Loxton Cellars

Chris Loxton makes Syrah in Glen Ellen and grinds his own empty bottles into vineyard sand on a machine outside the front door, about a hundred pounds a week. Tasting costs twenty dollars and comes off a purchase.1 2

Why go

The machine is a GL Sand, made in New Zealand, and it cost him $5,500.1 Thirty-six bottles fill a five-gallon bucket, about fifty pounds.1 He gets through roughly a hundred pounds of sand a week.1 It goes into the landscaping and onto the vineyard as mulch.1 You do not have to peel the labels, because they break down.1 He read about the machine while the winery sat shut after the October 2017 Nuns Fire, which spared his vines, his winery and his house.1

Loxton is a fourth-generation grape grower and the first winemaker in the family.2 The home vineyard is in the Riverland of South Australia, first planted in the 1890s.2 His father Bob was still bringing in almost 200 tons in early 2016, on what may have been his seventieth harvest.2 Chris decided on winemaking in high school and then took a physics PhD instead.2 That meant post-doctoral work at Penn State, nearly two years at Arizona State and eight years in the University of Illinois materials lab.2 A year of enology at UC Davis followed.2 He worked harvests at Quivira, St. Hallett and Sonoma-Cutrer, joined Wellington Vineyards in 1995 and made the first Loxton wine after hours in 1996.2 He moved the winemaking here in 2004.2

He makes about 3,000 cases a year and Syrah is the focus.2 The estate share of the fruit is reported two ways: the winery says about 40 percent off five acres, and the Index-Tribune says 60 percent on a ten-acre property.2 1

Order this / avoid

Order: the Syrah. It is the grape he built the label on.2
Order: the Harvest Tour and Tasting, daily at 10:30 through October, no reservation. You watch the sorting and crushing on the pad, then taste in the cellar or out among the vines.2
Avoid: carrying in your own drink for the picnic tables. Outside alcohol is not allowed and every adult pays the $20 tasting.2

What locals & experts say

The Sonoma Index-Tribune (26 September 2019), on the machine: One minute you see an empty wine bottle. The next you see sand.1
Chris Loxton, on why he bothers: The winery is about making wine but we do try to be educational. And on the farming: Being sustainable is the right thing to do. It is just smart.1

Good to know

Daily 11am to 5pm, last seating at four. They encourage reservations and take walk-ins. Phone 707.935-7221.2
The tasting is $20 and comes off a purchase.2
You can picnic among the vines, bringing your own food, with a $20 tasting per adult and no outside alcohol.2
The vineyards are farmed without chemicals, and Loxton pronounces the word with the Australian stress on the second half.1

Verdict

should-visit — The machine cost $5,500, came from New Zealand, and turns thirty-six bottles into a five-gallon bucket of sand, labels and all. Loxton thinks he was the first person in the country to buy one and is still the only one. He is a fourth-generation South Australian grower who took a physics PhD and spent eight years in a materials research lab before UC Davis and a first vintage made after hours in 1996. He makes about 3,000 cases and, through October, runs a crush-pad tour at half ten where you watch the sorting before you drink. No writer has published a tasting note on any of it.

Loxton Cellars.