Littorai Wines

Awesome experience! Definitely worth the fee. The wines are great but the tour and educational aspect of the visit is the best part.

Loved coming here! You need to make an appointment and there is a $ 25 charge but I felt it was worth it — their wines are delicious. Alexa was great — very knowledgeable! The property is beautiful! And Beau the resident dog will come out to greet you! So sweet!

Excellent wines! They charge $ 25 per tasting, even if you buy. We purchased a few bottles.

We took a small private group tour at Littorai (pronounced «litter-​eye») recently and had a great time with our tour and wine guide Shannon. She explained winemaker/​grower/​owner Ted Lemon’s philosophies about sustainability, green growing methods, mason bees, etc as well as other interesting facts about the buildings, grounds, and vineyards.
Unlike reviewer Justin L, we found the tour to be very interesting, and Shannon made it fun and informative. Lemon’s style and even the winery itself could definitely be considered «new age» or even «fringe», so come with an open mind… this is an immersive experience.
(If you’re just looking to drink some vino, maybe skip this winery and just purchase their wines at a restaurant)
The tour/​tasting took about 1 ½ hours, and you must book in advance. The actual tasting was done outdoors and included several different vineyard-​specific wines, all delicious… The wines here are REALLY good… some are young, yes, but will benefit from time in the bottle (if you can keep from drinking them immediately, which could be difficult for me.)
We ended up buying the Theriot Chardonnay, and Pivot and Mays Canyon pinot noirs, as well as a membership in the wine club
The tastings and wines are not cheap… That is not the goal here. If you’re looking for some great, extremely low production wines (especially pinot noirs), Littorai is worth a visit. And you might learn something, too!

Littorai is definitely the perfect example of a winery built up on hype and fell short on expectations. Now let me say (without being a wine snob), I’m very familiar with high-​end, small-​production and hard-​to-​find wines. I’ve heard and read a lot about Littorai and I was extremely excited to give it a try.
First off, you must make reservations, which was fine and I was totally cool with. Secondly it’s a $ 30 tasting fee (that does NOT get waived upon bottle purchases). I was a bit annoyed with the $ 30 tasting fee mainly because most wineries in Sonoma County don’t charge for a tasting or they waive it upon bottle purchases. I am aware that most high end Napa tasting rooms do charge, but let’s remember that this isn’t Napa and these wines aren’t particularly ‘hard-​to-​find’.
So with the $ 30 tasting fee, you get to hear their whole spiel about their biodynamic farming practices and their ‘teas’ (for their wines) and a small walk through their estate. A pretty boring tour to be honest. Our tour guide was a little too into that whole hoopla.
Anyways, we got to taste like 5 bottles, all current releases. I admit I was a bit disappointed that we were tasting current releases especially with the $ 30 tasting fee. WIth that amount, I would expect to at least taste a vintage vertical and/​or ALL their wines. Unfortunately, we did not get to taste all their wines, which was also disappointing because I was really looking forward to trying their Hirsch bottle (which they did not open).
For the most part, all their wines were all very young for 2011 vintage. They were clearly not ready to be opened the next day and will need some years to age. I understand that these are ‘higher end’ wines and are meant to be aged, but I found that they weren’t even drinkable as they hit a lot of sharp notes, I would also argue that wines that ARE higher end and young are at least fairly drinkable from the get-​go. Secondly, their wines are pretty expensive, as I said previously, if I’m paying nearly $ 75/​bottle, I would expect a little more umph. However, to be perfectly fair, I thought the Mays Canyon Vineyard and the Platt Vineyard were definitely the standouts amongst the wines we drank. Oddly enough, all their estate vineyards that were farmed with biodynamic practices fell the most flat for me.
Anyways, I left with a few bottles of the Mays Canyon and Hirsch (just simply because I collect Hirsch bottles from different wineries) mainly because I figure that I wouldn’t be returning to try their wines again (at least until their next release). Maybe 2011 was a fluke. Maybe because I was at Williams Selyem before I came here that my expectations were set so high. Anyways, it was a disappointing showing for $ 30 that did not include much except a boring tour and a tasting of their blended and a handful of their single vineyard bottles.

Love the Pinots, I had them at Dry Creek Kitchen some time ago and it was the star of the evening.

First things first — you need a reservation. Reservations can be made online via the Littorai Website —
— You will have to pay for your reservation and it is not credited towards the wine (the website and confirmation email is very clear about this). When we arrived, my husband and I were the only ones with a tasting appointment at that time. Our guide led us out into the garden area and explained about the vineyard’s philosophy — which is very «green». Other Unilocalers have already gone into this, so for me to get into the minutia would be redundant. The grounds were beautiful and we snapped a few pics in the garden. We had our tasting out on the patio adjacent to another garden area. We sampled 4 different pinots and their chardonnay. All of the pinots were superb. We joined their wine club and bought 2 bottles to take home. We chose Littorai because we have had their wine at some very nice restaurants and have always said that when we go to Sonoma, they would be on our list of stops. Yes, the wine is pricey, but if you love pinot, then you will love Littorai.

Iconic winemaker Ted Lemon has been making pinot noir and chardonnay wines for many years. Finally he and his wife Heidi have their own winery in a bucolic setting in central Sonoma County. The very «green» facility is built with straw building blocks and the juice flows with natural gravity. The grapes are sourced from vineyards in mostly coastal sites as well as the new estate. Each cuvee reflects the particular terroir and the distinctive flavors are preserved by Ted’s low or no intervention.
This is a wonderful opportunity to see a beautiful winery in operation and a fantastic setting. The wines are sublime.

Winemaker Ted Lemon of Littorai is truly an artist. Having trained at a number of renowned estates in Burgundy, his pinot noirs are crafted very much in that style with extraordinary delicacy and complexity.
Margie led me and my friends on a wonderful tour of the premise and I learned quite a bit about not only the wines, but the biodynamic farming that goes on making the entirety of operations sustainable and self-​sufficient.
One thing to note is that the cost of the wines is up there as the vast majority of the single vineyard pinots are $ 60+. If you’re a fan of the varietal though, they’re not to be missed and a couple of sips may very likely be all that it takes to get that wallet out of your pocket!

Fabulous tour. You must contact them to make a reservation though and tours are limited to small groups. I loved their sustainable wine making practices and the fact that the tour walked us through the process.
Their wines can be described as cool weather wines – so a restrained style compared to most California pinots – which my husband and I both prefer.
We also got to try a white sweet wine during the tasting called the Gift Revisited (2006) which was amazing. If you have a chance to – buy this wine.

Great boutique winery. The line up was exceptional and all vineyards are biodynamic or in the process of becoming so. The tour was pretty good too. If you’ve done a few, you quickly realize that a lot of tours will leave you wanting, but Littorai’s tour was pretty good. Since the vineyard was soggy, we went through a lot of the biodynamic process (which is interesting to see in full force even if you don’t believe in it). Oh, did I mention the wines were pretty darn good (though pricey at $ 60+ per wine) and Ted Lemon is a master Burgundian winemaker.

If you’re either very patient or extremely fond of discussing biodynamic farming, then you’ll love Littorai. I’m mostly the former, though not opposed to hearing basic details of Littorai’s philosophy and practices. You’ll start with a nice, short walk on their beautiful property, probably meet their cute cat and then have a long talk about composting, teas, pruning, etc. Some of it’s fascinating; some might be overkill for those not into the details. Either way, it’s worth it because the wine is brilliant. And that’s the catch: you won’t be doing any tasting for at least 20 – 30 minutes… but you’ll be thrilled you waited. Not only are the current releases approachable now, they will also do well with a little age — a fact Margie & Martina illustrated nicely by pouring a pinot with a few more years on it, along with a 2001 chardonnay. I’d highly recommend making an appointment and gettnig to know these beautiful wines!

We purchased Littorai Pinot some months ago and recently we got a message from a trucking company saying «your fall 2011 release will be delivered tomorrow». Surprised by this, I called the trucking company and inquired who was sending the wine — they said «the wine club». Not knowing anything about a wine club, I thought to contact Littorai. Sure enough, it was Littorai. They stated that they sent out emails in September advising of the send, but we did not get an email nor was anything in junk mail. They did however charge our credit card in September, so they did have the correct info. To make a long story short, they sent the wine when So. Cal was experiencing a heat wave. They do not send in temp controlled trucks. In fact, when the wine arrived, it was delivered in a small red hatchback car, not a delivery truck.
When you are buiying quality wine at $ 65+ a bottle, you a) want the winery to advise you of the send b) don’t want to expend a lot of time trying to find out who is sending what so you don’t wind up taking time off to receive it c) you are wanting to know that it is being sent by a quality delivery company and not in a heat wave.

If you get a chance to taste these wines make sure you buy a few bottles because outside of the winery these wines don’t come cheap.
Quite possibly some of the best pinot and chardonnay in the U.S.

i have a corked bottle of a 2001 sonoma coast pinot noir from littorai.
i don’t live far from the winery and offered to bring the wine if they would exchange it for a bottle of untainted wine.
they refused !!!
because i had not saved the receipt !!!
please don’t ever gift me a bottle of wine,
especially not a bottle of littorai.
it might have a tainted cork, and then what ?
should i send it back to you ?
make sure you keep all your receipts !!!
BTW that bottle was purchased in 2004.
BIM
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below are two comments from friends that say it better than i could :
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This guy is nuts. For the sake of one bottle of wine, he looks like a jerk.
I mean, are there tons of people bringing in corked wines that are eating away at his bottom line?
Your integrity is not in question — his is.
Looks to me like he won’t stand behind his product as much as he stands behind his cheap ass replacement policy.
You didn’t want money back, right? Just a bottle of wine replacing the corked one you had. How much does that cost him at producer level? Not nearly as much as he will lose from the many people you know in the area!
i will stay away from this wine for sure! Don’t care how good or not — it’s the juju that goes with it — and they ain’t got none and as you well know there are plenty of good wines and winemakers dripping with good juju around here.
Did anybody there ever read the basic marketing booking about making unhappy clients into loyal customers?
I will pass your email exchange around to friends in wine country and wine drinkers.
Cheers,
Jim
P. S. I CC him so he might know the reactions of friends of BIM.
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BIM,
Thanks for sharing. One the one hand I understand the Littorai owner’s interpretation of a third-​party purchase BUT!!! read on:
a) common sense (which we know is totally UNcommon) dictates that when a customer cares enough (and takes enough trouble to deal with it) to want to have a decent experience with your product, as an owner in particular one ought to make things right, right away, and with good grace.
Totally true that at the producer/​wholesale level it’s not expensive (doesn’t matter what the product is, even a fancy car), unless the pricing structure is faulty (ha ha, I know all about that one!)… It’s smart, fast, and simple to swap the bad product for a good one. Many proprietors, when faced with such an easy way to gain good customer service points, take it at least one step farther and UPGRADE the product, or give two for one. I can’t believe this man missed such a golden opportunity to get himself talked about as **the BEST vintner in a crowded field** by replacing the wine immediately, with gratitude to the customer for bothering with it.
What we also see here is a total lack of manufacturer responsibility (he should have been on his knees about the bad wine, not worrying about the fine points of receipts!), and your pal may even want to call the Health Department on Littorai, just to stir things up. I know that’s not advancing the ball, but sometimes, well, we just get mad.
b) most manufacturers sell through third parties. When a product is defective or breaks, it’s VERY COMMON to return the product, receipt or no, to the manufacturer, not the retailer, for repair or replacement. A bottle of wine will not become corked because of something a reseller does, unless the reseller is totally bored and wants to go around tainting corks.
When I worked in customer service for a large retailer, their policy — blessed by their accounting and marketing departments — was to accept returns, with or without receipts, with very few questions asked beyond trying to improve products and customer experience. If one chomps the numbers, it is SOOOOOO much cheaper in $ to take care of the customer — even if the customer is lying or thieving (the percentage of evil people is still thankfully lower than the % of honest people) — than to do what Littorai’s boss just did and engender the spread of negative publicity that we are now participating in. For him to assume bad faith on the part of the customer was wrong-​headed (as we see it quickly pissed off a lot of us, who will now never buy this wine, at least not until there is a change of ownership).
c) we can see that good wine is sometimes made under the auspices of bad-​thinking people.
d) most people write poorly, and I bet ten cents that the boss of Littorai would read his original message and think it was «businesslike» rather than the snarky tirade it is. I hope his wine (when not corked) is better than his writing. And he ought to hire me as customer service manager! Immediately! Before he runs out of customers.
e) is Littorai trying to get bought out by another winery, perhaps??? Maybe they need a big write-​off this year??? Can’t think of any reason to be so rude to a customer (receipt or no!).
My buck-​two-​fifty,
a.

Exceptional single-​vineyard Pinot from some of the most interesting tiny blocks around Sonoma Coast and Anderson Valley. Also, a Chardonnay or two that will blow you away.
If you have $ 65-​$ 85 to spend on a bottle of wine that will be even better after a few years of cellaring, there aren’t many that can top these.
Organic, bio-​dynamic, native, and a beautifully simple facility that treats the wine and the earth with enormous respect.
Bonus: friendly & knowledgeable staff.
This is what Sonoma County winemaking is all about.

Absolutely loved this place, great wines, great service, great philosophy.
We had them recommended to us (never heard of them before) by Merry Edwards so we called them up and were able to make an appointment, they then email you directions and code to their gate which takes you down a bumpy road to this little oasis.
Littorai does biodynamic farming and Margie took us through the vineyard and explained about their technique as we passed the Mason bee nest, chickens and compost into their vineyard.
She then took us into the barrell room and we tried one outstanding chardonnay and phenomenal pinot noir and phenomenal pinot noir. My friend leaned and said «this is what a pinot is supposed to be like»
Margie was personable and very knowledge… I would highly recommend this experience and I can’t wait to tell my Pinot loving friends.
Their winemaker Ted Lemon was been named «Winemaker of the Year» by the San Francisco Chronicle for 2010 and we now know why =)