Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from the second edition of the popular guidebook “Wineries of the Sierra Foothills: Risk-Takers & Rule-Breakers” available now on Amazon. All sales support Tahoe Weekly.
Wine should be fun. This is the credo of winemaker Jeff Stai of Twisted Oak Winery in Calaveras County, who prefers the title El Jefe.
Not far from the town of Murphys, where Twisted Oak has a tasting room to accommodate those who don’t want to drive around the twisty roads of this part of the Sierra Foothills, Jeff makes intense wine that he describes in a single word, “Yummy.”
Presenting the wine-drinking public with a diversity of tastes is one of Jeff’s goals. His wines are balanced, produced with minimal intervention.
Twisted Oak specializes in making wines from Rhone and Iberian varietals that do well in this part of the Foothills. The grapes from the Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano, Mourvedre, Viognier and Syrah vines planted on part of the land he and wife, Mary, own near the winery in Vallecito find their way into wines fancifully named with fun in mind: The Spaniard, River of Skulls, *%#&@!, Murgatroyd, Ol’ Chumbucket, Torcido, as well as some wines with mundane names.
Jeff always wanted to grow grapes and Mary always wanted to buy land, and neither of these things were happening in Orange County where Jeff worked as an engineer on data storage products and Mary created handcrafted gifts.
They took a leap of faith and bought 120 acres in Calaveras County because they decided to live where everybody else comes to vacation. So, they moved, dug test plots, planted vines, found help and began to unleash their creativity in marketing wine.
Now, about that rubber chicken thing. That started when Jeff and Mary were trying to write something interesting for the back label of their first wines in 2003. “It wasn’t really conscious marketing,” said Jeff. “We were stumped, and I said that this was a wine that should be enjoyed with a bunch of friends and a rubber chicken.”
The truth of Twisted Oak’s wines is that Jeff is serious about making good wine, and once in the bottle, he and Mary want people to have fun with the wine. Jeff extended the fun element by putting up silly signs on the twisty road to the winery to make sure visitors took the correct turns; the road runs past the original 350-year-old twisted California blue oak from which the winery took its name.
Then, El Jefe decided to hang some rubber chickens from the signs and the trees. The Rubber Chicken National Forest was born.
When visiting, enjoy the flagship wine, The Spaniard. This is a big, Rioja-style blend of Tempranillo, Graciano and Garnacha with lots of cherry and black currant and a nice, long finish. It is a consistent award winner. A next tasting might be of the River of Skulls, an appealing Mourvedre with grapes from a vineyard in nearby Angels Camp.
Of the 6,000 cases that Twisted Oak Winery produces each year, no one wine comprises more than 600 cases. Presenting the wine-drinking public with a diversity of tastes is one of Jeff’s goals. His wines are balanced, produced with minimal intervention. Some wines are crisp, some are full bodied.
Twisted Oak is located in Vallecito and operates a tasting room in downtown Murphys. Reservations are recommended and check the schedule before visiting. | (209) 736-9080, twistedoak.com
