In the early 1980s a friend and I began to make beer and winemaking soon followed.  We sourced our grapes from a store called Wine and the People in Berkeley – it was very funky but lots of fun.  In 1980 Christie and I had bought our home on Carr Dr and much of its big back yard was undeveloped and needed some landscaping.  As I had begun to take some winemaking classes at UC Davis, I decided to take one on small vineyard development and management.  The young couple teaching the class helped me plan a vineyard and I enlisted the help of our extended family to do the work.

I chose to plant Chard, Merlot and Cab initially based on climate data I obtained from EBMUD – Lamorinda has roughly 2450 degree days during the growing season and that mimics the town of Napa, so why not Chard and Bordeaux varietals?  The vineyard was planted in 1987 but we lost more than 50% of the vines the first year due to a supplier problem and had to replant in 1988.  I tried hard to make an acceptable Chard but never felt it was very good,  so in 2000 we cut down the Chard and plant Cab and Cab Franc.  We currently have a mix of 80/10/10 Cab, Cab Franc and Merlot, some 15 yrs old and some 27 yrs old.

The 2014 harvest was our biggest to date with 1900 lbs but this latest harvest provided just 450. We continue to purchase fruit from time to time and we make all our wine on site using pretty basic equipment and 30 gallon French and Hungarian oak. Lately we’ve begun naming our wines after our 5 grand daughters.

BARRETTA FAMILY VINEYARD & WINE CAVE

These are photos of our vines and wine cave. We have just under 70 vines of Cab, 337 clone. We are in year two and expect to make wine in 2017. My wife Gina is an artist/graphic designer and will be producing our label in the coming year with the name “Barretta Family Vineyard”.  Russ

Our vineyard was planted in Spring, 2010.  It consists of 201 Cabernet Sauvignon and 23 Syrah vines. We bottled our first vintage in 2014, but it was only 19% sugar.. or 10% alcohol.

Our vines got Eutypa die-back about three years ago. We have lost 14 vines already, having replaced six already.  We will replace the rest this Spring.  We bought 500 lbs. of C/S in 2013, which is aging well.  I brought some to the wine tasting.  I bought 1000 lbs this year.  It is now in malelactic conversion.  I like Cabernet Sauvignon made from grape juice with at least 26% sugar.  It seems to have greater complexity of flavor than lower sugar numbers.

The land in Sleepy Hollow, Orinda, was originally purchased by an Italian American family in the 1950’s. They built the house and planted many pomegranates and olive trees.  When we purchased the house from this family, it only seemed fitting to someday plant some Syrah vines near the top of the terraced landscaping. 

In August 2005, we replaced the home’s existing irrigation to a drip system approved by EBMUD’s Rebate Program. In keeping with the landscaping, a “pocket vineyard” was planted in May of 2007.  Since 2010 the vineyard has been producing about 10 cases per year.

Mimi Liem

Larry and Esther Thal planted their vineyard in Lafayette in early 2010 with their first harvest in 2012. They have over 2,000 vines of which over half are Cabernet Sauvignon with the remainder divided between Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. The original incentive was to provide a drought tolerant and fire resistant solution to a hillside erosion problem. The strong and deep roots of the vines do that exceptionally well. A byproduct of this project has been some very enjoyable and award winning wines, an aesthetic improvement of their property, and participation with a wonderful mixture of fun, entertaining and interesting LWGA members. We have a vineyard manager who helps us take care of the vines and a winemaker who makes our wine.

Our lovely 200 vine vineyard we affectionately call Tarabrook (named after the love street we live on in Orinda) was planted with the first one third of the vines going in 5 years ago, followed by the rest of the vines a year after that. Because our terraced hillside faces north, we were advised by the Novavine professionals to plant Tempranillo if we wanted to plant a red varietal.  Tempranillo, as you may be aware, is the noble grape of Spain.

Almost any red table wine from Spain will have Tempranillo as its backbone varietal.  Our harvest was rather small this year but we know it will only get better with the maturing vines.  My winemaking partner, Chris Cook, and I, along with our wives, have been picking grapes and sourcing grapes in Contra Costa County, Alameda County and beyond to places like Napa, Lodi, and the El Dorado Hills as we are approaching a 100 cases a year in our winemaking.  We are looking into the possibility of going commercial with our wines.  All of our wines (5 varietals) have received awards in the 2015 California State Fair, with our Livermore Petite Sirah getting

gold and Best in Class.  Our Lodi Zinfandel received a silver at the2015 International Home Winemaker’s Competition.  I’m the guy in the orange shirt with my wife, Penny and fellow winemaker partner, Chris Cook…..

We planted in 2010 and have 888 vines. Roughly 300 Merlot and 588 Cabernet Sauvignon. Initially we planted for our own consumption and may begin to sell as we accumulate several years. The wine is being made at Judd’s HIll Microcrush in the Napa area. 2012 was a field blend of our grapes and 20% purchased grapes. 2013 and 2014 were vinified separately and blended back to achieve the flavors we wanted. 2015 was a small harvest due to growing conditions and was crushed as a field blend.

https://www.facebook.com/Lamorinda-Wine-Growers-Association-1698395050389744/

Please add pictures and suggest additions.  Thanks.

Like most of us, The Haas’ had a vacant field that required weed abatement every year to keep down the high grasses.  They planted their vineyard in 2007. 

“So now we have 950 vines a combination of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir.   We have a vineyard manager who helps us take care of the vines.   Separately, we have a winemaker who makes the wine for us. We will average a yield of about 750 bottles of wine per year.   The arrangement we have with the winemaker is he produces the wine and bottles it.  Then we split the bottles 60% for him to sell and 40% for us to consume.”

What We Like About Having a Vineyard:

• The vineyard is very pleasant to look at, no more rototilling. 
• It has been interesting to learn about vineyard management and the art of winemaking. 
• We enjoy drinking our own wine from our own vineyard.
• Bottles of wine make good hostess gifts and donations to charity events.
• We installed a gazebo , which looks over the vineyard, and enjoy sitting in the gazebo, with friend ,sipping our wine and eating cheese.
• Joining the Lomorinda Wine Growers Association has allowed us to meet  other vineyard owners and winemakers to taste their wines, enjoy their company, share ideas, and learn from speakers on subjects of mutual interest.
• When the AVA is approved  it should add to the interest of wine being made in Lamorinda

Cherry Family Winery is located in the Sleepy Hollow area of Orinda. Cherry pinot noir is 100 percent estate grown and consists of approximately 225 pinot noir vines planted to clones 115, 667 and 777 in a 45/28/27 proportion. Sleepy Hollow’s warm days and cool nights create ideal growing conditions for pinot noir. The vineyard faces southwest and is planted on a gentle downslope with good sun exposure.

Brian Cherry established the vineyard in 2009. While he has a love for wine, he didn’t have a background in grape growing or winemaking. A fan of California’s fruit driven pinot’s, he also appreciates the complexity of a great Burgundy. Brian believes great wines start in the vineyard but are also completed under the steady hand of a skilled winemaker.

The inaugural bottling of Cherry pinot was the 2014 vintage and based on initial reviews, it looks like the terroir is well suited to growing pinot noir. Cherry pinot noir is finished in new French oak barrels and bottled by hand on site. Yields were low in 2014 and are even lower in 2015, but yields should increase as the vines get older.

Being a small grape grower and a winemaker is both challenging and hard work, but the reward of being able to open a bottle of your own wine after a long, tough day is worth working for.