Visiting Littorai Winery

We were trying to maximize what we did while we were out in California and one of the places that was high on our list was Littorai. Back in Connecticut on a rainy day in early January, my husband was Googling gravity flow wineries and came upon Littorai. I was arranging our books and magazines. I came across the Fall 2011 Practical Winery and Vineyard and saw that the cover story was about Littorai located in Sebastopol. That was when my husband decided to email Ted Lemon to see if we could visit his newly constructed winery based on gravity flow and construction done in phases.
Ted was not available, but we did meet the assistant winemaker John Wilson who spent his time with us discussing the winery construction. On the day that we arrived, it was raining. John mentioned that it hadn't rained since October so this was a welcomed rain. (We had already heard how welcomed the rain was from Greg and Linda Pearl). John gave us a thorough tour of the winery, explaining how the grapes were treated from crush to barrel. He showed us the upper level barrel storage area which doubled as a cold room where the newly harvested grapes were received before processing. He showed us the hay bale construction on the interior of the walls which provided R-50 insulation to keep the winery at a constant temperature. He also showed us how the stainless steel tanks were on quick connect glycol chillers for flexibility during crush. All of this was an invaluable education for us and we appreciated all the time that John took to give us the tour. At the end, we tasted the current release of Littorai wines. All of the care the winery took during the winemaking showed clearly in their excellent Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.