Batonnage Forum Spotlights Women Made Wines at Sonoma Tasting: Meet the Ones Crushing It - Organically

 

It was perfect weather for a tasting, and Sonoma Broadway Farms was a great venue for Batonnage, the women in wine organization, to showcase 15 tables of women run wineries at a walk around tasting that displayed the enormous breadth of women's presence in the wine world. 

There was sparkling wine, there was natural wine, there was white wine, there was rosé and plenty of it. There was plenty of geeky winespeak, too, with inquiring minds wanting to know arcane points about winemaking. 

I went in search of organically grown wines. Initially I was chagrined by how many women were actually making wine using grapes sprayed with Roundup (their names will not be mentioned). It felt like the first time I got a speeding ticket from a woman cop. How unfair! But oh well. Life is full of learning. 

However, the producers featured here all had at least one wine from an organic vineyard and were finding more and more organic sources to buy grapes from. I was happy to raise a glass to that.

Birdhouse is the love child of winemakers Katie Rouse (left) and Corinne Rich (left) who met and fell in love when they were students at U.C. Davis where they each got a master's in viticulture and enology. 

CCOF certified Vista Luna Vineyard in Lodi (farmed by
Marcus Bokisch) is the source for their fresh, lively Verdelho.

Camins 2 is the brand birthed by Spanish born Mireia Taribo, educated in Barcelona, and Tara Gomez, a descendant of the Chumash tribe who studied winemaking at Fresno. Their winery is based in Lompoc, where they source a lovely Gruner Veltliner and a Syrah from the nearby Spear Vineyard (organic) in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. They're looking forward to releasing wine from the biodynamic vineyard Christy & Wise.

Erin Mitchell makes wine with her partner Randy Czech under their Unturned Stone wine label. 
The couple were the first to make wine from the unique coastal planting of Cabernet grapes at Waterhorse Ridge in Cazadero.

Their first white wine is a Sauvignon Musqué from Vecino Vineyard in Potter Valley. They also make a field blend, called The Stowaway, from another Mendocino vineyard, Buddha's Dharma, in Talmage.

Another up and coming vintner in the mostly organic lane is Terah Bajjalieh, who studied enology in Montpelier, France and worked briefly at Montinore Estate. Her sparkling Tempranillo was kickass. (It comes from Rorick Heritage Vineyard). She makes only 125 cases of wine so most of her current releases are sold out. Next year she's moving out of her Morgan Hill garage and upping production to 300 cases.