Tony and Kimberly Kirk established Birdstone Winery with the goal of producing world-class wines from Madera-appellation grapes. A friends and family effort from the start, Birdstone’s winemaking team includes Tony, Kimberly and their sons Travis & Conner. It’s not uncommon to find Tony & Kim’s siblings, parents or friends behind the bar in the Tasting Room or helping to crush grapes during harvest.
In the heart of California’s scenic Gold Rush Country, Ironstone Vineyards will surprise and delight you with a winery that places as much emphasis on the natural beauty and history of their surroundings, as they do on the quality of their wines.
AmByth is the Welsh word meaning 'forever'. We view it as our legacy: to live and farm to our heart's content in Templeton for the remainder of our lives...but also to farm with the future in mind, and the healthy condition of our land being left behind. AmByth Estate is Paso Robles' first and only winery to produce Demeter-certified Biodynamic wines. We utilize the Biodynamic method of farming to enhance our observations of nature, and use these intimate insights as tools that allow our 20 acres of vineyards to express their true character through the grapes it produces. We want our grapes to be as unique to AmByth Estate as your thumbprint is to you.
Artwork by Wine Artist Agata Zaborowski – Agata Art Gallery
The tasting rooms and grounds are beautiful and well kept. There are shaded areas to enjoy a glass of wine, as well as a great deal of manicured lawns to have a picnic or catch some rays. If you arrive with sufficient time, they gladly give tours of the production rooms, which I found interesting. Each time I've gone to a tasting here, the staff has been welcoming and informative, without being pretentious. The selection of wines for the regular tasting is good and includes several of my favorite wines from this winery. They usually give away the tasting for free if you buy a bottle.
Tom and Marilyn Stolpman founded Stolpman Vineyards in 1990 after making the decision that Marilyn’s dream of an “investment we can enjoy” could include finding the perfect piece of property that could grow world-class wine grapes.Through extensive experimentation with many varietals, the team has perfected its offerings of Syrah, Roussanne, Sangiovese and Sauvignon Blanc. Limited plantings of Grenache, Viognier, Petite Sirah, and Chardonnay serve as blending grapes.
We found them in the Sonoma Wineries listing and saw that tasting was by appointment only..we didn't know that it was out of date and that there was an official tasting room...anyway, we made the appt and got lost trying to get there. We happened to see a man doing some work in a barn/garage and asked his help to find the winery. He told us we found it. Turns out the winery was in the barn, he was the winemaker, and the tasting was done on the porch. Talk about a beautiful setting to taste wine. The hills, the vineyards, the babydoll sheep...yes, sheep. Forth uses babydoll sheep instead of herbicides. Very environmentally friendly.
What makes Lodi wine so unique is that it is actually grown and made in seven different AVA’s; each one boasting its own distinct character, soil conditions and micro-climate. In fact, conditions here make it possible to grow more kinds of varietals from around the world than anywhere else in California. Anywhere else, period. The results of which you’ll discover as you navigate your way around these parts. Enjoy.
A cool microclimate in the Oregon House Valley: forty five hundred vines planted on a gentle, well-drained, north-east facing slope. Red loam and clay topsoil on decomposed granite and volcanic ash subsoil, sprinkled with fragments of granite rocks, basalt, and quartz. The virgin soil is pure, uncontaminated, alive with microorganisms and earthworms. The Sierra Nevada Foothills are not the first to spring to mind when thinking about Pinot Noir in California, and yet this site provides an ideal microclimate and soil combination for its demanding nature.
We were able to do some barrel tasting and i can't wait for the 2012's to be released because they're already outstanding. Kirk, the owner, gave us an education on how they introduce new blends to existing vines through bud grafting and he told us about his neighbors and the wines they're producing. I felt like I was part of their family, just enjoying a glass or two of wine for the day.
The Bucklin's were all born and raised in San Francisco, but spent virtually every weekend and summer on their Grandmother's ranch in Sonoma. In 1976, their mother Anne, a professional landscape gardener, moved to Sonoma when she married Otto Teller. Otto and Anne lived together on Oak Hill Farm where they raised organic flowers and vegetables. In 1981, the Tellers purchased the venerable Old Hill Ranch Vineyard which is adjacent to the farm. Meanwhile, the four Bucklin siblings set off on separate paths across the country pursuing various careers, spouses, and hobgoblins, only to return to the family farm in Sonoma.
