BED & BREAKFAST EVENTS VINEYARDS GARDENS OLIVE OIL GRASS-FED BEEF ACTIVITIES GALLERY HISTORY

6-9-2010

"Return to Sonoma" Travel + Leisure features Beltane as the place to stay in Sonoma!

Check out the full article for more to see, eat, drink and do while you're here!

"T+L explores this food lover’s paradise, with its rugged coastline cliffs and rolling inland vineyards. We stood on a steep, forested hill looking down across a field at a herd of goats gathered in the shade of a large oak tree. They were happy-looking goats. It was a warm afternoon in Dry Creek Valley; the sky was pale blue overhead, the landscape both wildly fertile and haphazardly domesticated, and most of all beautiful. We were in the heart of wine country......

 

6-9-2010

"Genuine Beltane" Lifestyle Feature in the Sonoma County Press Democrat

We're really excited with Virginie Boone's story about Beltane in this morning's Press Democrat! See the full page here.

"With the new release of its own wine, historic Sonoma Valley B&B remains true to its heritage"

 

 

 

 

 

 

5-15-2010

Wine Release!

Beltane Ranch's first estate-grown private label wine, 2009 Sauvignon Blanc has just been released. 5 generations and 37 years of growing for our wonderful neighboring wineries - and now our own wine! Intensely flavored, lively and crisp with hints of honeydew melon and lemon curd...its delicous. Learn more about it on our wine website.

 

4-2-2010

Wine Bottle Photo Shoot

Beltane Ranch 2009 Estate Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc. To be released on Beltane Day: May 1st, 2010. The Clydesdales in the front pasture are as excited as we are!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3-5-2010

Beltane Ranch Wine is in the bottle!

Our first ever estate grown private label wine, sauvignon blanc, was bottled this morning and will be released in late spring. Check back for more info.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2-7-2010

Signs of Spring at Beltane!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1-7-2010

Check out Beltane on 100 Layer Cake!

Many thanks to photographer Kate Harrison, 100 Layer Cake and the Bride and Groom, Megan and Chris!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kate Harrison: http://www.kateharrisonphotography.com/

 

12-20-2009

Holidays at Beltane!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11-16-2009

Green Fall at Beltane

Its a beautiful time of year at Beltane, everything is green after the recent rains and the vineyards have turned vibrant oranges and reds. We are also finishing a successful fig and pumpkin season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Mike and Sandy Siegel for the Beautiful photos!

 

 

9-18-2009

Moving the wine to barrels...

After several days of fermenting in stainless steel tanks the wine was moved to barrels where it will complete fermentation. We are using a combination of new French oak and neutral French oak barrels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9-11-2009

Racking and Enoculation

After 2 days of settling in stainless steel tanks, its time to rack and Inoculate the wine - meaning take the juice off the top of the sediment and get the fermentation started with yeast. First the juice is racked off the top from one tank and moved in to a new tank and the sediment at the bottom is discarded. Then, the winemaker's chosen yeast (shown below being weighed) is mixed in buckets with small amounts of the juice and some yeast nutrient to dissolve and eventually added to the full tank to get the fermentation started!

Join our WINE CLUB to stay up to date on the release!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9-09-2009 10:30am

The Crush!

 

 

 

By 10:30 the grapes went to press. For the next 2 hours the juice was gently pressed and slowly transferred to a tank to settle and the seeds and stems sent out to compost. At left is Beltane owner Alexa Wood testing the sugar in a refractometer. The sugar was just about perfect!

 

 

 

 

9-09-2009 7am

HARVEST TIME!

So far 65 TONS of Beltane Grapes have been crushed for the 2009 harvest. Most Exciting is the 7 tons that make up the inaugural harvest for our brand new estate grown private label BELTANE WINE. Today's harvest marks the beginning! This first year we will have 400 cases of 100% Beltane Ranch Sauvignon Blanc released in late spring to early summer of 2010. We are very excited to announce our winemaker is Kevin Holt. The following years we will be expanding and adding more red and white varietals. Today's harvest went great....we picked early this morning under prime conditions....the bunches were still cool at dawn and the BRIX was at 24.6. Our own Alex Benward hauled the grapes to local winery Macrostie, in Sonoma for the crush. More info to come as the wine progresses. Please join our mailing list for updates and become a founding member in our wine club (And celebrate the release with us!!!!). Check out photos of the harvest below and check back for updates as the wine progresses!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special thanks to Steven Krause for the photography featured on our site.

9-3-2009

Sugar tests

We are just a few days away from harvest. Here is a sample of grapes pulled from different bunches from different vines across the vineyard that will give us the most accurate reading of the current sugar levels....Beautiful late summer days are ripening the vines quickly so it looks like sometime next week will be the harvest!

 

 

 

 

 

7-05-2009

BELTANE WINS THE GRAND PRIZE AT 4th of JULY PARADE!!!!

Sonoma Valley 4th of July Parade in downtown Sonoma!

 

BELTANE's "Old Yeller" grassfed beef and olive oil truck, carrying a wood cutout of Beltane Mascot BOB (pictured below) pulled Beltane's Alex Benward, and Danae Rubenstien (of The Wine Slate) along with Beltane lab Duke - who all appreared to be taking a good-ole-fashioned skinny dip in a ranch water trough.

Alexa Wood of Beltane and a loyal group of locals and friends rode horseback in the parade with each horse and rider displaying their respective ranch's historic brand.

 

(Once all images have loaded, mouse over the thumbnails below to see the full size at left.)

 

 

Read more about it in the Sonoma Index Tribune

RESERVATIONS DIRECTIONS PRESS NEWSLETTER LINKS CONTACT

11775 Sonoma Highway | P.O. Box 395 | Glen Ellen CA 95442

(707) 996-6501 | stay@beltaneranch.com

Copyright Beltane Ranch 2009