Martinelli Winery Update

Categorized | California, General

Posted on 03 August 2023.

Martinelli Winery Update

As the winemaking team is anticipating a kickoff to harvest next month, we have begun lining up your wines for our 2023 Fall release! As one of our most valued members, we are giving you advanced notice of our Fall offering.

At 9am PST on August 8th you will receive an email notifying you that your release window is live. All of our wines are sold on a first-come, first-served basis, and many are expected to sell out.

We encourage you to secure your wines as soon as you receive the email, so you do not miss out.

This Fall we are highlighting our Lolita Ranch wines. Below you can read the vineyard history, told by Julianna Martinelli.

Thank you so much for your longtime loyalty to our family winery, your support is very much appreciated!
Saluté,
The Martinelli Family and Team

LOLITA RANCH VINEYARD

RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY

Curls run in my family. My father, now Lee Sr., had long blond curls until he was six years old, or until Lolita Young cut them off. At school, he was teased for looking like a girl and got into fights every day. One day a few of my Nonni Alma’s friends came over to the house. Two of them distracted her in the living room while Lolita sat little Lee in the highchair out on the patio and gave him a haircut. My father is still thankful to Lolita. He said that she saved him from getting into more fights.

Bob and Lolita Young were long-time friends with my Nonno and Nonni, Leno and Alma Martinelli. The Youngs lived ½ mile from my grandparent’s house on Martinelli Road. Lolita Young, a stunningly beautiful and elegant woman, wore big hats and was always perfectly dressed, even living way out in the country. I think she must have imprinted on my father at a very young age the importance of looking in the mirror. In 1999 my brother and sister-in-law, Lee Jr., and Pamela bought a section of the Young’s old cattle ranch to plant a vineyard. Lolita had long since passed away when the planting began. My brother went to visit Bob to ask him if he minded the vineyard being named after Lolita. Lee Jr. began by saying that he realized Bob had done all of the work on the cattle ranch, but putting Bob’s Ranch on a wine label sounded much less charming or poetic than Lolita Ranch. Bob chuckled and said he was honored that they wanted to name the vineyard after Lolita.

Quick tempers also run in my family. They usually show up right before the curls do. My granddaughter, Gemma, is the fourth generation to sit in the same highchair that my father had sat in when his long curls were cut off. When Gemma was still a baby she developed a fury towards food that she was not interested in eating. She would flail her arms over the tray and swipe green peas, raisins, scrambled eggs, avocado, grapes, all of it, onto the floor. A bowl of spaghetti went splat against the wall. So, I engineered my own way of feeding her. I’d set the highchair with the baby in it out on the patio. When Gemma was done with her food, I called the dog.

Lolita Ranch is situated in the heart of the Russian River Valley. As the crow flies, the very steep site lies just ½ mile from the Russian River. It graces a wooded hillside above Green Valley Creek and remains one of the steepest vineyards that the Martinelli family farms. The four separate varieties of grapes grown on the site are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Zinfandel. The Lolita Ranch Zinfandel vines are propagated with bud wood from the 135-year-old Jackass Hill vineyard.

I still have my father’s very same curls that were trimmed in 1945 by Lolita Young. They are kept in a small white box, each golden lock tied in a red ribbon. My family doesn’t throw anything away. Not old highchairs, nor old grapevines, and especially not old stories. As each of these things is a story to be passed on and enjoyed by the next generation.
Enjoy Life, and Drink Great Wine.
Saluté , from our family to yours,
Martinelli Winery Update
Julianna G. Martinelli

Available Wines

Chardonnay
2020 Martinelli Road Chardonnay
95 pts., A.F., Jeb Dunnuck
2020 Charles Ranch Chardonnay
95 pts., A.F., Jeb Dunnuck
2020 Lolita Ranch Chardonnay
94 pts., A.F., Jeb Dunnuck
2020 Bella Vigna Chardonnay
Not yet reviewed
Syrah
2020 Lolita Ranch Syrah
91 pts., A.F., Jeb Dunnuck

Pinot Noir
2021 Lolita Ranch Pinot Noir
93 pts., A.F., Jeb Dunnuck
93 pts., J.M., Wine Spectator
2021 Moonshine Ranch Pinot Noir
93 pts., A.F., Jeb Dunnuck
94 pts., J.M., Wine Spectator
2021 Russian River Pinot Noir
Not yet reviewed
Zinfandel
2021 Lolita Ranch Zinfandel
93 pts., A.F., Jeb Dunnuck
92 pts., J.M., Wine Spectator
2021 Vellutini Ranch Zinfandel
94 pts., A.F., Jeb Dunnuck
93 pts., J.M., Wine Spectator