Littorai

Littorai Wines is a small, family owned and operated winery producing world class vineyard designated Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the true north coast of California: the coastal mountains of Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. Littorai Wines was founded in 1993 by Heidi and Ted Lemon. In July 2008, we completed construction of our winery located between Sebastopol and Freestone in western Sonoma County.

Our philosophy toward winegrowing is profoundly French and profoundly Burgundian, since Ted learned the trade from such eminent winemakers as Jacques Seysses, Aubert De Villaine and Jean Marie Roumier. To them we owe an eternal debt. We have never lost that sense of awe and admiration Ted felt when he first began working in Morey Saint Denis and it is that respect for the mystery of wine which Littorai is all about.

In the late 1990s, after more than fifteen years practicing conventional farming, Ted Lemon became convinced that western agronomic theory is inadequate in its conception of plant growth and nutrition and that farming based upon this theory is fundamentally unsustainable. Since that time all of the vineyards which Littorai Wines owns or leases are farmed using alternative methods.

We derive our unique sustainable farming techniques from the fertile cross currents of permaculture, agro-ecology and the agricultural philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the father of biodynamic farming.

In addition to using only natural materials, we avoid all fertilizers. Estate produced compost is our “fertilizer” of choice. For those sites which we do not farm ourselves, we use by-the-acre contracts to insure maximum quality and vineyard control and we strongly encourage all of our farmer-partners to use only organic materials.

We do not employ farm certification systems as we believe that the true motivation for engaging in sustainable farming practices should not be for marketing purposes but should be only for the good of the land, for the good of those who work it and for the future generations to whom it truly belongs.

Surrounded by thirty acres of rolling hills, Littorai Wines is perched on a fog kissed ridge top in the Sonoma Coast American Viticultural Area. Our farm is a place of extraordinary discovery where every corner you turn is a different experience from the last. A visit to Littorai is more than a tasting, it's a total experience.

The Winery, completed in 2008, is an innovative strawbale building with “green” architecture and environmentally & low impact-sensitive design. This system provides both tremendous insulation and thermal inertia. The winery uses natural night air cooling to maintain appropriate temperatures for the cellars and working areas. The winery is designed for wine movement via gravity flow to avoid the use of pumps. All of the water used in wine production is recycled through eco-sensitive constructed wetlands in which plants naturally treat and recycle the water for reuse as irrigation water on the property. 

It is an expression of our mission and commitment to the future. The estate property where the winery is located is farmed biodynamically as a self sustaining, integrated and diversified farm.

The Littorai path flows from our dedication to producing wines of place, wines which reflect the genius of an individual site. There are no substitutes for low yields and careful site and vine selection. Winegrowing is a wonderful word, for it implies that the object is not to produce the most beautiful vine or grape cluster but to produce the finest wine. Such wine should be a reflection of the vineyard and not the cellar. We believe that all additives, such as cultured yeasts, cultured bacteria, acidification, enzymes etc are not appropriate to the greatest expression of terroir. Where some producers look to technology as the route to great wines, we focus on hands-on farming and working with Mother Nature.

Wine is a reflection of the culture from which it springs. We believe in culture less boisterous and more gracious. We do not make wines for competitions, ratings or trends. We believe that the words elegance and finesse are wholly compatible with the notions of concentration and complexity. The Littorai aesthetic is one of finesse, balance and length.

Heidi & Ted Lemon

Ted is a lifelong winemaker who began his career by receiving an Enology degree from the Université de Dijon in 1981. He worked at many prestigious estates in Burgundy: Domaine Georges Roumier, Domaine Bruno Clair, Domaine Parent, Domaine De Villaine, Domaine Delorme and Domaine Dujac. He was the first American ever selected as winemaker and vineyard manager of a Burgundian estate, Domaine Guy Roulot in Meursault, and remained in Burgundy through 1984. Since 1984, Ted has been a partner with the owners of Domaine Dujac in Druid Wine Company, which distributes Domaine Dujac wines internationally and produces wines from Puligny Montrachet and Meursault under its own label. Upon returning to the United States, Ted became the founding winemaker of Chateau Woltner on Howell Mountain.. Since then, he has been consultant to a number of prominent wineries: Franciscan Estates, Clos Pegase, Green and Red Vineyard, Reverie, Howell Mountain Vineyards, Black Sears Estate, Archery Summit Winery in Oregon, Burn Cottage Vineyard in New Zealand and many more.

Heidi’s path to farming started with a year living and working in Germany after college, a MA in ESL (English as a Second Language) followed by work at Domaine Chandon, Robert Pecota Winery, Robert Long Vineyards and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars.

In 1992, The Lemons spent months traveling the vineyards of the west coast from Seattle to Santa Barbara looking for the best growing conditions for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, finally deciding to focus on what we at Littorai have always called the “true” north coast of California.