Free Section: A Sneak Peak Inside Organically Sonoma

Location

• Sources grapes solely from its 70 acres of estate vines on its 120 acre Dry Creek Valley farm in Healdsburg

• The winery (in a big old fashioned barn) and farmhouse tasting room are surrounded by the vineyards and farm with acres of produce and grains

Best known for

• A longtime community favorite and down home Eden, Preston is a poster child for the farm to table and grape to glass movements, growing both food crops and wine grapes

• Makes 16 certified wines ($22-$36) with a focus on both the climate appropriate Rhone varietals (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Cinsault) and Dry Creek traditions (Carignane, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel) with the occasional Italian wine grape thrown in for good measure (Barbera)

• Proprietors Lou and Susan Preston bought the property in the 1970s when it was an old prune orchard and converted it to a bustling 25,000 case a year winery

• In the 2000's, the couple transitioned out of monoculture into a vibrant polyculture, downsizing wine production to 7,000 cases a year and increasing food crops, growing more than 200 species including persimmons, kale, walnuts, olives, grains and other fruits and vegetables sold to local restaurants

• They also have 1,500 olive trees and produce olive oil from their own mill on site

• Crops include 25 varieties of heirloom apples, peach trees, pears, figs, plums, pomegranates, quince and more

• Proprietor Lou Preston, whose hobby is making bread, now bakes it from his own grain, offering it for sale in the tasting room along with Preston's olive oil

• Sheep, pigs and chicken also roam the land, fertilizing the vineyards as they graze

• After years of being certified organic in both the vines and the winery, and then experimenting with Biodynamic practices, the vines and winery were certified Biodynamic in 2015

• The winery is one of just three in Sonoma County that's certified Biodynamic and bottle labels all of its wines "Made with Organic Grapes" or "Made with Biodynamic Grapes"

• The winemaker, Dan Ditzler, uses only native yeasts

• As a nod to local traditions, Preston offers an old fashioned jug wine (sold only on Sundays, $32) it calls Guadagni, in honor of its old Italian neighbor, Jim Guadagni, who was an unofficial mayor of sorts of Dry Creek Valley; the blend of Zinfandel, Cinsault, Carignane and Mourvèdre is much better than the old jug wines ever were

• A convivial and community oriented winery, visitors enjoy picnicking on picnic tables on the grassy lawn and playing bocce ball during the week

• Preston is more than a winery and a farm, combining its philosophy of a whole farm with a commitment, as Lou Preston puts it, to "food, environmentalism and community activism"

Organic and Biodynamic case production

8,000 (out of 8,000 total)

Certified

Vineyards and winery, organic, 2002, CCOF; Biodynamic, 2015, Demeter USA

$15 

Flight of wines (walk in)

$25 

Seated tasting (by appointment)

$30

Farm tour and tasting (by appointment)

Preston Farm & Winery

9282 W Dry Creek Rd.

Healdsburg, CA 95448

707.433.3372

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