It’s rare to think of American wine in terms of a pantheon. American consumers have always been drawn more to what’s flashy and new rather than to established producers who have demonstrated consistent, focused excellence over the long haul.
Perhaps that’s because few demonstrably great and influential producers have been able to stay the course without changes in ownership that radically altered the character of the wines. Robert Mondavi Winery is one example. With producers like Mayacamas Vineyards, Diamond Creek Vineyards and Heitz Cellar, the changes in ownership have been too recent to fully understand their effect.
Who does that leave? I think immediately of Mount Eden Vineyards and Ridge Monte Bello in the Santa Cruz Mountains. In Napa Valley I would single out Philip Togni Vineyard, Spottswoode and Corison, and in Sonoma Valley, maybe Hanzell Vineyards.
What about in newer areas with histories stretching back just a few decades? I nominate Littorai. Few growers and producers populated the western Sonoma Coast in 1993, when Ted and Heidi Lemon made their first vintage, 150 cases of chardonnay from the Mays Canyon Vineyard. The incessant fog, the isolation that might require a 90-minute drive to pick up a part and living off the grid made the area too difficult and risky for many.
But the Lemons were drawn by the geological diversity. The area they settled on, mostly around the town of Occidental and farther north along the coast, was large and varied with many nooks and crannies. Mr. Lemon, whose training and early career were in Burgundy, was searching for areas in California where he could explore the sort of differing terroirs for chardonnay and pinot noir that he found so intriguing in France.
He was also drawn to the Anderson Valley in Mendocino Country, a more established wine region but with few of the sort of small, well-farmed vineyards that he was seeking.
From those early beginnings, the Lemons at Littorai, both as growers and producers, have put together more than 30 years of gorgeous wines from both the Sonoma Coast and Anderson Valley that not only have stood the test of time but have helped to establish those regions as great sources of California pinot noir and chardonnay, all while influencing many growers and producers who followed.
With the release of their 30th vintage this year, Littorai has put on tastings around the country to, well, celebrate is not the right word for the self-effacing Lemons. Maybe the more accurate phrase would be to share their progress.
I attended one of the tastings at Union Square Cafe in New York earlier this month, covering 19 wines ranging from the 1995 vintage to the 2023. It’s not often constructive to observe anniversaries for wine producers — they roll up almost every day and signify little. Given the excellence and importance of Littorai, though, it seemed worth taking a moment to look back on its history and how California wine has evolved over its three decades.
Back in the 1990s, California pinot noir was about to enter a period of growth and transformation. In the 1970s and ’80s, successful examples were rare. Those that succeeded back then, like Mount Eden, Chalone, Au Bon Climat and Calera, inspired many others to try their luck. At the same time, the tastes of the dominant critics of the time for dark, plush, opulent wines initiated an era of high-alcohol pinot noir fruit bombs. Chardonnays tended to the extravagant and flamboyant with flavors of oak and buttered popcorn.
These were not the sorts of wines that Mr. Lemon wanted to make. He was looking for freshness and elegance, qualities that no longer seemed to be prized.
“You’re standing in the dock and the party boat has gone with all the rich beautiful people, but you don’t want to be on the boat,” he said at the tasting, describing the feeling of being stylistically out of step. “The key for us was starting small in San Francisco and New York and growing slowly.”
Back then Ted, who would oversee farming and winemaking and be Littorai’s public face, and Heidi, who would manage the business and the staff, decided to buy grapes rather than acquire land in places they barely knew.
“There was no way in an unknown region that we were going to buy a specific plot early on,” Mr. Lemon told me in an interview after the tasting. “Nobody knew. We didn’t know. We saw being able to buy grapes as a huge advantage.”
Eventually, they grew to understand the land well enough that over the years they bought four small vineyards, along with leasing parts of numerous others. All are farmed biodynamically, another way in which Littorai led on the Sonoma Coast and in the Anderson Valley.
Their vineyards are not certified, though, as they do not want to follow mandated methods but want to tailor their farming to the specific needs of each site. Their aim is for the vineyards to be self-sustaining, harmonious ecosystems.
From the earliest wines we tasted, a ’95 pinot noir from the Hirsch Vineyard on the Sonoma Coast and a ’98 pinot from the One Acre Vineyard in the Anderson Valley, the characteristic Littorai style was in place. The Hirsch was intense yet pretty, still solid 30 years in, while the One Acre was complex, graceful and lovely.
My favorites among the pinot noirs included a light, focused 2000 from the Savoy Vineyard in Mendocino; a lively, graceful 2006 from the Haven Vineyard in Sonoma; a clear, pure 2014 from the Cerise Vineyard in Mendocino, which Mr. Lemon is no longer able to farm; a bright, spicy 2015 from the Pivot in Sonoma; and a floral, precise gossamer 2023 from the Pivot, the current vintage.
Among the chardonnays, I loved a rich, complex, oily textured 2002 from the Charles Heintz Vineyard; a rich, incisive 2013 from the Heintz Vineyard; and a saline, energetic 2023 from the B.A. Thieriot Vineyard, all on the Sonoma Coast.
Nowadays, Littorai makes wines from 13 different sites.
“There’s no other winery where you can taste such a cross section of the true north coast,” Mr. Lemon said in an uncharacteristic bit of crowing.
Over the years since Littorai began, wine styles in California have changed profoundly. It’s still possible to buy powerful, bombastic wines but now it’s just as easy to drink restrained, nuanced wines. Much of this glorious diversity is because of the Lemons and other like-minded producers, who persevered through the years when they were stylistic outsiders.
Mr. Lemon attributed part of Littorai’s success to the willingness of sommeliers to adopt styles that were not critically popular.
“The ability to get out there and actually taste with sommeliers in some of the best restaurants in the country was a foot in the door for someone like Littorai,” he said. “The willingness of people to embrace us was extraordinary, and we were able to build from there.”
Many of these single-vineyard wines today are expensive and hard to find outside of top restaurants or direct from the winery, although regional Sonoma Coast chardonnays and pinot noirs are a bit more accessible. That, sadly, is the price of high demand and low supply.
It might be tempting to rest on laurels after such a successful run, but Littorai is still innovating. One of my favorite wines in the tasting was a lovely, floral 2023 chenin blanc that comes from a half-acre in the Haven Vineyard in Sonoma that came after long experimentation.
The most noteworthy wines that day at Union Square Cafe may not count for much, as Mr. Lemon said he has learned over the course of the various Littorai tastings.
“I think what’s really stood out to me is just how different wines can shine on different days,” he said. “You could walk away from the tasting in Napa and have a completely different conclusion than after the tasting in New York.”
Still, the fact that so many of the wines showed so well after 10, 15 or 25 years meant something to Mr. Lemon.
“To see so many of the vineyards aging really well within the context of their own characters has been really gratifying,” he said. “It sort of validates that these areas have great potential.”
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Eric Asimov, the chief wine critic of The Times since 2004, has been writing about wine, food and restaurants for more than 30 years.
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