Location

Yorkville Cellars is located in Mendocino County, 100 miles north of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge. The tasting room is on Highway 128, a picturesque road that winds past vineyards, sheep ranches and apple and peach orchards before plunging through the Redwood forest to emerge at the Mendocino coastline.

The vineyards are 1,000 feet or more above sea level, where sun-filled days and cool nights, tempered by coastal fogs, combine to consistently produce premium quality grapes.

Proprietors

It was in the mid-eighties when after reading a Sunset magazine article about Mendocino County that we discovered this special place: a highland valley where the waters of the Russian and Navarro Rivers start and part, and where the giant coastal redwoods and valley oaks come together.

After a visit we started looking for a property the following week. A number of them had small vineyards. We fell in love with the three ancient oaks on this property and were intuitively convinced that such a place would foster complex and richly favored grapes, and secured a 110 acre ranch in the town of Yorkville (Pop. 317). There were already a few acres of neglected Sauvignon Blanc but the quality of the small amount of fruit that these vines yielded was encouraging. With the help and dedication of our vineyard manager and application of the latest organic practices, we restored those vines to fine, healthy plants. Over a few years the vineyards were expanded to 30 acres and the first estate wines were bottled in 1994.

Deborah was raised in the London area and it was common to have a bottle of claret on the dinner table. Edward's maternal side is Italian, so likewise a family meal wasn't considered complete without wine. Our passion, and knowledge about wine was dramatically enhanced when we had the opportunties to live in Italy near Lake Como; in Germany at the southern edge of the Rheingau; and in Paris. Each afforded the opportunity to constantly explore old world vineyards and wineries. We feel very fortunate to have had that experience. We even were able to split our honeymoon between Burgundy and Bordeaux.

Thank You For Your Support

The demand for our wines continues to grow. And given that we typically handcraft less than 1,000 cases of each wine we produce, demand will again exceed supply this year. We are sincerely flattered by the confidence our customers have consistently shown in our wines.

Deborah & Edward Wallo
Founders & WineGrowers