Littorai

Ted Lemon ran a Meursault estate at 25 and came back to farm 30 acres of Sebastopol with cows, sheep and a barn full of drying chamomile. Daniel Estrin worked nine vintages for him and puts it this way: The wine is just a consequence of the farming.4 1

Why go

Lemon took his enology degree at Dijon in 1981.4 He was the first American hired to run a Burgundy estate, Domaine Guy Roulot in Meursault, and he stayed until 1984.4 Roumier, Bruno Clair, Parent, de Villaine, Delorme and Dujac all had him too.4 1 He calls himself a wine-grower rather than a winemaker, and Decanter reports he has been nominated for a James Beard Award and called the godfather of modern California wine.1 He and Heidi Lemon spent months in 1992 driving vineyards from Seattle to Santa Barbara.4 They settled on the coastal hills of Sonoma and Mendocino.4 Littorai started in 1993 on 150 cases of Anderson Valley Pinot Noir and 150 of Sonoma Coast Chardonnay.4

They bought the 30-acre Gold Ridge Estate in 2003.4 The solar straw-bale winery went up in 2008.4 The farming is the visit. Cows, chickens and sheep feed the soil and do the weeding.4 The Lemons brew their agricultural teas and compost preparations on site.4 Mobley calls the barn where they dry chamomile and lavender unusually fragrant.2 He uses no cultured yeast, no cultured bacteria, no acidification and no enzymes.4 He was 42 when he threw out his own training for biodynamics: I was raised in the Western tradition, believing in Western science, and then I decided to try a completely different paradigm.1 He puts the people on the same footing as the soil: You have to be asking yourself those questions: am I treating people correctly? Are things in balance?1

They make about 5,000 cases a year, half off the estate and half from growers.3

Order this / avoid

Order: the Gold Ridge Estate Tour and Tasting at $90. Mobley's advice is to spend the extra twenty dollars over the tasting alone.2
Order: the Sonoma Coast Chardonnay. Tina Caputo found crisp green apple and stony minerality in the 2022, which was $70.3
Order: the older vintage if one is open. Caputo says tastings pour six wines and usually include one.3
Avoid: wearing anything you mind about. Caputo's line after walking it: This is a real-deal working farm, so leave the fancy shoes at home.3

What locals & experts say

Esther Mobley, San Francisco Chronicle, Top Sonoma County Wineries 2025: Littorai produces some of California's finest Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, but that's not the only reason to visit this Sebastopol estate.2
Tina Caputo, Sonoma Magazine (January 2025): Though they vary in profile, the wines share common threads of restraint and balance — showing off the vineyards rather than winemaking techniques. And on Lemon: Ted Lemon is legendary among Sonoma County winemakers, and if you've ever tasted Littorai wines, it's easy to understand why.3
Ted Lemon, to Decanter (10 September 2025), on the thing nobody in fine wine will say: The biggest challenge going forward is the one that nobody wants to talk about in the wine business, and he names it as the excess of wealth: But when that kind of massive wealth enters a business, on the scale that it has in the fine wine business, it distorts everything.1
Daniel Estrin, who worked nine vintages here and now makes the wine at Cristom in Oregon: Ted doesn't function like a normal winemaker. There's no separation between farming and winemaking, they're one and the same. The wine is just a consequence of the farming.1
Ted Lemon, on what he is not doing: 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.4

Good to know

Monday to Saturday, by appointment, six people maximum, no drop-ins. Booking is on Tock.4
The Single Vineyard Tasting is $70 and runs through the middle of the day; the estate tour is $90 and runs in the afternoon, or in the morning if you ask.4
Tastings are outdoors, mostly on the back patio, with a heated tent when it rains.3
There is no sign at the entrance.3

Verdict

must-visit — Lemon refuses cultured yeast, cultured bacteria, acidification and enzymes outright, dries lavender alongside the chamomile for soil treatments, and lets the animals do the weeding. Esther Mobley calls these some of California's finest Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays; Tina Caputo found crisp green apple and stony minerality in the 2022 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay at $70 and says the wines show the vineyard instead of the cellar. The tour is $90 against $70 for the tasting alone and Mobley says spend the extra twenty. Six wines, usually one older vintage, six people maximum, no drop-ins, and no sign at the gate.

Littorai.