About Ridge

Lytton Springs Winery

When Ridge Vineyards purchased Lytton Springs Winery in 1991, it was not the winery, but the old vines surrounding it that interested us. The thirty-five-acre vineyard, planted between 1900 and 1905, is a traditional field blend of about seventy percent zinfandel, twenty percent petite sirah, and ten percent grenache and carignane. Paul Draper saw the vineyard and, based on its age, first took the grapes in 1972. Within three years it was clear from the consistency of character and quality that — like the Geyserville vineyard — this was one of those distinctive sites where soil, climate, and varietal are perfectly matched. He named the wine after a "Captain" Litton who, during the last half of the nineteenth century, owned this vineyard and adjoining lands to the west. Litton (the spelling evolved to "Lytton" in the early 1900s), developed the springs, and built a hotel just east of the vineyard for San Franciscans who arrived by train to "take the waters."

During the 1970s and 1980s, Ridge purchased grapes from numerous old-vine, low-yield vineyards throughout California. In the 1990s, we focused on the very best of these — most located in northern Sonoma County. Today, two-thirds of Ridge zinfandel is grown in Sonoma. It therefore made sense to put the Lytton Springs facility to greater use, but the existing building was in a state of deterioration, and a new winery had to be built.

Ridge has always approached winemaking with a respect for nature, trusting the earth to express the character of the site, so it seemed logical to construct a winery consistent with that philosophy. Originally, we discussed excavating caves — to take advantage of the earth's natural cooling properties. At our winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains, caves that were dug in the late 1800s still allow us to cellar wine with minimal need for conventional air conditioning. At Lytton Springs, however, a high winter water table eliminated that approach. While visiting the Shenoa Retreat Center in Mendocino County, Paul had noticed a residence recently erected on the property. It was made of compacted rice straw bales; the floor was of rammed earth, and the bales were covered with earthen plaster. The beauty of the building, and its sustainable, natural materials, intrigued him. Especially considering the high insulation value (as high as R60) of straw, this construction method seemed well suited to our goal — a winery with low environmental impact, made from self-sustaining materials. Essentially, an above-ground cave.

In 2000, we began building a new barrel room and tasting room around the existing winery. The tasting room windows look out on the old vines to the south, and into the new barrel room to the east. In keeping with the natural theme, the walls covering the bales are made from a simple mixture of clay from the vineyard, sand, and straw. This thick adobe was trowel-finished to produce a very smooth texture, and given a final coat of linseed oil. The color is subtle and lovely, and the building blends wonderfully into the land that surrounds it.

To maintain cellar temperatures, louvers near ground level open automatically to let in the cool night air. Simultaneously, louvers high in the walls open to let in the warmer air. The tightly-packed straw insulates against any significant temperature swings.

This first phase of construction required just over three thousand straw bales, each individually inspected, then stacked by hand to a height of seventeen feet. The final phase — a new tank-fermentation and bottling room, will require six hundred more.

These straw bales resemble the rectangular hay bales one sees throughout the country; each measures about 46" x 23" x 16". Unlike other bales, however, they are made exclusively of rice straw. Rice contains such a high proportion of silica that it is difficult to break down, unlike straw from other plants, which can be composted or tilled into the soil. Insects cannot easily digest silica, so rice straw — properly protected — can last a century or more. For the bale builder, these properties make it an ideal material; the major threat to bale buildings is decay caused by moisture and residual organic matter trapped in the straw, not fire, as one might imagine. For the rice farmer, rice straw construction means being paid for a waste product — one that, previously, could be disposed of only by burning. For all of us, it means cleaner air.

To visit the Lytton Springs winery, click here for details.

Find out more about our eco-sustainable tasting room, click here.