Plymouth, California, March 2016 — Story Winery has launched a new mobile-friendly website. The winery is proud to have www.zin.com as its site url as well as www.storywinery.com – given the winery’s identity as a long-time Amador County/Sierra Foothills producer of small-lot old-vine Zinfandels. The website provides background on all of the winery’s wines, its history, its vineyards and directions for visitors.
“We are delighted to offer the world an updated ‘face’ for the winery online and mobile devices,” explains President Rob Campbell, the son-in-law of owners Jan and Bruce Tichenor.
The new website coincides with a new era at Story Winery. Campbell has just completed three years of extensively revamping the wine program. “I set a goal with my wine making team to return us to one of the top producers of the area while maintaining the personality of the vineyards and instilling a sense of place and terroir,” he explains. The winery has 46 acres of dry- and sustainably farmed vines; these consist of 40 acres of Zinfandel vines, some of which were planted in 1896; 1 acre of Mission grapes planted in 1894 and small parcels of Barbera, Sangiovese, Primitivo and Chenin Blanc.
Story produces about 2,500 cases a year. The wines are:
From estate vineyards, appellation California Shenandoah Valley:
2014 Estate Rosé, $18
2013 Sangiovese, $19
2013 Primitivo, $21
2014 Barbera, $30
2013 Creekside Zinfandel, $25
2013 Quartz Zinfandel, $25
2013 Alitia Zinfandel, $28
2013 Picnic Hill Zinfandel, $32
2013 Miss–Zin $26
2013 Mission, $26
2014 Mission del Sol.
From other vineyards:
2014 Chardonnay, $34 (Sangiacomo Vineyard, Carneros)
2014 Bailey Syrah, $36 (Sierra Foothills)
Located at 10525 Bell Road in Plymouth, the winery is open Monday – Thursday 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. and Friday – Sunday 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Picnickers are welcome and reservations or appointments are not required. The winery offers a futures program as well as several wine club membership levels. Story also stages bbqs and other special events.
Founded in 1973, Story Winery was one of the first post-Prohibition bonded wineries in the Shenandoah Valley. Utilizing primarily estate grown grapes (some of which are 120 year old vines), the family-run winery produces wines which express the very best of the Shenandoah Valley appellation within the Sierra foothills growing area in Amador County. The Tichenor family purchased the winery in 1992, creating a vineyard-designated Zinfandel group of wines and later expanding into Italian varietals. The third generation, Rob and Tina Campbell, is refining the winemaking and vineyard program, focusing on premium-tier Zinfandels along with Chardonnay, Syrah, Barbera, Primitivo and Sangiovese.
The tasting room, a restored 1860 gold miners’ bunkhouse, is nestled on a hilltop overlooking the Cosumnes River Canyon and surrounded by the winery’s Mission grape estate vineyard. These giant gnarled vines, planted in the 1890s, are local landmarks. Relics of the Gold Country’s past border the path to the tasting room. The tasting room’s walls are constructed of incense-cedar which are full of holes filled with acorns (serviced by friendly red-headed acorn woodpeckers).
Story’s Mission grapes produce four wines: a dry red “Mission;” a blend of Mission and Zinfandel labeled “Miss Zin;” a Mission Port and a dessert wine labeled “Mission del Sol.” Mission grapes were introduced to Amador County during the Gold Rush of 1849. Spanish missionaries originally brought the grape to California in the late 1700s to make sacramental wine at the various missions. Settlers were given clippings to start their own vineyards, thus the name “Mission” grape.
