This morning, as the sun slowly rises, I sit at my desk in Oakland wishing I were on top of Mount Veeder, where the first fruit for the 2017 vintage is being cut from the vines at Sky Vineyards. The land, on a remote peak of the Mayacamus Range between Napa and Sonoma, is home to the Olds and Apgar families, and countless wild animals, and it holds a special place in my heart; a place full of happy memories; a place right beside the old New York farmhouse where I grew up. 

Their address says Napa, but it is far from the valley floor, in about as many ways as you can imagine. 2,100 feet up a frightening, car-punishing one-lane road, Lore Olds and his daughter Skyla manage a dry-farmed fourteen-acre vineyard of Zinfandel and Syrah, and they produce some of the most delicious and age-worthy California wines I’ve ever tasted. The site is unique in many ways, a number of which make it the perfect place to grow wine grapes: iron-rich, red volcanic soil, no chemicals for miles around, and an elevation that allows the grapes to ripen slowly and evenly. Some winters, there is snow. 

The only electricity at Sky Vineyards is generated by a small solar panel, and there is no city water line. Rattlesnakes, bobcats, and black widows are all at home here, and, a few months ago, their closest neighbor, cousin Jesse, lost a goat to an enormous female mountain lion. The lovable and misanthropic seventy-one year old vigneron rarely leaves the mountain, and he and his girlfriend Amy, spend much the winter painstakingly hand-pruning every vine on the property. There’s not much else to do up there, but it’s still an impressive feat. I like to say it’s like making wine while camping, and I’m pretty sure no one else born in this century could pull it off so well. Lore’s been there for forty-five years, so he’s figured a few things out.

Lore’s two daughters have always helped with the work in the vineyard and winery, but in the last few years, Skyla, the younger, has set aside a successful career as a do-gooder lawyer to pick up the winemaking reins, and they now work together to maintain the most honest, hands-on, site-specific, vintage-reflective, and simply made wines in California.

Join us at OAKLAND YARD this SATURDAY, September 2nd, from 3 to 6pm, when the lovely and talented Skyla Olds takes break from the harvest to pour Sky Vineyards 2013 Zinfandel, 2011 Syrah & 2016 Rose - $15

But first, tonight… 
THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS: Italian Whites or Spanish Reds! Flights from 4-8pm, $12

And SUNDAY SPARKLING continues... Flights 2-6pm!

Finally... HOUTSKOOL Dumpling House will be at OAKLAND YARD this MONDAY from 2-5pm! Pairing Flights and glass specials all day too! Stay in the loop via Instagram!!!