s a singer songwriter and trained classical musician. She’s a graphic artist related to Gumby. Together they make award winning wines. Stepping into the kitchen on a Sunday morning at the home of LeVin Winery and Vineyards’ owners Eric Levin and Holly Harman, I was met by the sizzle of a cast iron skillet on… Read the rest
Wine Column

Lazy Creek Vineyards

Mention Lazy Creek Vineyards to fans of this idyllic winery and eyes glaze over, mouths water and an audible sigh escapes. Falling in love with Lazy Creek is as easy as driving through the front gate, say new owners Don and Rhonda Carano (echoing the sentiment expressed by the previous owners Josh and MaryBeth Chandler). “It’s the place I fantasize… Read the rest
Wine Column

Jeriko Estate

Fetzer Clan’s Artist. Jeriko Estate’s Mediterranean villa on the west side of Highway 101 north of Hopland pulls me in with its adobe colored walls, red tiled roofs, and graceful archways. Artist, architect, and youngest son of Mendocino’s winegrowing Fetzer clan, Daniel Fetzer created his winery by drawing from what was here and overlaying it with early California, Tuscan and… Read the rest
Wine Column

Jaxon Keys

Winery and Distillery. Jaxon Keys may be one of Mendocino County’s newest wineries but its new winemaker Fred Nickel brings a wealth of local experience. Although Nickel has been at Jaxon Keys for just three months his tenure in the wine industry spans the last three decades of Mendocino’s winery growth and development. Nestled against the western hills, along Highway… Read the rest
Wine Column

Hopland Passport

Celebrate the Crush. As the grape harvest winds down, Hopland’s wineries celebrate with their semi-annual Hopland Passport next weekend on October 24 and 25. Fourteen wineries showcasing wines made from Italian, Burgundian, Rhone and Bordeaux varietals add food, music, bocce, barrel tastings and new releases to their individual celebrations. The two-day event takes place on Friday and Saturday from 11:00… Read the rest
Wine Column

Gibsons’ Hillside Vineyards

Grapes and Community. Above their Hillside Vineyards Norma and Morgan Gibson’s Mediterranean-ranch style home is filled with the warmth and coziness of family photos, a cookie jar collection and Norma’s paintings. Their vineyards located on the Talmage Bench grow some of the best Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc grapes around. And both are known for giving back to the community. Norma,… Read the rest
Wine Column

Hildreth Ranch Vineyards & Orchards

Five Generations Farming in Mendocino. In the 1850s the Hildreth and Standley families came to Mendocino County. Today Mike Hildreth, his wife Susan, and son Joe and wife Lindsay carry on the family’s farming legacy which has continued for five generations in Ukiah Valley. On a cold winter morning we gather outside next to the beautifully kept blue Victorian on… Read the rest
Wine Column

Greenwood Ridge

Take me out to the winery—or Ballgame. Before describing Greenwood Ridge tasting room’s Frank Lloyd Wright inspired architecture, their wines, the wine can collection, the line of screwcap bottles, the silkscreened labels and the annual Wine Tasting Championships, the operating word here is … baseball. Proprietor and winemaker Allan Green, tall and athletic, props his leg on a wine case… Read the rest
Wine Column

Goldeneye

All About Pinot Noir. Anderson Valley’s renown for Pinot Noir has developed over thirty years, most intensely in the last decade or so. In future columns we’ll meet some of those who contributed to the history of Pinot Noir in the valley. Today it’s about Goldeneye, which has been producing Pinot Noir in Anderson Valley since 1997. Located on the… Read the rest
Wine Column

Golden Vineyards

“Our vines, their (Mendocino) wines” is how Julie and Joe Golden approach their biodynamic, organic and fish friendly vineyard venture. Located at the top of the keyhole of Yokayo Valley, the Golden’s Heart Arrow Ranch more than complies with the requirements for each of its certifications. But that’s not all. Meeting Julie at the refurbished barn just off Highway 101… Read the rest
Wine Column

Giuseppe Wines

An Italian-American Story. The first time I saw the label on Nonno Giuseppe Zinfandel at the Bottle Shop in Ukiah I bought a bottle. Straightforward die-cut with a simple gold border, it features the photograph of an appealing Italian gentleman with a distinctive white mustache. It’s old world appeal and the local connection was so compelling that I wanted to… Read the rest
Wine Column

Frey Vineyards

A Family in Harmony with Their Land. The Frey family in Redwood Valley lives by and enriches the tenets of organic and biodynamic at their winery and ranch on Tomki Road. Four generations of the family live on the ranch and work in the family business. This includes most of the twelve children of Marguerite and her late husband Paul… Read the rest
Wine Column

Foursight Wines

Four Generations of Foresight. Past and present mix with timeless ease at Foursight Vineyards where four generations of the Charles family have lived and made their living in the middle of Boonville. From logging to grapegrowing each has built upon the love and the possibilities of their land. Chickens, a vegetable garden and an organic hay field have been part… Read the rest
Wine Column

Fetzer Vineyards

Champion of Sustainability. Fetzer Vineyards’ contributions to making Mendocino County “America’s Greenest Wine Region” are innumerable and impressive. Let’s start with their latest accolade. Just last week Fetzer was recognized for the second time in five years with the Governor’s Award for Environmental and Economic Leadership for the many ways the winery is reducing its carbon footprint and continually developing… Read the rest
Wine Column

Ferrington Vineyard

Commitment to Quality. A long eared jack rabbit merrily munches on the cover crop in the vineyard and hops ahead of my car along the graveled road at Ferrington Vineyards. The pruned vines stand dormant between a profusion of brilliant golden mustard and bright greens planted annually to feed the soil and attract beneficial insects. A herd of sheep currently… Read the rest
Wine Column

Esterlina Vineyards

Dreams of a Sterling Father. With vineyards in Anderson Valley, on the Boonville Road and in Sonoma County, and a relatively short tenure in the wine industry, a family of four talented sons, father and mother, are producing highly acclaimed award winning wines. The story of Esterlina Vineyards and Winery begins with Murio Sterling, who at 72 isn‘t slowing down.… Read the rest
Wine Column

Elke Vineyards

A Place for Pinot Noir. Mary Elke is one of those people who immediately makes you feel comfortable. Tan from working outdoors, her graying hair pulled back, dressed in casual shirt and pants, she’s sitting at a picnic table outside her small winery building at one of her vineyards in Anderson Valley. “Growing grapes and making wine are a tangible… Read the rest
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