Fort Ross Vineyard & Winery adds wine pairings, garden to business

Everyone tastes wine with their heads in the clouds at Fort Ross Vineyard & Winery. There’s simply no other way to do it.

The family-owned destination covers 1,000 acres near the Sonoma Coastal Ridges just east of Fort Ross on the Sonoma Coast. With an elevation that ranges from 1,200 to 1,700 feet above sea level, on many days the spot is smack in the middle of the fog.

It’s pretty when it’s grey, but when that fog burns off the views of the Pacific Ocean are spectacular.

After intentionally keeping a low profile for the last decade by making wine and having a few by-appointment-only tastings, overall, the business wasn’t soliciting new customers. There weren’t any outside activities for guests either. Since then, Fort Ross Vineyard & Winery has come out of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown with a host of new programs and experiences. The new offerings include wine-and-food pairings, an expansive botanical garden and a redesigned movie night.

Owner Lester Schwartz said the approach represents a new-and-improved iteration of the winery, Fort Ross 2.0, so to speak.

“Over the last few years, we’ve noticed more and more people coming through the coast and we wanted to change our approach to share what we have with more of them,” he said. “We’ve put together some exciting options that keep the wine front and center but complement it perfectly.”

Finding, building the brand

The story of Fort Ross Vineyard & Winery began back in 1988 when owners Lester and wife Linda Schwartz bought a section of untouched forest and grasslands high in the coastal mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The couple paid experts to come and see if the site could be a viable spot for grape growing. All the experts said it was risky at best.

The Schwartz duo was undeterred. Through trial and error, they determined which clones of chardonnay and pinot noir would grow on the site. Then they got to work, digging holes and planting vines on what became a 53-acre vineyard.

As part of this effort, in tribute to their South African heritage, the Schwartzes sourced bud wood for pinotage, a grape native to that country.

By 2000, they were making and selling wine.

Initial vintages were lean. In 2009, the couple brought on winemaker Jeff Pisoni to craft the wine. Pisoni still makes the wine today, which includes pinot noir, chardonnay and pinotage.

Johanna Bernstein, the winery’s vice president of sales, marketing and operations, describes Pisoni’s style as “gentle,” “minimalistic” and “hands-off.” The result: wines that express terroir and topography with structure, balance and finesse.

“The word ‘natural’ has become almost a bad word in the wine business, but he really has a very light touch,” she said, noting that the winery opened a tasting room with views of the Pacific Ocean in 2012. “That was the vision for wine from this site all along.”

Wines produced by Fort Ross Vineyard & Winery can be found at River’s End and Fort Ross Store, both in Jenner. Duncan’s Mills General Store and Surf Market in Gualala also carry their wine. Sometimes customers will spot products at Jenner By the Sea and Timber Cove Resort in Jenner, too.

Pandemic changes

Today the 964-acre Fort Ross Vineyard & Winery makes between 3,500 and 4,500 cases per year.

The winery offered tastings by appointment for the better part of eight years. Then the COVID-19 pandemic brought everything to a grinding halt in March 2020.

They were closed for several months during the shutdown and had to stop wine member parties, but introduced smaller lunches that followed safety protocols. Their wine club was still operating during that time, too. The Schwartzes and Bernstein put their heads together to reimagine what Fort Ross Vineyard & Winery could be. They came up with a host of new programs designed to raise the profile of the vineyard.

The business opened back up in June 2020.

First on this list was a new culinary program. The business brought in Chef John Vong from the William Tell House Saloon & Inn in Tomales to create dishes that pair with estate wines. Vong said he builds his menu around local and seasonal ingredients — he sources as much as possible from on-site gardens where a variety of herbs grow. The new kitchen garden will be in production by early spring.

The chef also changes the menu every month. Currently, the business only offers food and wine pairing for $55.

One of the fall pairings matched the 2018 Bicentennial Pinot Noir with sweet potato gnocchi, piquillo peppers, basil-brown butter, roasted shallots, sherry vinegar and ricotta salata.

Vong, who is Vietnamese and grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, loves cooking meats; another great fall pairing married the 2016 Pinotage with chicory and coffee-crusted New York strip steak, crispy red potatoes, wild arugula and pinotage gastrique.

“Building menus around the wine gives me an opportunity to use more technique in my food,” he said.

Carving a space for activities

Other new programs at the vineyard and winery include a new 2-acre botanical garden with plants and flowers native to California and South Africa. There are regular movie nights, for adults only, where guests watch a movie and eat dinner tied to the movie's plot.

The next movie and dinner night is scheduled for Jan. 21. The team is still deciding on which film to screen.

According to Bernstein, the winery also will be welcoming guests for wintertime mushroom forages, capitalizing on the fact that the property sees lots of rain all winter long.

“We don’t want this place to be the hidden gem anymore — we want it to be a place people want to come and explore,” said Bernstein, who has put together a lot of these programs herself. “Between the wine and the views and the wildland and all of the amazing things this ranch has to offer, it’s hard to come here and experience it and not fall in love.”

Cyclists pedaling Meyers Grade Road will sometimes swing by for a glass of wine before heading back through West County. At Timber Cove Resort, just up the coast, concierges and other employees regularly recommend the winery.

“(It) is an ideal location for Timber Cove Resort guests looking to explore the coastal region of California Wine Country,” Timer Cove Resort’s General Manager Vincent Walton said in a recent email. “We love that our guests can easily access the stunning Fort Ross Estate, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by forests and meadows."

More plans in the making

More changes at Fort Ross Vineyard & Winery are on the way.

Lester said he plans to build a Japanese-style tea house on the hill in front of the tasting room so guests can relax with wine and enjoy the view. Other projects and programs on the timeline over the next few months include a larger culinary garden to the north of the tasting room and a paint-and-sip activity with a local artist.

Vong is expecting some new developments as well. He’s already thinking about a special menu for Valentine’s Day, and said he hopes to convince Schwartzes to build a wood-fired oven. Down the road, he envisions special dinners, some held outside with views of the ocean.

Even Pisoni will get in on the fun — he recently planted chenin blanc grapes and expects to add this variety to the mix next year.

“The weather out here changes all the time,” Bernstein said. “It’s exciting that we’re changing, too.”