| Region of production: | Sonoma Coast / Anderson Valley |
| Winery Location: | Sebastopol |
| Year Established: | 1993 |
Vineyard Holdings
As of 2015, 35% of the winery’s production is estate
- Pivot Vineyard (Sonoma Coast AVA): 12 ha (1.2 ha under vine)
- Haven Vineyard (Sonoma Coast AVA): 4 ha (2 ha under vine)
- Tributary Vineyard (Sonoma Coast AVA)
Sourced vineyards
- Thierot (Sonoma Coast AVA)
- Charles Heintz (Sonoma Coast AVA)
- Hirsch (Sonoma Coast AVA)
- Mays Canyon (Sonoma Coast AVA)
- Savoy (Anderson Valley AVA)
- One Acre (Anderson Valley AVA)
- Cerise (Anderson Valley AVA)
- Roman (Anderson Valley AVA)
- Wendling Vineyard (Anderson Valley AVA)
Top Wines Produced & Inaugural Vintages
- Mays Canyon (Sonoma Coast AVA): 1993
- Charles Heintz (Sonoma Coast AVA): 1997
- B.A. Theiriot (Sonoma Coast AVA): 1998
- The Tributary (Sonoma Coast AVA): 2003
Average Total Production
- 48,000 bottles
Summary
Littorai founder Ted Lemon was first exposed to the world of wine as a high school student studying abroad at the University of Dijon. After graduation from Brown University he returned to France to study winemaking and apprenticed with Domaines Dujac, Roumier, and Bruno Clair. After returning to the US to work with Josh Jensen at Calera, he was invited to return to Burgundy to become the winemaker at Domaine Guy Roulot in 1982. To date he is the only American to work as winemaker and vineyard manager in Burgundy. Ted returned to the US in 1985 to be winemaker at Chateau Woltner in Howell Mountain. He and his wife Heidi Lemon founded Littorai in 1993. In 2001, he began conversion to Biodynamic farming on his estate vineyards. As of 2013, 95% of Littorai’s vineyard sources are organically farmed and 82% are farmed biodynamically. Ted prefers to balance the vineyard in such a way as to have a homogenous ripening cycle, and avoids multiple harvests on the same site. Littorai is the originator in California of the “by-the-acre” system for contract vineyards, in which the farmer is paid for quality not quantity, and Ted oversees all aspects of vineyard management in this system. Construction of a new winery was completed in 2008, with a 10,000 case production capacity.
Style & Vinification Techniques
Chardonnay wines are whole cluster pressed and undergo primary and secondary fermentation in barrel. No pumps or filtration are employed in the winemaking process and the wines are very rarely fined or filtered before bottling. The wines also undergo extended aging on the lees (9-11 months) but are rarely stirred. On average, 20-25% new French oak is used and élevage is in a combination of 228L and 450L oak and approximately 10% stainless steel tanks.
Producer Website: Littorai